Ousted president challenges detention

LIMA (AP):

Amid violent nationwide protests over Peru’s political crisis, ousted President Pedro Castillo told Peruvians Tuesday that he is being “unjustly and arbitrarily detained” and thanked his supporters for their “effort and fight” since he was taken into custody last week.

Castillo spoke during a hearing on his appeal of his preliminary detention while authorities build a rebellion case against him. Castillo was detained last Wednesday after he was ousted by lawmakers when he sought to dissolve Congress ahead of an impeachment vote. Prosecutors are hoping to keep him behind bars for up to three years.

“I will never renounce or abandon this popular cause that has brought me here,” Castillo said. Then, in apparent reference to the violent protests over his ouster, he urged the national police and armed forces to “lay down their arms and stop killing this people thirsty for justice”.

The judge interrupted him, telling Castillo to limit his remarks to legal arguments. He said he would rule on Castillo’s detention later Tuesday.

The protests have been particularly violent outside Peru’s capital, Lima. The Ombudsman’s Office of Peru reported Monday that seven people had died since the demonstrations began Wednesday, including five on Monday. All seven happened in rural, impoverished communities – strongholds for Castillo, a political neophyte and former schoolteacher of peasant roots.

Four of the seven deaths occurred in Andahuaylas, a remote rural Andean community where the poor have struggled for years and where voters overwhelmingly supported Castillo during last year’s runoff election, which he won by 44,000 votes. Many businesses there remained closed on Tuesday, with streets blocked by burned tyres, rocks and tree branches.

Shoe store owner Vilma Zúñiga put up a sign that read ‘Congress is the worst virus. Out with Dina Boluarte’, referring to Castillo’s successor. She and other merchants decided to close their doors, losing potential sales ahead of the holidays.

Attorney Ronaldo Atencio, speaking for Castillo’s legal team, argued that he didn’t raise weapons or organise people capable of overturning the existing government, as Peruvian law requires for someone to be charged with rebellion. He also said Castillo doesn’t present a flight risk, and never sought asylum from Mexico, as confirmed by the Mexican ambassador.

Boluarte, Castillo’s running mate and vice president, was swiftly sworn in Wednesday after Congress dismissed Castillo for “permanent moral incapacity”.