Former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo said on Tuesday that he will “never” resign from office and called for an end to the repression of demonstrations demanding immediate elections and his freedom, with a balance of seven dead and dozens injured.
“I will never resign and abandon this popular cause that has brought me here. From here I would like to urge the armed forces and the national police to lay down their arms and stop killing this people thirsty for justice,” Castillo said in his first public statement since his dismissal and arrest a week ago. “I am unfairly and arbitrarily detained, I am not a thief, a rapist, corrupt or a thug,” he added at a virtual court hearing evaluating an appeal against his seven-day preliminary detention.
“I have never committed a crime of conspiracy or rebellion,” he said, addressing Supreme Judge César San Martín, the same magistrate who sentenced former President Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) in 2009.
Castillo was detained by police last Wednesday after his failed self-coup and subsequent removal from office by a discredited Congress that has an 86% disapproval rating, according to polls.