Peruvian Elections and Politics: Boluarte era, political crisis continues

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/DinaErcilia/status/1600553424952737827?s=20&t=2ZlDqXjVyz...

I reject Pedro Castillo’s decision to perpetrate a breakdown of constitutional order with the closing of Congress. This is a coup that aggravates the political and institutional crisis that Peruvian society will have to get through with strict adherence to the law.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Hamlet Echevarría

lol peruvian names are sometimes hilarious

Just wait til we see Congressman Hitler Saavedra (Somos Perú) become President, which he statistically has a high likelihood of doing by the end of this term.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Prime Minister Betssy Chávez has resigned. She outlasted Hector Valer by about a week.

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Castillo has been removed from office. Boluarte will be sworn in as president in an hour.

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Castillo has been arrested according to Canal N.

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La República panel is discussing (as Vladimir Cerrón said in the immediate aftermath of the coup) how Congress probably didn’t have the votes to impeach him this morning.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Vice President Dina Boluarte will become the first female president of Perú.

Thank God it will - at the very least - never be Keiko.

Boluarte is a former civil servant who’s occupied the Ministry for Social Development at several times during Castillo’s presidency. She was never meant to be Castillo’s immediate successor, but his candidate for the first Vice Presidency, Vladimir Cerrón, was excluded from the ticket in 2021 due to a corruption conviction. She has her own impeachment proceeding over some technical thing (holding a position in some social organization in her hometown while still being Vice President). She also harassed a trans woman once when she was in the civil service.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

One interesting note is that José Williams called Boluarte “presidente” and not the more common “presidenta”.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://twitter.com/VLADIMIR_CERRON/status/1600761932025573377?s=20&t=Fj_Arm...

Cerrón directly blaming Aníbal Torres for the coup and for Castillo’s prior separation from PL.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

https://larepublica.pe/politica/gobierno/2022/12/08/golpe-de-estado-chats-de-los-ultimos-minutos-del-gabinete-del-expresidente-pedro-castillo/

Leaked Whatsapp chats from Castillo’s cabinet show Betssy Chávez organizing Castillo’s speech and other ministers taken by surprise.

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Boluarte’s cabinet will hopefully be announced tomorrow. Most of the names that have been floated are former ministers under Humala and PPK.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Thankfully, Castillo's new lawyer has explained the whole situation: the President was drugged before giving the speech by some shadowy conspirators.

And luckily Betssy Chávez had nothing to do with it!

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Betssy "Two-Speed" Chávez seems like a real character in her own right.

Can’t believe Peru’s first coup since 1992 is also by someone named Chino.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Betssy "Two-Speed" Chávez seems like a real character in her own right.

Can’t believe Peru’s first coup since 1992 is also by someone named Chino.

"Betssy Betzabet Chávez Chino" feels ripped from a telenovela adaptation of The Bird's Nest. If I gave that name to a fictional character who was from Peru a sensitivity reader would flag it immediately.

Especially if the character was a communist who attempted an incompetent coup.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

This is also a real fall from grace (or rather a continuation since his premiership) for Aníbal Torres. From stopping Keiko’s coup attempt in 2021 to reportedly being the brains behind one the very next year.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Boluarte’s (first) cabinet was sworn in. Prime minister is Pedro Angulo Arana, former head of the national bar association and 2021 presidential candidate for PPK’s party Contigo. He resigned from the Attorney General’s office in 2011 due to a sexual harassment accusation and apparently has ties to corrupt judge César Hinostroza.

Rest of the cabinet seems relatively normal, largely vice ministers and other minor officials. Eight women and eight men, still missing transportation and labor.

Foreign Affairs: Ana Cecilia Gervasi (vice minister and former ambassador to the WTO)
Finance: Alex Contreras (vice minister)
Justice: José Tello Alfaro (election law professor and former legal advisor for Congress and the JNE)
Education: Patricia Correa (teacher and former head of the ministry’s Regional Coordination Office under Toledo and García)
Health: Rosa Gutiérrez Palomino (director general of operations)
Defense: Alberto Otárola (minister under Humala)
Interior: Cesar Cervantes (head of the national police force under Sagasti, fired by Castillo for authorizing raids on PL headquarters to investigate Cerrón)
Housing: Hania Pérez de Cuellar (no relation AFAIK) (former head of the national intellectual property agency)
Women: Grecia Rojas (vice minister and director of the unit on violence against women)
Environment: Alvina Ruiz (vice minister under Vizcarra and former head of an NGO)
Energy and Mining: Oscar Vera Gargurevich (civil servant within Petroperú)
Agriculture: Nelly Paredes del Castillo (head of the Forest Service)
Production: Sandra Belaúnde (director general for policy and regulation)
Culture: Jaír Pérez Bráñez (various roles within the ministry over 10 years)
Tourism: Luis Elguero González (trade advisor for the Japanese embassy)
Social Inclusion: Julio de Martini (vice minister for social assistance)

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Well, I expect the right to win in the presidential runoff and parliament once the government falls apart, just like in Ecuador when the centrist faction took over.

