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Peru’s new president promises constitution change

AFP

Leftist Pedro Castillo was sworn in as Peru’s fifth president in three years Wednesday on the 200th anniversary of the country’s independence, promising an end to corruption and a new constitution.

The 51-year-old rural schoolteacher, who has vowed to upend a quarter-century of neo-liberal government, enters the job with a lengthy to-do list: tame the coronavirus epidemic, reactivate a flagging economy and end years of political turmoil.

“I swear by the people of Peru for a country without corruption and for a new constitution,” he declared before Congress, coming back to a campaign promise to change Peru’s free market-friendly founding law.

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The existing charter is a relic of ex-president Alberto Fujimori, serving jail time for corruption and crimes against humanity, and father of Castillo’s main presidential rival, right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori.

Insisting Peru could not “remain a prisoner” of the 1993 constitution, Castillo said he would send a bill to parliament with a view to organizing a referendum on replacing it.

Castillo’s Free Peru party does not enjoy a majority in a fragmented congress, holding 37 of the 130 seats. 

He was declared the election victor on July 19, more than six weeks after a runoff race against Fujimori, whose allegations of voter fraud then had to be reviewed by an electoral jury.

For her part, Fujimori said on Twitter that her Popular Force party “will be a firm wall against the latent threat of a new communist constitution.” 

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“We will make a responsible democratic defense,” she added.

Wednesday’s swearing-in was attended by Spanish King Felipe VI, five Latin American leaders, former Bolivian president Evo Morales and the United States education secretary, among other guests.

Some 10,000 police officers were deployed in the capital Lima, and Castillo voters came out waving banners in a show of support.

– ‘New deal’ with investors –

“This is the first time this country will be governed by a peasant,” Castillo told guests, sporting his trademark, traditional white sombrero and a typical black Andean suit.

He also sought to calm fears among the business community, who had sought to portray him as a communist who would turn Peru into a new Venezuela.

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“During the election campaign it was said that we are going to expropriate (assets). It is totally false. We want the economy to have order,” the new president said, adding, however, that he would be looking for a “new deal with private investors.”

Castillo is Peru’s first president in decades with no ties to the country’s political or economic elite.

He has promised reform to ensure there are “no more poor people in a rich country,” but has softened his initial campaign talk of nationalization.

He is a devout Catholic opposed to gay marriage and abortion.

Peru has been hard-hit by the coronavirus epidemic. With nearly 200,000 deaths among its 32 million population, it has the world’s highest reported mortality rate.

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An extended pandemic lockdown in 2020 is blamed for the loss of millions of jobs and dumping the country into recession. GDP dropped more than 11 percent.

– President of all Peruvians –

It is widely hoped Castillo will bring an end to years of political upheaval in Peru.

A series of corruption scandals saw three different presidents in office in a single week last November.

Seven of the country’s last 10 leaders have either been convicted or are under investigation for graft.

Now that she has lost, Fujimori faces a corruption trial for allegedly taking illicit campaign funding for two previous presidential bids.

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The election campaign has also been deeply polarizing, with often vehement public support on both sides of the political spectrum for the final two contenders.

“Castillo must rapidly position himself as a president of all Peruvians and not as a president of half of Peruvians,” political analyst Jessica Smith told AFP.

Shortly after Wednesday’s inauguration ceremony, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza arrived in Lima, according to the Andina news agency.

This marked a turning point in relations, with Peru among dozens of countries — including the United States — to have recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela’s legitimate leader over President Nicolas Maduro.

Free Peru is one of few left-wing Peruvian parties to defend Maduro’s regime.

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Castillo, who has vowed to renounce his presidential salary, said Wednesday he would not govern from the official presidential residence, Pizarro Palace, in a “break with the colonial symbols,” and said he would return to his schoolteacher’s job at the end of his five-year term.

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International

Haiti’s new Prime Minister, Garry Conille, promises to face the serious crisis

The new Prime Minister of Haiti, Garry Conille, pledged to work with the Presidential Transitional Council to solve the problems facing the country, plunged into an unprecedented socio-political crisis, as he said in a 9-minute message posted on his YouTube account.

“I am now committed to working closely with all the counselors to solve the urgent problems facing the country,” he said.

Conille assured that he is also committed to working for the success of the transition, before stressing that he has “accepted the position with great humility,” thanking the counselors and organizations that placed their trust in him.

He called his appointment a “great step forward” for Haiti, despite the crisis it is currently going through. Conille stated that, since his election by the Council, he has dialogued with the actors of the national and international community.

“The Presidential Council is already actively working to identify the profiles that will form the Government. We are going to work so that the Transitional Government reflects the courage, generosity, resilience and diversity of the Haitian people,” he said.

“The average age of the Haitian population is 23 years old. So young people must be well represented. Half of the population are women. Women must find their place in the Government,” he said.

He promised that, together with the Presidential Transitional Council, he will do everything possible to find competent people with honest practices, who love his country and are willing to sacrifice themselves to fight for it.

