Cabinet Chief Jorge Del Castillo said Sunday that Peru’s government will give preferential treatment to districts where the ruling Apra party candidates were elected. The statement came during the inauguration of a new health center in Lima’s Lurín district, which has an Apra mayor. Del Castillo told the crowd that Crecer – a State program to eliminate chronic malnutrition in children – will be developed in Lurín first.
“Why will we begin with Lurín? Because Lurín, with its vote, backed Alan García’s government. President García told the people ‘This is an offer,’ and Lurín said ‘Ok, we accept.’ So the government is obliged to provide for those that supported us,” said Del Castillo. “And for the people that said ‘no, I’ll vote for something else. I prefer another option, ‘ well, you’re free to vote for another option but when it comes time to hand things out, those at the front of the line will be the ones that said yes, not no.”
Opposition lawmakers say the statement constitutes political discrimination and violates the constitution. Carlos Bruce , an economist and former housing minister during the Toledo government, told Radio Programas, “the cabinet chief, as number two in the government, would be committing a constitutional offense, which could cost him his post.”
“In a democracy,” he added, “this is the greatest barbarity I’ve ever heard.”
Del Castillo “has divided Peru in two,” said Isaac Mekler, congressman of the Nationalist Party. “The Peru of APRA, and the Peru that doesn’t vote for APRA and which will be punished.”
