Peru’s ‘first poor president’ on trial for rebellion

LIMA (AFP): Peru’s ousted ex-president Pedro Castillo went on trial accused of rebellion in Lima Tuesday for attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree to avoid impeachment for alleged graft.

Castillo, a leftist former schoolteacher dubbed Peru’s “first poor president” on his election in 2021, has been held in preventive custody since December 2022.

He attended the first day of the trial, which is expected to last months, flanked by two penitentiary agents. He was dressed in a light-colored shirt, dark pants and without his trademark wide-brimmed straw hat.

Prosecutors have asked for a 34-year prison sentence for Castillo, 55, on charges of rebellion and abuse of authority.

Born in a small village where he taught for 24 years, Castillo gained national prominence as a union leader during a teachers’ strike in 2017.

After taking office in July 2021, he immediately faced vehement political opposition on all fronts and investigations started almost immediately into numerous graft claims.

Castillo rejected the allegations as part of a political plot to oust him.

He had survived two impeachment votes and was about to be subjected to a third — prompting his attempt to dissolve Congress.

Instead, Castillo was arrested as he was making his way to the Mexican embassy in Lima with his wife and two children, and impeached after just 17 months in office.

His family are still at the embassy, seeking asylum.

Castillo is the fourth former Peruvian president in the last quarter century to find himself in the dock on charges ranging from corruption to human rights violations.

Peru suffers from chronic political instability and has had six presidents in the past eight years.

Castillo was replaced by his vice-president Dina Boluarte, who has clung to power despite numerous protests demanding she step down and call early elections.

A crackdown left 50 protesters and bystanders — including eight children — dead, according to Human Rights Watch.

Boluarte, 62, is being investigated over the deaths, though she enjoys immunity from prosecution until the presidential term she took over from Castillo ends in 2026.

She is also under investigation for allegedly accepting bribes in the form of Rolex watches and jewelry, and for allegedly abandoning her duties to have plastic surgery performed on her nose — a procedure she insists was medical, not cosmetic.