The motion of censure raised against the Minister of the Interior of Peru, César Astudillo, following the murder of a regional candidate, will finally be archived after two opposition parties decided to withdraw their support for this initiative, the first of its kind since Keiko Fujimori assumed the Presidency at the end of July.
The proposal was registered a week ago by the opposition party Juntos por el Perú as a reaction to the murder of journalist and candidate for the regional government of Ánchash, Susy Isabel Aponte Polo, who had already warned that a high-ranking police officer had ordered her death.
The last to distance themselves have been the congressmen of Cívico Obras, one of the forces that initially contributed to promoting the motion put forward by Juntos por el Perú, which has ended up being accompanied only by the Partido del Buen Gobierno, an insufficient support for the measure to be discussed and put to a vote this Thursday.
The withdrawal of the last dissenting deputies from Cívico Obras occurred after the other major opposition force, Ahora Nación, decided not to support the censure against Astudillo, although some of its parliamentarians expressed their intention to vote in favor if it reached the plenary.
Polo, also known as "La China Polo," was shot dead a couple of weeks ago during a campaign event in the city of Caraz, in the northwest of Peru. Nine days earlier, she had accused the then head of Criminal Investigation of the Police, Víctor Revoredo Farfán, of having ordered her execution.
Farfán, for his part, has only been transferred to another destination within the Police. Venezuelan citizens Luis Obispo Díaz and Ronald José Toro Ardila have been provisionally arrested, investigated as alleged hitmen linked to the crime.
The Fujimori government is facing one of the worst crises of citizen security and public order in the recent history of the country, marked by the rapid expansion of organized crime, targeted attacks against transporters, and the increase in extortion and contract killings.
Just arriving in office, Fujimori has also decided to extend the state of emergency and maintain the deployment of the Armed Forces to try to curb the serious security situation, especially in the regions of Lima and Callao, despite the limited success these measures had during the previous government.