The coup given by the now former president Pedro Castillo in our country last Wednesday December 7 is serving as a sieve to differentiate those politicians committed to democracy above any ideological sympathy from those who are not. Among the first are the governments that in recent days have highlighted the response of Peruvian institutions to the blow of an aspiring tyrant who was surrounded by serious signs of corruption to which he was never able (or wanted) to respond and that, in a desperate and last attempt, he tried to close Parliament and intervene in the justice system. Among the latter, those who, on the contrary, have served and continue to serve as sad troupes of the most ephemeral dictator in the history of our Republic.
In this regard, a few hours ago the governments of Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico and Argentina spread a joint statement that seems to have been written by an acolyte of the ex-president and that shows, in the best of cases, a complete disconnection from reality and, at worst, a rude manipulation of it. After qualifying Pedro Castillo Terrones as “president of the Republic of Peru” and to express their concern regarding “the recent events” that led to his vacancy and his arrest, the signatories ask that “the will of the citizens that was pronounced at the polls” be “prioritized” and that “those who make up the institutions” “refrain” “from reversing the popular will expressed through free suffrage.” Or, in other words, that the person who just five days ago gave a coup and tried to subdue the autonomous institutions of this country to save his skin. This, in addition, without mentioning anywhere in the document the blow that the ex-president gave to Peruvian democracy with a view to destroying it, as if it had not existed or as if they were trying to pretend that they did not see it or do not consider it something serious. An attitude that in our language is perfectly defined with one word: cynical.
On the other hand, suggesting that the will of the citizens expressed at the polls in the 2021 elections is not being respected in our country is a fallacy that must be denounced. Who has assumed the reins of the Peruvian Government has been In Boluartewho was elected by the Peruvians who voted for the presidential formula that she integrated as vice president of the coup leader and to whom the Constitution entrusts her with following the line of presidential succession when the head of state becomes vacant, as has been the case. case.
In a good sense, then, what the governments of Colombia, Bolivia, Mexico and Argentina are asking for is that Peruvians cover our eyes before what was a deliberate attempt to destroy democracy in our country for the sake of ‘prioritizing’ a twisted and whimsical notion of ‘popular will’ above what our laws dictate. A request that is not only shameless (which deserves a forceful and rapid response from our Foreign Ministry, which has remained silent until now), but also manifestly anti-democratic and that paints those who endorsed it from the full body.
As we said at the beginning, the reactions to the coup perpetrated by Pedro Castillo in our country they have been serving as a sieve to separate those who are truly committed to democratic ideals from those who, on the contrary, only appeal to them when they serve their interests or those of their ideological peers. In this sense, the shameful publication by the Mexican, Bolivian, Colombian and Argentine governments should also serve as a warning to the citizens of these sister countries, since it is not an exaggeration to say that, placed in a similar situation, those who have been acting as open defenders of a coup plotter, they would most likely act as the one with whom they stand in solidarity today.
