By Alberto Giovanelli
A few months after his inauguration, the crisis that erupted in the Castillo government continues to worsen day by day. This week, the acceptance of the resignation of controversial Prime Minister Guido Bellido and his replacement by Frente Amplio Congresswoman Mirtha Vázquez, ratify the “turn towards moderation” as the traditional media calls it, though in reality it is a definitive break with the proposals that took Castillo to the government.
In addition to the removal of Bellido, the Minister of Labor Iber Maraví was also replaced, accused of his alleged sympathy with Sendero Luminoso, while the Minister of Economy, Pedro Francke, a moderate whose presence brings reassurance to the economic and financial powers, was ratified. The government does not abandon the “prudence and caution” that Castillo himself has expressed in his recent visit to the US, where time and again he insisted on appearing trustworthy, encouraging foreign investment in Peru and offering every type of guarantee.
The separation of Bellido, who said he did not know the reasons for his separation, deepens the confrontation with Vladimir Cerrón’s Peru Libre party, on whose ballot Castillo launched himself into the presidency. We believe that all these steps ratify a governmental turn that abandons the few progressive measures of an already timid program. For example, Bellido´s separation occurs in the middle of the discussion about the profits of the international gas consortiums and their opposition to showing their profits as Bellido was requesting, threatening with the possibility of nationalizations if their accounts were not published.
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Peru Libre has now pulled all support for the new cabinet and accused the new Labor Minister Betssy Chavez, a legislator of Peru Libre itself, as a traitor. Vladimir Cerrón (the leader of Peru Libre) has just made statements denouncing and confronting the government: “these measures are a new surrender to the fascist right,” he said in a statement, and raised the prospect of “demanding our share of power through the mobilization of the people.”
In this context, the new cabinet must be approved in congress and the appointees appear to be a new gesture towards the opposition to guarantee “governability.”
As detailed above, Castillo appointed Mirtha Vásquez, former president of Congress and a congresswoman of the Frente Amplio, as Bellido’s successor. All the new ministers and those who have been ratified have been greeted by the opposition parties, though as expected, they will not give up their demands for more “moderation” and are now proposing the abandonment of the discussion of constitutional reform, to avoid what the right wing calls “sterile confrontations.”
This rapid turn by the government that seeks the conformity of the traditional powers, once again proves useless in even producing cosmetic changes. The bourgeoisie and imperialism will never be satisfied, the concessions will never suffice for these sectors.
These are the reasons that make us ratify that it is essential to resume the fight for the demands that made Castillo win the elections. It is essential to redouble efforts to build in Peru a true anti-capitalist, socialist and revolutionary alternative that calls for mobilization to impose a true program at the service of the working class and the people of Peru.