One of the outspoken supporters of President Vizcarra’s fight against corruption is Monsignor Pedro Barreto, archbishop of Huancayo. In June this year, Barreto was made a cardinal by Pope Francis I and echoes the pope’s views on religion and politics.
At an open meeting held by Transparency to discuss emergency measures to confront the corruption crisis, Barreto spoke on the recent discovery of the “shameful” audio recordings of court judges and recalled the political situation caused by the first ‘Vladivideos’ leaked to the public 18 years ago during Alberto Fujimori’s administration.
“Then, with the Vladivideos, Fujimori and (Vladimiro) Montesinos left. Now with the audio recordings, (justice) Hinostroza and (attorney general) Chavarry remain in their jobs. This is extremely serious,” Barreto said. The cardinal also signed a letter calling for the attorney general to step down because he has been linked to an organized crime group in the port of Callao.
This is in sharp contrast to his politically conservative colleague Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, the archbishop of Lima, who is consistently critical of human rights activists and is supportive of former President Alberto Fujimori and now Keiko Fujimori, whose party controls Congress and is allegedly linked to the corruption in the judicial system.
At the Transparency meeting with Barreto, the regional governor of Arequipa, Yamila Osorio, wrote on Twitter, “I have never been so identified before with the voice of my church :).”
