In the next session of the Council of Ministers, which will take place between Thursday and Friday, three legislative decrees on the reform of the penitentiary system will be debated, under the powers granted by the bicameral Congress to the government of Keiko Fujimori. This was reported by the head of Justice and Human Rights, Ernesto Alvarez.
“There are three legislative decrees that have already gone through the system, they are already validated by the sectors and possibly tomorrow (Thursday) or the day after, we will be approving them in the Council of Ministers,” said Álvarez Miranda.
In communication with El Comercio, the former president of the Constitutional Court said that the first regulations that the Executive will give, under the umbrella of powers, will be to reinforce security in prisons, where criminal networks related to extortion, kidnapping, among others, operate.
“It is basically a penitentiary (package) and the relationship between the intelligence services and penitentiary control, which is the most urgent thing at this moment,” he remarked.
Álvarez avoided providing details about the legislative decrees that are already ready. And he stressed that there is a long way to go to approve these legal mechanisms. “(The process) is not fast and it is not our fault, it is the fault of the procedural rules. Those who demand of us do not notice that Congress has not approved any law, except that of the delegation of powers,” he expressed.
The opinion approved by Parliament includes reform and modernization of the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE), the declaration of necessity in the construction of new prisons and the amendment to the Special Penitentiary Career Law.
In the latter, the administration of Fujimori Higuchi – according to sources close to the Executive – seeks to establish permanent disqualification for the re-entry into the INPE of dismissed officials and accelerate the administrative sanction processes. And also change the rule to allow retired Army and National Police officers and security experts to assume the direction of prisons and other senior positions.
Precisely, the president handed over, the day before, two state lands of 2,600 hectares for the construction of two new penitentiary centers in Huacho.
Sources close to the Ministerial Cabinet indicated that the government “does not believe in all-purpose prisons” and that its objective is for primary inmates to have exclusive prisons, where productive workshops can be implemented. And that the most seasoned criminals will be transferred to maximum security prisons, as happened at the beginning of this week with inmates from El Milagro (Trujillo) to Challapalca (Puno).
And, on the other hand, in the face of criticism from the opposition in Congress, which agrees that the Fujimori government has made little or no progress in its first 100 days, Álvarez and the Minister of Labor and Employment Promotion, Juan Sheput, minimized these questions.
The head of Justice described the position of the political adversaries of Fujimorism as “unfair”, because “there has been progress. “With regard to the El Niño phenomenon, the ministers have mobilized every week, especially in the north, where projects have been unblocked with a view to preparing the cities for possible rains,” he said.
“And in terms of security, changes have already begun in the INPE, with the control of prisons. The antennas have been demolished and it has been arranged that the security perimeter be maintained in the prisons (through the Armed Forces,” he added.
Sheput pointed out that the processes to implement the citizen security policy “are not overnight,” but there must be police intelligence, investigation, operations and arrests. (Photo: Giancarlo Ávila/ El Comercio)
Sheput challenged deputies and senators to debate and considered that there is a “bad faith” in the aforementioned State power.
“The population, as is obvious, has had very high expectations regarding the government of President Fujimori. And to the extent that these demands raised by the citizens have not been able to be consolidated, it seems to me a good result that close to 50% (of the citizens) have rated (the Executive) between good and average,” he said in reference to the latest Datum International survey.
According to the opinion study, only 10% consider Fujimori Higuchi’s administration to be “a good government.” 47% describe it as “a regular government”, 38% as “a bad government” and 5% do not know.
The Minister of Labor maintained that the surveys should be read in a complementary manner, remembering that 41% believe that the Fuerza Popular government can improve.
“And if we add to that that we have a mess in Congress of bad faith, of people who constantly say that nothing has been done, thereby generating a story or trying to manipulate public opinion. Despite all that, the result (of this latest survey) seems acceptable to me,” he added in “We Have to Talk,” a video podcast from El Comercio.
The head of the Mintra said that the main fact of the first 100 days of Fujimori Huguchi’s mandate is having recovered “the presidential institution.”
He acknowledged that security policies “still need to mature,” but stressed that the government is acting against El Niño.
“Yes, there is a north, there are pillars. What happens is that people are looking at the dispersed part: if there is a rocket, they are looking at the smoke that comes out. I think we should be more objective. And I would love to debate with some of the people who are opposed to what we are doing. I am willing to debate with all of them (Ernesto Zunini, Jorge Nieto, among others),” he remarked.
“(From the opposition) they say that we have not done anything, well, let’s talk,” he added.
The day before, Senator José Mercedes Castillo (Together for Peru) told Epicentro that “to date, we have not seen anything.” “Let the people evaluate this, I don’t see any progress,” when asked about the 100 days of the Fujimori government.
For his part, the spokesman for the Together for Peru bench in the Chamber of Deputies, Ernesto Zunini, questioned that the Executive has not issued a single legislative decree on citizen security and El Niño, despite the fact that Congress granted the powers more than 10 days ago.
“Ten days since powers were granted and we have zero decrees on citizen security and the El Niño phenomenon. The Government demanded speed and put undue pressure on Congress, but so far it has not been able to demonstrate that it has concrete proposals to address these emergencies. As crime advances and the time to prevent the damage of El Niño becomes shorter, there are no excuses anymore!” he wrote in X.
Deputy Víctor Piñán (Obras) maintained that the Fujimori government “still has many pending issues,” especially in the fight against citizen insecurity, “where absolutely no progress has been made.”
“We are going to see how the Executive reacts to the El Niño phenomenon. And well, there have been many ups and downs, initially due to the request for powers and then in the Senate. I believe that the Executive must start working (…) Honestly, if they asked me to give a note, I would disapprove of Mrs. Fujimori,” he said in We Have to Talk.”
At the beginning of this week, Prime Minister Luis Galarreta said that President Fujimori will provide an assessment of the 100 days of her mandate this Thursday.
“The president will give the balance on Thursday. What we must all be clear about is that there is a government, there is a president, leadership, a vision about where we want to go, there are decisions that have to move forward and we will see the results in time, but we are moving forward,” he expressed.
