MADRID, 20 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) has scheduled an extraordinary session for this Thursday in order to address the request of the Peruvian Government to activate the Democratic Charter.
For this reason, the OAS has determined in a statement that it will consider “the situation in Peru”, after President Pedro Castillo has asked the organization for help to preserve democratic institutions and the legitimate exercise of power, alleging that the constitutional complaint presented by the Prosecutor’s Office against him is “a new type of coup d’état”.
This meeting will be attended by the First Vice President and Rapporteur for Peru of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), Eduardo Stuardo Ralón Orella, and the Peruvian Foreign Minister, César Landa Arroyo.
During the afternoon of this Wednesday, the Peruvian Executive has formally requested the OAS to activate articles 17 and 18 of the Democratic Charter with which the inter-American organization can provide assistance when “the government of a member state considers that its process is at risk democratic political institution or their legitimate exercise of power,” reported ‘El Comercio’.
“In recent months, a succession of events and situations have been occurring in Peru, on the part of the Legislative Power, the Public Ministry and other constitutional bodies, which, in open contradiction with the constitutional provisions and the norms that regulate the separation of powers, (…) they have configured a process aimed at altering democratic order and institutions,” Castillo said in the petition presented to the IAEA.
Likewise, the president of Peru has argued that the constitutional complaint filed by the country’s attorney general, Patricia Benavides, poses a “serious threat” to democratic stability and the rule of law in the country, setting up “a new type of coup of State”.
Nevertheless, Castillo has argued that articles 17 and 18 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter “have already been applied on previous occasions, such as in the political crisis that threatened in 2008 to alter the constitutional and democratic order in Bolivia and that finally allowed a national agreement with the good offices of the OAS”.
This petition takes place a week after the Peruvian attorney general presented a constitutional accusation against Castillo before Congress accusing him of corruption.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, Castillo would be the head of a criminal organization active in the Ministry of Transport and Communications in complicity with Silva, as well as with officials from Provías Nacional and Provías Descentralizado, the Presidential Office and businessmen and third parties, to favor the consortium. Puente Tarata III and other companies in public bidding processes.
The document also accuses former ministers Juan Silva (Transport and Communications), currently a fugitive, of the same crimes; and Geiner Alvarado (Housing, Construction and Sanitation), according to ‘Diario Correo’.
After this accusation, Castillo affirmed that he is suffering political persecution, while denouncing a “new type of coup.”
“Today we have a political prosecutor’s office in Peru, which far from judging the real criminals, today is doing it with the government that has been legitimately elected by the people to lead the destinies of the country,” the president said at a press conference. , adding that “a new type of coup has begun in the country.”
