There has not been such a heated atmosphere in Peru since the 2021 general election, which politically fractured an already divided country. This Tuesday, prosecutor Patricia Benavides constitutionally charged President Pedro Castillo with leading an alleged criminal organization after finding evidence of crimes of influence and collusion. The complaint was submitted to the Congress of the Republic, an institution that will assess the future of the president, who has already been cornered by six investigations into alleged corruption cases.
Since morning, the public prosecutor’s office has been carrying out various national-level proceedings linked to the alleged criminal network headed by Pedro Castillo. Among them, he arrested five of his former advisers and also searched the offices and homes of six MPs in connection with the Popular Action party case. The agents went on and entered the home of the president’s sister, Gloria Castillo, who was staying with her mother in San Juan de Lurigancho, a neighborhood east of Lima. Hours later, the fact was branded an “abusive act” by the President himself.
Through a video posted on the Ministry of State’s social networks, prosecutor Patricia Benavides strongly emphasized her charges. “We have found serious evidence of the alleged existence of a criminal organization holed up in the government palace to take over, control and direct contract processes to generate illicit profits,” he said.
The prosecutor’s hypothesis also clouds two former ministers in the Castillo government: Juan Silva Villegas (Transport and Communications), currently a fugitive; and Geiner Alvarado López (Housing, Construction and Plumbing). Benavides added, according to the prosecutor’s statement, “that the complaint is based on the discovery of obtaining economic benefits through appointments in key positions, in collecting percentages of the improperly received tenders and improper use of the President’s powers.”
This type of complaint, which has been called constitutional because it is a type of impeachment procedure to which high-ranking officials are entitled for crimes committed in the performance of their duties, leaves the ball up to Peru’s lawmakers for now. “From this moment on, it is the sole and exclusive responsibility of the Congress of the Republic to decide on the handling of the constitutional complaint under the United Nations Convention against Corruption,” the State Department said.
In any case, the allegations are extremely serious and hit an executive branch that has been plagued by instability, resignations and layoffs since its inception. Benavides also warned of a “constant and cruel obstruction of justice by the alleged criminal organization”. According to this thesis, by exploiting his position in the government, Castillo and his entourage “threaten the autonomy of the State Department and carry out permanent intimidation against him and his family”. “The harassment of the special team of prosecutors and the National Police, among other actions, seriously jeopardizes the continuity of the investigation and the discovery of the truth that all Peruvians hope to learn,” the prosecutor continued.
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President Castillo flatly denied the prosecutors’ allegations, even going so far as to confirm in a press conference that “some sort of coup d’état has begun to be carried out in Peru”. Adding drama, the rural teacher said he was even willing to shed his blood. “Here I am, and if my blood has to flow into the streets for the good of this city, I have to do it. And if I have to give my life, I will do it,” he assured.
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