Mirtha Vásquez: “Pedro Castillo, in his desire to survive in government, has forgotten his goals”

The presidential vacancy, the stoppage of carriers, rising food and fuel prices, and a series of protests have marked a chaotic week for President Pedro Castillo, who, far from calming the storm, opts for his usual silence or extreme measures that only increase popular discontent and that the call for 'give up already' will become stronger.

Infobae Peru spoke with Mirtha Vásquez, who was head of Pedro Castillo's Cabinet and knows very well his environment, his vision and the unique way that Professor Chotano has of governing.

For Vasquez, the fact that Castillo has gotten rid of a vacancy is the opportunity for him to 'refocus' on his true objectives, because at present it is not known what he wants or what he intends to do, but it must also be borne in mind that we are still experiencing a fairly serious crisis that has been dragging on for quite some time.

“I think these two motions that have been promoted against Pedro Castillo in recent months make us see that we are still in a fairly serious crisis, a political crisis that has been dragging on for quite some time because this is being replicated again. It is already the sixth vacancy that has been presented in recent years and I think it is the expression that a mechanism is being used excessively, without criteria and it shows that we are a country that has a problem of weakness in its system that any circumstance that if it does not have a majority in Congress, runs the risk of being emptied,” he said Vasquez.

“Pedro Castillo must now refocus on the programmatic objectives he has for his government, which has been diluted and lost. I don't see clarity in what he wants, the form and what he wants with a government that he leads, because on the one hand it talks to us about a government for the poor, that is more egalitarian, with social justice, but makes alliances with the most ultra-liberal, right-wing, conservative sectors; so what justice, what equity or are we talking about opportunities?” , he said.

He also stressed that the president “in his desire to survive in the government he has forgotten his true objectives and the fundamental thing now is to redefine them. It has to rebuild its alliances, because the ones it has are in those objectives of survival in power and that is where a series of issues about negotiations under the table with political groups have come from and that is hurting the country. I think he should go back to the kind of policy that is done based on common goals of state, government and not interests.”

SOCIAL CONFLICTS

Faced with the social conflicts that occur in the country and increasingly frequently, Mirtha Vásquez said that the government has been distracted in this political crisis of vacancy and questioning the president's environment without noticing that at this time there are sectors that are stagnant or walking in automatic mode and that is why we are not we realize that we have this crisis all over the world.

“There are a number of international issues that have an impact on the life of the country and that is not that we want to hold the government responsible for the rise in prices or the scarcity of certain products, but what we should be doing is focusing more on what solution we are going to give to these problems that we have to face. Some of us are already feeling it as the rise in fuels, fertilizers and we have a stoppage of carriers,” he said.

The former President of Parliament also indicated that “the country never ceases to have conflicts and these tend to become more acute depending on the contexts”, but that if you have a good team of conflict experts, they would not have to escalate to violence, since a strategy based on dialogue and compliance with agreements is designed, but “I understand that all the teams that belong to the deputy ministry of governance have been disarming, several have been asked to resign, others have resigned, and now that I am afraid that there is no clear policy on how these conflicts are going to be addressed, especially to understand the problems that lie ahead in the coming months”.

Regarding the work of Aníbal Torres, he said that holding the position of prime minister is not easy, but rather a complex issue, since the Chief of Staff “has to take care of creating the strategy of all sectors and designing the objectives we are going after as a country, in the short, medium and long term”

“According to the times in which we live, with crisis not only due to the pandemic, but also with a very serious political crisis, which has to do with the economic issues of the impacts of war, etc. Anyone would have difficulty coping and I can sense that no matter how capable Dr. Anibal Torres has, if he does not have good equipment that accompany him and qualified persons in each of the ministries, this may exceed his will to carry the country forward.”

“(Aníbal Torres) has many conditions, he is a very good lawyer, but I think that the type of advisory office also depends a lot, even to be able to guide, how to respond to certain circumstances and how to generate better relations with the country, with the press, but I am afraid that is not being paid attention.”

QUESTIONS AND PRESIDENTIAL ENVIRONMENT

Vasquez Chuquilín, agreed that it is important to know who is in the government accompanying the president. “Those around must have the competence to be able to properly hold their positions and the president makes the right decisions,” however, with all the crisis that is going on around the government, “it seems that there has not been that role so far and that is why he is still surrounded by people who are not suitable.”

“The issue of the environment closest to the president is very worrying, I have been able to see it. I told him many times that we have to elect people who may be the most suitable in office, that is fundamental, if there is not much propensity to engage in issues that may even be outside the law”,.

“When I was in the PCM, I tried to impose my criteria and, on some occasions, I felt that the president had other voices who were giving him opinions and proposing different ideas that were not the right ones such as putting ministers or keeping them in office. I had a hard time imposing that criterion I had to remove ministers who were not adequate, such as Barranzuela, the former defense minister and even Bruno Pacheco himself, when we started to have indications that he was engaged in things that were not suitable.”

He added that it is good for the president that the questioned people who were close to him (Bruno Pacheco and his nephews) are under arrest warrants, because “he will no longer have any kind of questioning”

However, he recommended that he “open new spaces for people with a more institutional vision of the government to enter, who can truly respond based on objectives and who are in the fight against corruption, to help them govern in all circumstances, showing transparency and knowing what he wants to correct. This is if you want to survive and prevent the right wing from continuing to build reasons to push a vacancy. The government can't make mistakes”

Finally, he stressed that “there is little chance” of reaching consensus with Parliament because “there are groups of the far right that have been trying from day one to get the president out and go into government even though they lost the elections. In this scenario, it becomes difficult for this congress to respond to a need for responsible reform” and that, on the contrary, “this parliament is carrying out a series of counter-reforms in the political, educational and transport part