Tell me what you are going to present to oppose me. That would seem to be the attitude of the Together for Peru bench in the Chamber of Deputies, but refusing everything without further arguments is already taking its toll, even faster than they would have calculated.
Although his first resounding defeat was the failure in the attempt to censure the Minister of the Interior, César Astudillo, the absolute refusal to grant the extraordinary powers to legislate, requested by the Executive, has also ended up being rejected by his peers in the Lower House.
Together for Peru believed that sending the Executive’s request to the archive was going to corner a government that has not yet completed 100 days in office. He did not calculate that those who were his allies to win the Board of Directors of Deputies were going to turn their backs on him because they did not agree with being classified as an irresponsible opposition without arguments.
Although the Executive did not measure the enemy it was facing when it presented 66 initiatives as part of the powers, it should now take advantage of the situation to enrich with its deputies the replacement text that will come out of the Constitution Commission. It is not a time for “all or nothing”, but rather a time to save faculties that were lost.
The censure of Minister César Astudillo is another story. When it seemed that the fate of the retired general EP was cast, the unexpected occurred. First, a brief statement from the leader of Ahora Nación, Alfonso López Chau: “We have to think about Peru,” which suggested that his group would not support the departure of the head of the Interior. Then came Congressman Harvey Colchado’s open letter, urging not to support censorship. The disenchantment of the most enthusiastic “barristas” of the former rector and the retired police officer was undeniable. They never thought that precisely the characters they helped elevate with so much effort would get off the ship of the radical opposition.
Then it was the Works bench, which received the slap on the wrist from its founder Ricardo Belmont, opposed to censorship. The Good Government Party bench, which agreed with the minister’s departure, changed its mind after meeting with him. The decision was too mature. The withdrawal of three signatures from the motion was enough for it to be unviable as it did not comply with the requirements.
Together for Peru he is left alone in his attempt to oppose everything. It seems evident that Obras, Buen Gobierno and Ahora Nación do not want to see themselves identified with an irrational opposition that would only seek the failure of a government to find themselves in troubled waters.
Nor should they find it funny to identify with the reasoning of former presidential candidate Roberto Sánchez, whose main argument for opposing the powers was to describe them as “a mess.”
Could it be that the time has come to open new bridges in an essential dialogue between the Executive and Legislative?
For this to happen, a renewed understanding will be necessary, and taking advantage of the fact that the latest events show that not all of the opposition wants to be on the radical path of Together for Peru, because they don’t like that photo.
