Cardinal Pedro Barreto affected after insult from Prime Minister Aníbal Torres: “It hurt me a lot”

In an interview with Willax Tv, the religious man was hurt after hearing the premier's words. He also recalled the time when, at Torres' request, he helped the Executive calm the waters during the violent demonstrations in Huancayo, which demanded the resignation of the head of state.

“Personally, like anyone else, it hurt me a lot because he asked me to mediate to go to Huancayo,” Barreto said. At the same time, he remarked that he does not have faith in Castillo Terrones, but in God.

CONGRESS REJECTS INSULTS TO THE CARDINAL

The head of the Congress of the Republic, María del Carmen Alva, expressed her support through her social networks for Cardinal Barreto after the release of statements by Premier Torres.

“My solidarity with Cardinal Pedro Barreto in the face of the unacceptable statements against him by Prime Minister Aníbal Torres, who with his words has also offended the entire Catholic people. Insults destroy any form of dialogue,” tweeted the Popular Action parliamentarian.

For his part, the spokesman for Popular Renewal, Jorge Montoya, considered that what the prime minister said would be a “smokescreen” to change the focus of public attention.

“They use the premier as a distracting element, it is a permanent smokescreen, what he said [to Cardinal Barreto] has no name, we have worked on the prime minister's interpellation, we have asked him to give us copies of the minutes of the Council of Ministers weeks ago and they do not comply with delivering them,” he said.

Meanwhile, the legislator of Popular Action, Karol Paredes, indicated that “to insult the cardinal is to aggravate all communities of faith in our country.”

“My rejection of Mr. Aníbal Torres's grievance against Cardinal Pedro Barreto, Archbishop of Huancayo. Respect is part of the ethics that the premier must maintain. To insult the cardinal is to aggravate all communities of faith in our country,” Paredes wrote on his Twitter account.

Finally, the spokesman for the Alliance for Progress (APP), Eduardo Salhuana, indicated that Aníbal Torres' expressions only show that his presence in the ministerial cabinet is in decline.

“These are utterly unfortunate and regrettable expressions. They do not help in any way to move forward if we want to solve the political crisis. It is the sign of an obvious exhaustion of Dr. Torres Vasquez's premierate,” he told Exitosa.

“Radical changes are required of it, in the background. In this scenario, the presence of Aníbal Torres (in the premierate) becomes untenable,” he added.

ANÍBAL TORRES JUSTIFIES HIMSELF

“There we have a priest [...] the priest Valverde, sorry I was wrong, the priest who is authority in Huancayo, who at this moment I forgot his name, so miserable can this person be . I've talked to him in the past few days and he thinks you're dumb, that you don't realize it. Of course, what is in favor of that power group in Peru, it never speaks in favor of the great majorities, it does not mention what we are doing”, were the comments of the premier referring to Pedro Barreto.

After these statements, Torres caused a stir in the Catholic community of Peru, earning hundreds of criticisms. He was therefore consulted on this subject at a press conference held yesterday after meeting of the Council of Ministers.

In his defense, the prime minister explained that he did not try to insult Cardinal Barreto, but used a “popular saying” to refer to him because he did not remember his name.

“It was an interview they did to me about it. I didn't remember the name of the cardinal, so I said that about 'how miserable can this person be that I don't even remember his name' or something like that . It is a popular saying that it can be used anywhere, even in Lima,” he said.

“That was it. I wasn't looking to offend. I have also spoken with the Cardinal in previous days, he never spoke a word about the positive actions being taken by the executive branch, nor in favor of the most neglected classes. This situation worries me,” his defense continued.

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