- Atahualpa Amerise @atareports
- BBC News World
image source, Congress of the Republic of Peru
A year into power, President Pedro Castillo’s problems are piling up.
Three out of four Peruvians disapprove of the 52-year-old former rural teacher and trade unionist’s administration as head of government.
Castillo confronts his wife, Lilia Paredes Six line inquiriesThe last one opened this Thursday, a record for a sitting president in the South American country.
Many of his close associates and family members, including his sister-in-law Yennefer Paredes, have been singled out by the justice system.
the walls It was delivered on Wednesday The prosecution came after they raided the president’s house and palace in search of him.
Who is she and what are they accusing?
She is the 26-year-old younger sister of the first lady, 49.
However, the figures of the president and his wife are very similar to the figures of their parents, not only the age difference, but also that he grew up with the couple from childhood. Like a step daughter.
image source, Good pictures
Pedro Castillo and First Lady Lilia Paredes, who is 23 years older than his sister, Yennefer.
And, according to the lawsuit, it was a key part of a corruption and money-laundering network allegedly run by the Peruvian leader.
Prosecutors point to the first lady as the coordinator of the crime team and three of the president’s sisters-in-law, including Yennefer Paredes.
They allege that several members of the President’s inner circle ran shell companies.
Yenifer Paredes helped the owner of one of those companies Public works contracts available Despite the lack of financial resources and experience to implement them, according to prosecutors.
Other associates of the president allegedly linked to the plot include a son-in-law who served as an adviser, a former transport minister – who is also a fugitive from justice – and a former presidential secretary.
What evidence is there
He released a controversial video as evidence for the government’s allegations.
Pictures show the president’s sister-in-law talking to residents of a community in the Xota district of the Cajamarca region, about 800 km north of Lima.
Although she holds no position in government, Yennefer Paredes communicates what she needs to these people. Survey them to create a job Hygiene.
The young woman appears in the video with the businessman who won the state tender for more than 3.8 million soles (US$978,000) in September 2021.
Because of this controversial connection, Paredes was already summoned to Congress a month ago, where he admitted to working for the businessman and agreed to a “verbal” agreement with him, but despite his continued visits, did not influence his public contracts. Government Palace..
image source, Congress of the Republic of Peru
Paredes appeared before the Congressional Oversight Committee in mid-July.
On Tuesday, the judiciary issued the order Preliminary detention for 10 days The prosecution launched a massive operation against the President’s sister-in-law and to track her down.
The operation included a search of the presidential palace, unprecedented in Peru, where the forces of order have never entered the seat of executive power to make an arrest.
After more than 24 hours at an unknown location, Paredes surrendered to prosecutors this Wednesday.
Legal charge or conspiracy against Castillo
Her lawyer, José Dionisio Quesne, described the first lady’s younger sister’s voluntary surrender to justice as an act of “courage and courage” in statements to local radio RPP.
And knowing that his sister-in-law had surrendered, the President retaliated.
“They won’t break me,” he announced after lamenting.They beat my family seriously”.
“This is part of the struggle (…) and we are going to move forward to establish a just Peru,” he stressed.
image source, Good pictures
Castillo maintains his innocence and the innocence of his relatives, and says the investigations are the result of a conspiracy to usurp his power.
A day earlier, he announced that he had responded to a raid on the presidential palace.An obvious combination “to subvert the democratic order between a section of Congress, the Attorney General’s Office, and the press.”
Pedro Castillo also spoke of a “media show” and considers the actions against him part of a plan to remove him from power.
The prosecution, for its part, issued a statement defending its work and affirming that it would pursue it “courageously” and “under objective principle, legal principle and due process”.
The Attorney General, Patricia Benavides, also denounced “attacks” against her to “obstruct” the investigations of Peru’s president and his relatives.
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