In one of his last public addresses, on Sunday August 14, left-wing Peruvian President Pedro Castillo called for “greatest unity” and to ” turn the page “, inviting the opposition to put differences aside. An attempt at appeasement as the country experienced an escalation of tensions after the opening by the prosecution, on August 11, of a sixth preliminary investigation against him for corruption.
The statesman, in office for a year, is struggling with justice and weakened by repeated attacks from Congress (the only parliamentary chamber), dominated by the right. The opposition has twice tried to impeach him in the last twelve months.
A few days before the opening of the judicial inquiry, his sister-in-law, Yenifer Paredes – whom he raised and whom he considers to be his own daughter – found herself at the center of media and legal attention. A police operation, carried out on August 9 in the heart of the Presidential Palace, aimed to arrest the 26-year-old young woman, who must answer to the judicial authorities in a case of allegedly irregular public works contracts.
A few hours later, “this incursion” was lambasted by Pedro Castillo, who referred to a “unlawful search” and one “conspiracy” orchestrated by the judiciary, part of the media and the opposition, aimed at removing him from power. Yenifer Paredes finally went to court the next day.
In turn caught up in business
Mr. Castillo denounces regularly those who “never accepted his election”narrowly obtained in June 2021 against his opponent from the populist right, Keiko Fujimori. “They want to intimidate my family by saying that my children, my brothers, my entourage are corrupt, but that’s not true,” he recently wrote on Twitter.
Statements rejected by the president of the judiciary, Elvia Barrios, who reaffirmed on public television on August 12: “In the judiciary, we do not carry out political persecution, we dispense justice and we apply the law. »
The new preliminary investigation, opened against the president, concerns a case of alleged corruption in the awarding of public works contracts in his region of origin, Cajamarca (North). In addition to Yenifer Paredes, it involves several of his relatives who, according to the prosecution, form a network of corruption and money laundering led by Pedro Castillo. The latter is the subject of five other investigations by the public prosecutor. An unprecedented situation in Peru for a president in office. He is notably cited for alleged influence peddling in the context of the promotion of soldiers, in the alleged irregular purchase of fuel by the public company Petroperu and plagiarism in his university master’s thesis.
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