Photo: ALESSANDRO CINQUE/REUTERS / Deutsche Welle
Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, accused of “rebellion” and “conspiracy”, will continue to be detained at a police base after an appeals court declared unfounded this Tuesday (14.12.64073342) your request to revoke the court order that deprived you of your liberty.
The Judge César San Martín decided, after a virtual hearing, “to declare unfounded the appeal filed by the defendant’s defense”
, who asked for his release within seven days of his preliminary detention on December 7. The magistrate points out in the ruling that there is a risk of flight, since Castillo tried to reach the Mexican Embassy to request asylum after being dismissed by Congress.
Castillo will remain detained at the headquarters of the National Directorate of Special Operations (DINOES) to the east of Lima until December 24, the date on which the preliminary detention period expires. The judicial resolution opens the way for the Prosecutor’s Office to present a request for preventive detention against the former leftist president for a longer period of time.
Condition nationwide emergency
Meanwhile, Vice President Dina Boluarte called for “calm, for peace, so that we can live as brothers”, and announced that, in the Council of State with the Armed Forces, she will evaluate declaring a “national state of emergency” due to the protests.
The Army together with the Police patrol the streets of various cities under a state of emergency. Violent demonstrations against Boluarte persist and there are numerous roadblocks in 24 of the 96 regions of the country, according to a balance of the Police.
In Lima, the protests have also turned violent, with clashes between demonstrators and police in an unequal pitched battle of handmade weapons and stones against firearms and tear gas.
Several agrarian and indigenous unions began on Tuesday an “indefinite strike” in demand for general elections. Its impact is still unknown, but it has already caused the suspension of the train service between Cusco and the Inca citadel Machu Picchu, a jewel of Peruvian tourism. Cusco Airport was closed from 12 of December after protesters tried to take it .
In addition , a group of some 80 people took over the natural gas compression plant on Tuesday Kámani. The Transportadora de Gas del Perú (TGP), in charge of transporting approximately 80 % of the natural gas it produces the country, informed through a statement that the groups of protesters forced the accesses to the plant, where high-pressure hydrocarbons circulate, and warned that “any attack on this infrastructure could seriously jeopardize the integrity” of the people present.
Support for Castillo from abroad
On the other hand, some leftist governments in Latin America they continue to defend Castillo despite the self-coup. “Pedro Castillo is still the president” of Peru, Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Tuesday at his morning press conference.
In a joint statement, Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia and Mexico supported Castillo on December 12 and asked to respect “the popular will expressed through free suffrage”.
The Peruvian Foreign Ministry responded by recalling that Castillo was dismissed by Congress in accordance with the Constitution because he perpetrated a “coup d’état” and asked countries to help Peru “protect democratic institutions and the rule of law.”
It may interest you: –Congress of Peru admits constitutional complaint against Castillo –Court orders the release of the president’s sister-in-law Peruvian entity Pedro Castillo –3 questions to understand the unprecedented constitutional complaint against President Pedro Castillo of Peru and the doubts about whether it is legal