One year on, Peru’s president fights for political survival - Al Jazeera English | Canada News Media
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One year on, Peru’s president fights for political survival – Al Jazeera English

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Lima, Peru – A year since his moonshot ascent to Peru’s highest office, socialist President Pedro Castillo is in the throes of political crisis.

Sworn in last July, the campesino teacher and union leader from rural Peru today faces mounting corruption allegations, a grim approval rating and a stillborn legislative agenda thwarted by an opposition-dominated congress.

One year into his five-year term, Castillo has survived two impeachment attempts, a whiplash-inducing change of cabinet ministers, and deepening economic and political strife.

Last summer, Castillo, a political fledgling and son of illiterate farmers, stormed into Lima from his native Cajamarca in Peru’s northern Andes. An improbable frontman for his Marxist Free Peru party, he promised to rewrite Peru’s constitution, redistribute mineral wealth and resuscitate a nation reeling from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Backed by a coterie of peasant supporters, his message confounded Peru’s left-wing bourgeoisie and shook business and political elites. Rarely seen without his trademark straw hat, Castillo fired up campesino and Indigenous Peruvians with a simple mandate: “No more poor people in a rich country.”

Demonstrators protest against Castillo’s government in Lima in June [File: Sebastian Castaneda/Reuters]

His deeply unpopular far-right challenger, Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Peruvian strongman Alberto Fujimori, admonished voters that Castillo’s economic policies would steer the country into a crisis similar to Venezuela’s. But to many among Peru’s exasperated electorate, which had endured four presidents and two congresses in five years, both candidates represented dangerous extremes. Castillo won by just 44,000 votes in a runoff election last June.

“When he came into office, it’s not at all that he enjoyed the mandate of a majority,” Cynthia McClintock, a political science professor at George Washington University, told Al Jazeera. “He faced a congress in which forces on the right were very opposed to him, and a lot of people voted for him very worried.”

Corruption probe

Days after assuming office, Castillo drew fire for naming a number of inexperienced and hardline nominees to his cabinet, some with alleged criminal ties. His fealty to Marxist Free Peru’s party boss, Vladimir Cerron, raised the spectre that he would embrace regional autocrats and enact a radical agenda that would spook foreign investment.

Amid multiple cabinet reshuffles, his marquee campaign promises, including amending Peru’s 1993 dictatorship-era constitution, were rebuffed by congress. In March, he survived a second impeachment attempt, driven by right-wing parties who cited “moral incapacity” and corruption allegations.

In May, Peru’s attorney general revealed that Castillo would be included in a corruption probe into his alleged role as ringleader of a “criminal network” within his transportation ministry, which purportedly received bribes for public works contracts. Castillo, who testified before prosecutors in June, has denied wrongdoing. He is the first president in Peru’s history to be investigated by national prosecutors while in office.

The president has also been at the centre of other recent criminal probes, including for allegedly pressuring military leadership to promote officers favourable to his government.

Twisting the knife, prosecutors last week announced plans to investigate Castillo for alleged obstruction of justice over the firing of his interior minister, Mariano Gonzalez, who had sanctioned a special task force to locate and arrest fugitive allies of the president.

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Former transport minister Juan Silva and the president’s nephew, Fray Vasquez, both facing criminal charges, are currently in hiding. Peru’s public ministry has also opened a preliminary investigation into Castillo’s sister-in-law, Yenifer Paredes, for allegedly using ties to the president to win a sanitation contract in Cajamarca.

Castillo’s office did not respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on the ongoing investigations. On Thursday, the embattled president is set to address congress and the nation on the 201st anniversary of Peru’s independence from Spain.

“I think the overall consensus is that he is not prepared at all for this job,” McClintock said. “The learning curve has not been what anybody has hoped for. I would say an awful lot of the debate is: Will he survive, and what’s going to happen if he doesn’t?”

‘We’ve been duped’

With a divided opposition, no clear presidential successor and a populace hardened by government corruption, Castillo faces mounting problems. National strikes by truckers unions and farmers over the soaring costs of fuel, fertiliser and food sparked by Russia’s war in Ukraine have undermined trust in his ability to govern.

The president’s disapproval rating reached 70 percent in a recent poll – and that discontent was apparent earlier this month in Lima’s San Martin Plaza, where Mari Castillo, also a Cajamarca native, served up stewed chicken to a crush of protesters marching for housing justice.

“We were proud to have a campesino president. But he’s doing an awful job,” Castillo told Al Jazeera. “Prices are going up. We thought things would get better, but we’ve been duped.”

Snapping photos of the government palace in Lima’s main plaza, Hualberto Sandoval, a small-town mayor in the coastal department of Lambayeque, also expressed dismay. “I speak for a lot of Peruvians who are upset about what we’re seeing and hearing,” he told Al Jazeera. “We want to believe he’s capable of leading. We need police funding, infrastructure. It’s been a year and he hasn’t delivered.”

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Blocks away, Jaime Amasifuen was selling fish parts from a styrofoam cooler alongside the Pan-American Highway. “[Castillo] promised to help the poor,” he told Al Jazeera. “But things are worse. The prices of fish are sky-high. He’s the leader. He needs to do something about it.”

The president has proposed legislation to congress that would lower sales tax on essential food items. While Peru’s economy has remained relatively stable during Castillo’s tenure, girded in part by the country’s robust mining sector, countless Peruvians toiling in the informal economy have felt the pinch of rising prices.

In central Lima’s hillside shantytown of Cantagallo, Pilar Arce, a native Shipibo artist from the Amazon, said she was hopeful that a president with humble origins might advocate for Indigenous people. “But a year later, the country isn’t advancing,” Arce told Al Jazeera. “Who can buy art when they’re worried about where their next meal is coming from?”

Meanwhile, supporters of the president, such as Andres Huamani, blame the country’s elites for inventing corruption allegations and polarising the nation: “The media, the rich and powerful, and the conservative political class have all been hellbent on taking him down,” Huamani told Al Jazeera. “They haven’t given him a chance from the start.”

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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