The director of the Barbadillo prison, Calixto Lucero Rodríguez, has been removed from office, after it was revealed that his daughter Yulissa Lucero Chujutalli was hired in the office of deputy Azucena Isla Rojas, from Together for Peru.
The separation was confirmed Monday night by the National Penitentiary Institute (INPE). Hours before, in “We Have to Talk,” a video podcast from El Comercio, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Ernesto Alvarezhad announced the decision to remove him from office.
The former president is being held in the aforementioned penitentiary center. Pedro Castillowhere he is serving a sentence of 11 years and 5 months in prison for the crime of conspiracy to rebel. This was due to the announcement of a coup d’état, which included the unconstitutional closure of Congress and the intervention in the justice administration system, which occurred on December 7, 2022.
Castillo Terrones supported Roberto Sánchez in the last presidential campaign and has relatives in Congress who were elected under the JP symbol: his brother José Mercedes Castillo in the Senate and his sister-in-law Yenifer Paredes.
“In any case (he will be separated), because whoever has the responsibility of directing the security of a prison cannot be mediated by the hiring of his own daughter by people linked to the political group of whom he guards,” said Álvarez Miranda when commenting on the “Cuarto Poder” report that revealed the hiring.
The head of Justice and Human Rights said that Lucero Rodríguez cannot be immediately removed from the institution, because he must first go through an administrative process. But he will no longer be director of the Barbadillo prison, the prison for former heads of state.
“Now, he cannot be removed from the career (immediately), that will be the subject of an internal procedure, an internal investigation within the INPE. What does have to be done immediately is the change of director,” he added.
Álvarez indicated that the director of the Barbadillo prison was appointed to the position by the previous government. That is, by the administration of José María Balcázar.
He warned that Lucero Rodríguez was not obliged to present a sworn declaration of interests to make his political ties transparent, because “he is a career official.” “There was no way to notice their possible links,” he added.
Deputy Azucena Isla Rojas, who is a regular visitor to Castillo Terrones, indicated that she needed to hire personnel and denied knowing the director of the Barbadillo prison.
“We have called many people, I needed personnel, I visited the president (Castillo) (…) But I don’t know the man, the director (of the Barbadillo prison),” he stated in “Cuarto Poder.”
He also denied that the former president had suggested the hiring of Lucero Chujutalli.
The Minister of Justice and Human Rights stressed that, in this case, which also involves an INPE agent, it is not only an ethical problem.
“If I am a prison official and I have the responsibility of guarding a group of inmates, I cannot receive handouts or gifts. Nor can my children and my wife be hired by companies or people linked to the inmates that I guard. There is an ethical issue and a possible labor violation,” he said.
As revealed by “Cuarto Poder”, Alejandro Hurtado Paz, whose father is Juan Ramón Hurtado Barrenechea, an INPE agent in Barbadillo, also works for the Together for Peru group and receives a salary of S/8,000 each month. According to sources from the Sunday program, his father is one of Castillo Terrones’ trusted men.
In addition, Héctor Sandoval Moreno, former director of the prison, advises the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, chaired by Catherine Palomino (Together for Peru), which processes the amnesty project for the former president. Sandoval avoided specifying his situation and referred the press to Congressional Human Resources.
In “We Have to Talk,” Álvarez said that a sanctioning process will be opened against the officials involved, in order to find out if in exchange for contracts for their relatives they granted preferential treatment to Castillo Terrones in the Barbadillo prison.
“The sanctioning procedure must begin once the investigations within the INPE are completed,” he said.
The INPE, through a statement, also announced that “the personnel involved” in the journalistic complaint “will be immediately removed from their positions.” “This decision responds to the seriousness of the facts exposed and constitutes an immediate measure to guarantee institutional control and the proper functioning of the penitentiary establishment,” it reads.
The institution also announced that it “will adopt the corresponding administrative and legal actions.”
For his part, the spokesperson for Together for Peru in the Chamber of Deputies, Ernesto Zunini, said that he has requested “the immediate suspension of the employment relationship of a worker on the bench, following the public complaint that questions his hiring.” This in apparent reference to Hurtado Paz.
“I reaffirm our commitment to ethical and transparent management. For its part, the amnesty bill should not be delegitimized and should be debated for its content and foundations,” he wrote on his X account.
Representative Roxana Rocha (Popular Renewal) asked, through a letter, the president of Congress, Miguel Torres, to clarify whether the hiring of relatives of INPE officials – in charge of the Barbadillo prison, where former President Castillo is held – whether or not they met the requirements established for their positions.
(Photo: El Comercio)
Rocha also requested information regarding the verification or administrative investigation initiated as a result of the reported events.
In turn, deputy Aldo Bravo (Renovación Popular) described it as a “scandal” that the children of the director of the Barbadillo prison and an INPE agent assigned to that prison have been hired in Parliament through Together for Peru. “What is this? An employment agency?” he said.
In statements to the press, Bravo warned that these hires were due to an exchange of favors between the left-wing bench and the questioned INPE officials.
“Is it a sale of political favors? Treat Castillo well and I’ll hire your children?” he questioned.
For his part, deputy Diethell Columbus (Fuerza Popular) maintained that in politics “there are no coincidences” and that Zunini’s announcement to remove one of the named workers is an attempt by Together for Peru to “get healthy to avoid further questions.” He added that, at the moment, he does not see elements to refer the case to the Congressional Ethics Commission.
Criminal lawyer Carlos Caro considered that there are elements for the Public Ministry to initiate a preliminary investigation against those responsible for hiring relatives of INPE officials in Congress. He added that the initial hypothesis is that Together for Peru would have granted these positions in exchange for the relaxation of the Castillo Terrones prison regime.
“The prosecutor’s office can open an investigation to see if there was an exchange of favors. This would be bribery (…) There are also other options: for alleged incompatible negotiation. And, furthermore, for illegal appointment if they do not have the profile,” he said in a communication in El Comercio.
Caro indicated that the prosecution must determine how those people got there, what the profile of the position was and whether or not there were benefits for Castillo.
“The investigation is against those who are responsible. There is still nothing to charge the workers, but they can be called as witnesses,” he said.