Of course, I expect the response to be worse than in Ecuador and violent protests to flare up almost immediately once they start f•••ing s••• up

My money is on López Aliaga, although I think he’d have to abandon his new job as mayor of Lima relatively quickly.

This is becoming more common in Spanish speaking countries, Boluarte is not the first. I think people call CFK "Vicepresidente"

Not at all, she always insisted that people should call her Presidenta (or vicepresidenta) while in office. In fact, I can't even find a news article (or anything really) where she is refered to as "Vicepresidente". Maybe someone that hates her uses the term ironically or something lol

Oh ok I must have confused that with someone else then

Perhaps Isabel Perón?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Unlike Castillo, antauro would be immediately removed by the parliament.

Aliaga should have this in the bag on paper.

Not without the Unbeatable Titans of the etnocacerismo-FREPAP coalition.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Antauro gave a speech last night in which he recognized Boluarte as the legitimate president, and his supporters responded by throwing bottles at him. https://twitter.com/AlexFebrero_/status/1601736334796025856?s=20&t=AYgnzTcOBRZ53HbXJXKqqQ

Pro-Castillo protests have begun in the rural south, with supporters taking over the airport in Andahuaylas (very symbolic as the site of Antauro’s failed uprising against the Toledo government, which landed him in prison for two decades).

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

All the terrible people in Peruvian politics are for Boluarte over Castillo, go figure

Antauro compared the impeachment to Bambi’s mom dying, so I’m not sure if we can say that he’s “for” Boluarte. Anyway, I don’t think anyone beyond Castillo’s deepest and most hardcore base, who either supports the coup or is desperately trying to rationalize it away (“he was drugged” etc) actually supports him anymore - the protesters we’re seeing currently and the maybe 15 or so allies he has left in Congress. The real question now is who supports fresh elections as soon as possible vs trying to see Boluarte and the current congress through til 2026.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Boluarte just gave a brief speech in which she announced that the next general election will be moved up to April 2024, two years ahead of schedule (as far as I can tell this is apparently the earliest date they could be realistically moved to). She also said that she’ll propose reforms to the political/electoral system, which she didn’t describe, and declare a state of emergency in “zones of high social conflict” (Interior Minister later confirmed that this is Ica, Arequipa, and Apurímac). Unsure whether this’ll calm the protests. Certainly not all of them, but perhaps some.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

Regrettably, protests have apparently resulted in four deaths already. It's not looking good at all.

Among other developments:

-Castillo and Betssy Chavez formally charged with rebellion and conspiracy against the state by the Attorney General.

-Castillo and allies double down on the whole "shadowy conspiracy, President was drugged" angle.

-Aníbal Torres becomes a self proclaimed fugitive, goes AWOL in physical terms and keeps claiming via Twitter the removal of Castillo was illegal.

Yeah, and one of the deaths was a 15-year-old :/. Very sad stuff.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

I support the protests in Peru. It's clear that Castillo was anticipating a coup with his self-coup and that removing Castillo from office on its own was a coup itself (even if i don't like Castillo myself).

 

Ousting Castillo from office wasn't legitimate and was a coup.

https://twitter.com/manolo_realengo/status/1602692451545845763

How exactly was it a coup? Furthermore, was Castillo's attempt to close Congress and take control of the judiciary not a coup? or are some coups better than others.

Westerners who instinctively support autocrats just because they say leftist things reeks of noble savagery. It’s just a shade away from the obnoxious statements that come around ever so often that every protest against a leftist leader is financed by the CIA.

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

“I support the protests in the United States. It's clear that Trump was anticipating a coup with his self-coup and that removing Trump from office on its own was a coup itself (even if i don't like Trump myself).”

And on the topic of the actual protests - what do they want? New elections? That’s already been announced. What’s left, freeing Castillo? Closing Congress and then…what, Boluarte or (god forbid) José Williams ruling by decree?

[H.E. VOLODYMYR ZELENKSYY]

“Legitimacy is when you’re elected, and the more elected you are the more legitimacy you have. Unless you were elected Vice President or to Congress.”