The recent removal of President Pedro Castillo in Peru represents an opportunity for the US to re-establish geopolitical and economic relations with one of its most important allies in Latin America. Peru has enjoyed an impressive record of economic growth based on free market reforms and a particularly close relationship with the US.
However, Castillo’s election posed a threat to that relationship, as his Marxist-oriented ideology threatened the economy, while his foreign policy signaled a major shift toward anti-American interests.
“Castillo posed an institutional threat on a whole different scale,” Daniel Raisbeck, a Latin American political analyst at the Cato Institute, told Fox News Digital. “To begin with, his party’s program for the 2021 elections included numerous measures that explicitly sought to violate the constitution’s unequivocal guarantees for private property, which he declares ‘inviolable.'”
Observers say the removal of Castillo by Peru’s congress this week sent a damning message to the Latin American left that attempts to play fast and loose by the rules will be met with a harsh institutional response.
PERU BOOTS PRESIDENT FOR ATTEMPT TO DISSOLUTION OF CONGRESS, NEW LEADER SWORN IN
Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was impeached by the country’s Congress on Wednesday.
(AP Photo/Martin Mejia, File)
By threatening to shut down Congress, rule by decree and rewrite the Constitution, Castillo emulated his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, who used similar maneuvers to sideline the National Assembly and then used a handpicked constituent assembly to pass a new Constitution. . giving him almost absolute power. The Peruvian people and their institutions sent a forceful message calling for respect for the rule of law and adherence to the constitutional order.
Castillo hailed from Peru Libre, an openly Marxist political party, and drew inspiration from leaders like Fidel Castro and Vladimir Lenin. To say that business leaders and investors were concerned about the prospect of a Castillo term would be an understatement.
Raisbeck said that Castillo was a clear and present danger to the Peruvian economy. “The constitution also guarantees free enterprise, foreign investment, and freedom of the press. Castillo’s platform, on the other hand, set an agenda of nationalizing the mining sector and other major industries, expropriating land, and eliminating Peru’s successful private pension system. He explained.
As Peru’s congress proceeded on Wednesday with a third attempt at impeachment, Castillo took to national television to announce his dissolution, pledging to convene a new constituent assembly and rule temporarily by decree in a move that mirrors his Venezuelan counterpart, Maduro. .
However, Castillo seemed to have misjudged his levels of institutional support, and his surprise announcement prompted a massive resignation by his cabinet and a stern call from the Attorney General to respect constitutional order.
PRESIDENT OF PERU DISSOLVES CONGRESS BEFORE 3RD REMOVAL ATTEMPT
Dina Boluarte, right, greets members of the Peruvian Congress after being sworn in as the new president hours after former President Pedro Castillo was impeached on Wednesday.
(CRIS BOURONCLE/AFP via Getty Images)
Finally, in quick succession, his own vice president, Dina Boluarte, publicly condemned Castillo’s actions:
“I reject Pedro Castillo’s decision to break the constitutional order with the closure of Congress. This represents a coup d’etat and aggravates the institutional political crisis that Peruvian society can only overcome with strict adherence to the law.”
Peru has enjoyed an impressive record of economic growth based on free market-oriented reforms. However, the election of the far-left Castillo followed a regional trend, as the Latin American left has enjoyed a powerful resurgence in recent years, winning the vast majority of major elections, albeit often by narrow margins, racking up important victories. in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Colombia.
Following Lula da Silva’s narrow victory in Brazil’s presidential election in October, Argentine congressman Javier Milei, a frequent critic of the region’s left, tweeted a meme that viewed Latin America as the USSR, the “Union of Socialist Republics.” South American”.
Castillo’s desperate attempt to cling to power echoes similar tactics previously used by Latin American despots: trying to shut down opposition bodies, rule by decree, and convene new “constituent assemblies” to rewrite the Constitution in their favor.
Castillo’s short tenure as president was marked by numerous corruption investigations involving charges of bribery and auto-dealing. More serious charges have now surfaced against him and close allies alleging links to the Shining Path, a Marxist guerrilla group based in southern Peru that once controlled vast swaths of the country.
COLOMBIA ELECTS FORMER REBEL GUSTAVO PETRO TO BECOME THE COUNTRY’S FIRST LEFT-WING PRESIDENT
The president of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, recently said that the former president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, had told him that he would request asylum in Mexico.
(REUTERS/Edgard Garrido/File photo)
Castillo was arrested Wednesday afternoon in Lima and accused of rebellion and breach of the constitutional order. The current whereabouts of him remain unclear. Mexico’s foreign minister recently announced that they are considering an offer of asylum for the former president.
Rossy Saavedra Medina, who lives in the Lima neighborhood of Magdalena del Mar, called on the new president to focus on the economy. “The economy has to get back to normal now…in the last few months, it’s been the poor who have suffered the most,” she told Fox News Digital.
Juan Antonio Castro, a retired math teacher with dual U.S. and Peruvian citizenship, told Fox News Digital that Castillo “appeared to be a corrupt individual trying to enrich himself and his family… Why are people voting for these candidates? It’s the same thing we saw happening in Venezuela.”
The demonstrators had gathered at various points in Lima to protest against the arrest of Castillo. Some of the protests at times turned violent when they clashed with police outside the congressional building.
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Interim President Boluarte, a native of the southern Apurímac region, is seen by observers as something of a blank slate, and it is unclear how she intends to govern. Although she was elected on the ticket of Castillo’s Free Peru Party, which adopts Marxist origins, she was later expelled from the organization by party bosses when she declared that she did not plan to adhere to the party’s doctrine.