Conille drew a critical picture of the situation in Haiti, which is going through a difficult period. “And despite the many sacrifices of the police, armed groups occupy a large part of the metropolitan region. They kill and rape without punishment,” he lamented.

“Several hundred thousand compatriots have been forced to leave their homes, almost half of the population does not have enough food to eat every day, and it is in difficult conditions that four million students go to school,” he recalled.

“Medicines, dispensaries and hospitals are becoming luxuries. Small merchants close their doors and the cost of living increases,” he said.

“If we join, I can guarantee that we will get out of the situation we are in. I have always believed that there is no Haitian fatality,” Conille said, stating that he is sure that the country will get the final victory.

In his message he also said: “We will do everything possible to make this transition a success. And to make sure that our institutions are in place on time,” remembering that Haiti cannot lose and that the country will not lose.

The Presidential Transitional Council of Haiti, composed of seven members with voice and vote and two others with voice only, published on Thursday the decree appointing Garry Conille as prime minister in the official newspaper Le Moniteur, two days after electing him at the National Palace.

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International

What is Trump’s chance of going to jail?

Donald Trump became the first former American president to be convicted in a criminal trial on Thursday, but his guilty verdict for falsification of commercial records does not imply, according to various experts, that he will go to jail.

The jury of his trial in New York did not absolve him of any of the 34 charges against him, each of which can result in a fine of up to $5,000 and up to four years in prison, in case he imposed the maximum penalty.

However, it is most likely that it will be dictated that what is decided for each of those positions will be fulfilled at the same time, which would reduce that period between bars to four years in total.

Dan Horwtitz, a defense lawyer who in the past took ‘white-neck’ cases for the office of the Manhattan District Prosecutor’s Office, pointed out on Thursday on CBS News that the possibility of house arrest is the most feasible.

That sentence would allow the former president and pre-candidate for the November elections to continue his campaign, even if it was virtually.

But the possibilities are wide: Judge Juan Merchan, in the opinion of the expert, “could sentence him to a period of months or weeks in prison or he could demand that he go to jail every weekend for a while and then serve the rest of the sentence on parole.”

The 77-year-old Republican president, his status and lack of background are presented as points in his favor.

According to the NBC News channel, an analysis of “thousands of cases” similar to the one starring Trump points out that “very few people” end up in bars: barely one in ten convicted of falsifying commercial records, and those cases used to also involve other crimes.

The former president faced 34 charges of serious crimes of falsification of commercial records, all related to the reimbursement to his lawyer for paying in 2016 a total of $130,000 to the porn actress Stormy Daniels to silence an alleged sexual relationship in 2006.

The sentence will be announced on July 11, four days before the start of the convention in which the Republican Party is expected to officially proclaim Trump as its candidate for the November elections.

In any case, the possible appeal of the former president would delay an eventual entry into prison.

The New York Times made it clear on Thursday that nothing can be taken for granted: “But there have been no indication of what Judge Merchan could decide, he has made it known that he takes white collar crimes seriously. Trump has attacked him and continuously denounced him as “partial and corrupt,” that newspaper said.

At the moment Trump is still a free man and a prison sentence would not invalidate his candidacy or his eventual presidency. The U.S. Constitution does not provide for anything about it, since it only requires presidents to be at least 35 years old and that they are U.S. citizens who have lived in the country for 14 years.

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International

‘Norita’ Cortiñas, a reference in the Mothers’ struggle against the Argentine dictatorship, dies at 94

Nora Cortiñas, co-founder of the human rights association Madres de Plaza de Mayo and one of the emblems of the fight against the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1977-1983), died this Thursday at the age of 94, according to her family.

“We are still proud to have shared his life, his imprint and his teaching will leave an indelible mark on his family and in society,” his relatives published to report on his death, which took place this Thursday, after several days of hospitalization.

‘Norita”s son, Carlos Gustavo Cortiñas, was arrested on April 15, 1977.

Although she could never know what happened to her son, her claims against the military led her to protest in the Plaza de Mayo, where the Casa Rosada (seat of the Executive) is located, where she inspired hundreds of people affected by the reprisals of the dictatorship.

Despite her age, she could still see her in the famous Buenos Aires enclave until the beginning of May, when she left for the last time, as every Thursday since 1977.

He was also present at the latest edition of the Buenos Aires Book Fair, in a tribute to journalist María Seoane.

From a Spanish family, social psychologist and professor at the University of Buenos Aires, Cortiñas showed in 2018 her support for the legalization of abortion in Argentina, a historic decision for the South American country.

His figure inspired a soccer team, the Norita Fútbol Club, made up of women and directed by Gloria Argentina ‘Betty’ García, a pioneer of women’s football in the South American country.

The organization Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo expressed its “deep pain” in a message published on the social network X, as did former President Alberto Fernández (2019-2023), who said that he left “a tireless symbol of the fight for human rights in Argentina,” while “his legacy and courage” will continue to inspire everyone.

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