This article first appeared on Infobae on November 10, 2021.
President Pedro Castillo, during the presentation of the report of his first 100 days in office in Ayacucho, announced that the Executive will present to Congress a bill so that people who have been charged with corruption cases will not be able to run for public office.
According to the president’s words, in his government, nobody will steal a single sol and if any public servant incurs in this, he will be the first to denounce and expel him.
“We will not only punish the official but also the corruptor, we are presenting a project that punishes legal persons. Peruvians are tired of those accused of corruption participating in politics. Today we have presented a bill to prohibit people accused of corruption from being candidates for popular election”, he said.
“Never again accused of corruption or gang leaders should participate in politics. Never again revolving doors, there is the bad habit of the living person who occupies a position to watch over particular interests and not the interests of the people”, he added.
The president began his speech singing a part of the song ‘Flor de Retama’ before hundreds of people came to the Plaza de Armas of Ayacucho to listen to his announcements.
“I come to this historic land of Ayacucho, because he who owes nothing, fears nothing because this land represents the effort, bravery, and courage of a people because here was sealed the Independence of Peru and all America”, began Pedro Castillo.
“We are here not only to remember history but to continue making history as men of the people? Peruvians have elected a teacher, a peasant, and an order to lead this Nation and they did it because they wanted a change, not to continue doing the same,” he added.
“We found a State that has always turned its back on the Peruvian people, the farmers and the Peruvians of deep Peru because health and education were never a right, but a service, because all past governments have always let the people down,” said the President.
He also indicated that “corruption and impunity truncated our development and impoverished more than 9 million Peruvians. We arrived here and found a collapsed health system, which led to more than 200,000 Peruvian deaths due to COVID-19. Children and young adolescents who did not attend classes under the excuse that they were not vaccinated”.
“We found more than 3 million Peruvians who had lost their jobs and millions of brothers and sisters who were clamoring for a vaccine. Hundreds of social conflicts because they were never attended to, forgotten villages without water or electricity, destroyed schools and hospitals, health posts in complete abandonment, thousands of Peruvians in situations of illiteracy and malnutrition. A serious crisis due to problems of corruption, serious problems of insecurity, common delinquency, hired killings, human trafficking, a country indebted to international capital. This is the country that we have found, that we have received? I can say that we have achieved important things in these one hundred days”, said Pedro Castillo from Ayacucho.
In another moment of his presentation, the president clarified that he works for the welfare of all Peruvians and not for just one group. Likewise, he stressed that no one “sets the agenda” and that he has no “bosses”.
“Like many of you since I was a child I have worked to earn my bread with the sweat of my brow, that is why I have always lived with dignity. I have a clear line given by the people, we are making structural changes in the State so that it reaches those who have the least. Nobody sets the agenda for me, I have no bosses. My only boss is the people, I am here because of you. Also since the campaign, they told me I was a communist and that I am going to take away their properties and their savings, I ask myself, after 100 days of your government, have I taken away anyone’s houses and savings? Have I expropriated anyone? Pure lies”, he asserted.
