MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvian Congress impeaches Interior Minister over inactions

The motion to expel Senmache had been put forward by the Fujimorist Fuerza Popular party

Peru's one-house Parliament has impeached Interior Minister Dimitri Senmache out of office by 78 votes to 29 against and 8 abstentions after he was accused of being politically responsible for the escape of the former Transport and Communications Minister Juan Silva.

The motion to expel Senmache had been put forward by the Fujimorist Fuerza Popular party. Silva has been labeled a fugitive from justice after a warrant was issued against him.

Fuerza Popular had already mooted Senmache's sacking since his alleged “inaction” in capturing former presidential secretary Bruno Pacheco and Fray Vásquez, nephew of President Pedro Castillo Terrones, who were both involved in fudgy deals in which the MTC was a part.

Lawmakers of Peru Libre, the party that took Castillo to the presidency, also voted in favor of the minister's dismissal. Peru Libre spokesman Waldemar Cerrón had already pointed out that the party held Senmache accountable for the 14 deaths in the mining confrontation that happened in the province of Caravelí (Arequipa), last June 8.

“Peru Libre is going to vote in favor of the censure for several reasons: the massacre that is taking place in Arequipa with the working miners whose environment is being contaminated, the persecution and criminalization by those who administer justice to the political parties, and for allowing that justice is not being given to all equally,” argued Cerrón. ”An opposition is not given by whim, it is given by arguments, actions, and facts that have repercussions in the country. For example, allowing the massacre of miners in Arequipa, in Las Bambas, (...) seems to us highly serious. Those are the reasons why we are going to vote for censure,“ he added.

”It is not a matter of coincidence with this or that bench. We must have autonomy, independence, and originality. In that sense, Perú Libre has an ideology and will always be in favor and in defense of democracy”, he also pointed out.