The Peruvian congress deepens its discredit and fuels the fire of the crisis

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90% of the inhabitants of that country reject Parliament, but disapproval rises to 95% in southern Peru, the motor of the protests
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A new scandal shakes a legislature reluctant to advance the general elections
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The depth of the Peruvian political crisis is that of a bottomless hole: you can always go down a little more, as the recent survey of the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP) has just shown. . The interim president Dina Boluarte it has only 15% acceptance. However, in the south of the country, the epicenter of the protests that left at least 60 dead and threaten to reactivate at this time, its popularity is barely 7%. As for the Congress, the decisive power since 2018, when the congress began. When he began to practice the sport of removing executive authorities, his discredit is even greater. 90% of Peruvians reject him. When you leave Lima, the bad image climbs to 95%.
Parliament has just been dotted by another scandalous episode: the costs of culinary habits and other personal consumption that legislators allow themselves at the expense of the state. High-end telephones, computer screens purchased at exorbitant prices, car parking expenses, and, in addition, food services when they have sessions. The president of Congress, the extreme right-winger José; Williams, faces a complaint against the prosecutor's office. The former head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces proclaimed his innocence. He said the “administrative activities” of the legislature are not his concern.
Williams acquired the company. special renown in 1997 when, by order of the autocrat Alberto Fujimori, topped the the operation that allowed the rescued from the Japanese embassy 72 hostages that were in the hands of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). A decade later, he was indicted for illicit enrichment and had five bank accounts seized. But Peruvian politics always offers new opportunities and it came to life. to Congress by the hand of a conservative party.
#CongresoInforma l “It is clear that everything that is administrative, purchasing and “Acquisitions are under the responsibility of the administrative part of Congress,” confirmed the president. the head of Parliament, @jwilliamszapata. pic.twitter.com/4a9C6KDhGB
— Congress of Peru 🇵🇪 (@congresoperu) February 28, 2023
The ex-soldier has an ambiguous position regarding the demand of the street: the holding of the general elections this year. “A time of meditation is necessary, a time so that the congressmen can think well about the matter and we do not rush with a project,” he said days ago. The reflection of parliamentarians has always been accompanied by a good palate. “As of the date, the dining room is being asked to provide service with a varied menu, with different nutrition topics, but that will be covered by the user and not for the congressional budget, not even in parliamentary sessions,” the official announced. officially. Another issue that has aroused social irritation is related to the purchase of carpets enough to upholster the building. At the address of the company that won the award. the tender finds a chicken shop.
Dangerous turn
“With a runaway Congress, things can come that do more damage to the country. We also have the Executive branch wanting to penalize all forms of protest. This, far from intimidating the public, what will “The only thing to achieve is for the protest to be better articulated, to which other people will join in asking for the resignation of Mrs. Boluarte and the call for new elections,” said the president. the former Ombudsman Walter Albán. In his opinion, the Constitutional Court “is acting in the same direction as Congress” and, in this way, contributes to further undermining the institutional framework.
“¿ ;What authoritarian risk are we facing?”, he asked himself. Martín Tanaka, columnist for the Lima newspaper The Trade. What is happening, he maintained, is the result of the presence in the Pizarro Palace, the headquarters of the Executive, of an “informal coalition of a populist and conservative nature” and, at the same time, a Congress that has a central role. “in this process of destroying democracy.”
The boredom of the Peruvians goes beyond the ordinary. de Boluarte and the sybaritic parliamentarians. The IEP asked you what asked the respondents what It seems to you that a political figure should retire from the scene. 31.6% named the leader of the right-wing Fuerza Popular formation, Keiko Fujimori Higuchi. But a good part of the people consulted laconically said “they all go away”.
In this context, hundreds of citizens from the most poor people from the south decided to return to the capital to demand the resignation of the provisional head of state. Unlike what happened in the when it started The social outbreak, at the beginning of December, the protesters no longer demanded the release of the dismissed Pedro Castillo. That claim is more vehement on the part of the Mexican government. The Prosecutor's Office specializing in crimes committed by public officials requested This Tuesday, 36 months of preventive prison for the former president for alleged acts of corruption committed during his ephemeral term.