MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peruvians want Castillo to resign

Castillo is involved in a series of corruption scandals and has already survived two impeachment attemps

Residents of Peru's largest cities including the capital, Lima, took to the streets during the weekend demanding the resignation of President Pedro Castillo Terrones, who has been involved in several corruption scandals since taking office over a year ago.

“In the cities of Lima, Trujillo, Huancayo, Cusco, Chiclayo, Arequipa, and Piura, demonstrators peacefully raised their voices of protest against the administration of President Pedro Castillo and called for his resignation,” local media reported.

Castillo is under investigation by six prosecutors for alleged corruption crimes. Prosecutors have grounds to believe that the head of state is the leader of a group dedicated to various acts of corruption and made up of politicians, businessmen, and some of their relatives, while the President claims that Congress, Prosecutors, and the Judiciary are part of a plot to remove him from office with support from local media.

Protesters staging the so-called “Reacciona Peru” (Peru React) demonstration blew vuvuzelas and donned t-shirts of the national football team in addition to banners reading “no to acts of corruption” in Lima and elsewhere.

If Castillo does not resign, the movement sought to trigger a new motion to vacate (impeachment trial), of which Castillo has already survived two in his first six months in office. Vice-President Dina Boluarte should also resign, the demonstrators insisted.