Photo provided by the Peruvian Ministry of State on January 4, 2023, showing Peruvian Attorney General Patricia Benavides. Peruvian Ministry of State (EFE)
The Special Team Against Corruption of Power in Peru intervened early Monday at the headquarters of the Ministry of State as part of an investigation that is coming to the country’s prosecutor, Patricia Benavides, the highest authority of the institution, accusing him of leading a criminal organization with a very high level of Influence in Parliament, together with his three advisors: members Alberto Hurtado Espinoza, Miguel Ángel Girado Isidro and Jaime Javier Villanueva Barreto.
The scene of the day corresponds to Villanueva Barreto, right-hand man of Benavides, and whose chats implicate him in a series of maneuvers within the judicial apparatus and the Congress of the Republic. Villanueva Barreto was admitted to the San Pablo Clinic in Lima, citing decompensation in the first hours of this Monday. There, lying on the stretcher, with the IV on his wrist, the prosecutor read him his rights and the reason for his ten-day detention. The legal doctors determined that his health was not at risk and he was discharged that morning. Villanueva Barreto went to the police patrol alone. His recovery was immediate.
#Prosecution 🚨 Jaime Villanueva Barreto, former aide to prosecutor Patricia Benavides, is arrested and handcuffed at the San Pablo Clinic, where he was without significant health problems. pic.twitter.com/Yw6JBTVeRb
– Convoca (@ConvocaPe) November 27, 2023
According to the tax thesis, Jaime Javier Villanueva Barreto is a key man since he coordinated on behalf of Patricia Benavides. In a WhatsApp chat, not only his position on the election of the ombudsman is explained, but also his political influence. “We are very concerned that the election for the ombudsman will fail. It is essential to have a leader in this institution, because it is about something much more important than the Ombudsman’s Office itself. As is well known, the National Justice Office is being taken over by the Vizcarra regime (in reference to former President Martín Vizcarra), and how the As the National Prosecutor mentioned in her speech, there are very strong and dark interests in her leaving her position and the caviar (the left winning victories according to the right within the framework of a popular discourse) return to control the public ministry take over,” writes Villanueva Barreto. The worst is what continues: “If the National Justice Office suspends her (Patricia Benavides), Zoraida Ávalos would be the new prosecutor of the country due to her seniority (…) In this context, the Ombudsman is very important” because he is “He the one who heads the commission that will elect the new National Board of Justice.”
Benavides’ chief adviser’s concerns did not fall on deaf ears. In mid-May 2023, Josué Gutiérrez Cóndor was elected as the new ombudsman by the plenary session of Congress with 88 votes in favor, 24 against and nine abstentions. The questionable thing is that Gutiérrez lacked experience in the field of human rights and did not represent a guarantee in an institution that needs independence as a guarantor of human rights. After the revelation of the special team against corruption of power, everything makes sense. The truth is that Gutiérrez Cóndor traveled to Panama yesterday, Sunday, a day before the scandal, to attend an event organized by the Development Bank of Latin America and the Ibero-American Federation of Ombudspersons (FIO).
In another conversation on WhatsApp, Villanueva Barreto, confidant of Patricia Benavides, admits to having coordinated with congressmen from the Somos Perú, Fuerza Popular and Avanza País factions to obtain the votes in favor of the disqualification of Zoraida Ávalos, the former prosecutor of the Congress , to align nation. A circumstance that finally occurred last June due to an alleged constitutional violation. “It’s not causation, it’s part of this takeover of institutions.” Unfortunately, in Congress, the vast majority, everyone, voted against me. “Today it is proven that they were due to these communications sent by Jaime Villanueva on behalf of Dr. Patricia Benavides had,” explained Ávalos.
While the Special Team Against Power Corruption raided the offices of Patricia Benavides and her inner circle this Monday, the Public Prosecutor’s Office signed the resignation of the person who led the operation against her, prosecutor Marita Barreto. Barreto will apply to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for a precautionary measure over what he sees as persecution, harassment, bullying and retaliation. Another decision that provoked the rejection of a large part of the population was the recent suspension of the prosecutor Rafael Vela, coordinator of the Lava Jato special team. Vela also spoke about this hectic start to the week: “What happened in the State Department is outrageous, frustrating and saddening because our institution, to which we owe something, thought that there could be hope, an expectation.”, with Ms. Benavides, but now we see that she is disappointed by this level of criminality.”
In the afternoon, the course of events took a turn: in the most vulnerable moment of her term, Attorney General Patricia Benavides filed a constitutional complaint against President Dina Boluarte and Prime Minister Alberto Otárola over the deaths of demonstrators during protests against the government. The lawsuit for alleged commission of the crime of qualified homicide also concerns former Interior Ministers César Augusto Cervantes, Víctor Rojas Herrera and Vicente Romero.
Meanwhile, Congresswoman Ruth Luque constitutionally condemned Benavides for alleged violations of the Constitution and the alleged crimes of criminal organization and influence peddling. In turn, it has emerged that the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office met to ask the highest authority of the State Ministry to resign. Benavides defended herself in a video and described the actions of those investigating her as clumsy. “The Public Ministry has been the subject of deliberate attacks by those who oppose the work that the law entrusts to us: the fight against impunity orchestrated in the highest levels of power (…). This clumsy act aims to destabilize the independence and autonomy of the public.” Ministry that uses the mechanism to appoint some prosecutors for such a despicable purpose, but I will not give in, I have a firm commitment to my work (…) Today I reaffirm before you my commitment as the nation’s prosecutor because I am not afraid of reprisals,” he added. Just over a week and a half into the first year of Dina Boluarte’s government, the fire appears to be being rekindled amid a maze of accusations.
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