It's too brazen, Mr. President. It's like saying the security footage simply vanished.
Castillo appointed Segundo Mejía Montenegro as new police inspector general, who previously worked as security chief at a university and was dismissed from the force. The reshuffle follows Castillo's defense requesting Colchado's removal; Palacios views it as retaliation against investigators and compares it to the missing palace security footage.
- Yenifer Paredes and Mayor José Nenil Medina ordered to 30 months preventive detention
- Segundo Mejía Montenegro appointed as new police inspector general
- Mejía was previously dismissed from police for simultaneous employment at a university
- Castillo's approval rose 10 percentage points despite ongoing investigations
- Judge Jhonny Gómez spent nearly 4 hours reading his detention order
Rosa María Palacios criticizes President Castillo's replacement of key police officials, arguing the new inspector general will oversee Harvey Colchado's fate despite serious allegations against him.
On a Monday morning in late August, Rosa María Palacios sat across from her audience on the program "Sin guion" and laid out what she saw as a brazen maneuver. The Peruvian president, Pedro Castillo, had just reshuffled the top ranks of the National Police—replacing the commander general, the chief of staff, and the inspector general. To Palacios, a lawyer and political commentator, the timing was not coincidental. Castillo's legal team had recently filed a motion to remove Harvey Colchado, a senior police officer leading investigations into the president. Now, with the new inspector general in place, Colchado's fate would rest in different hands.
The new inspector general was Segundo Mejía Montenegro, a man from Castillo's own region. But Mejía carried baggage. He had been dismissed from the police force years earlier after working simultaneously as a security chief at César de la Vallejo University, where Palacios said he had used intelligence operations to harass professors and students. He had returned to the force through a legal injunction and now found himself in a position to decide whether Colchado would stay or go. "It's too brazen, Mr. President," Palacios said on air. "It's like saying the security footage from the presidential palace simply vanished."
The reference was pointed. Just days before, a court had ordered thirty months of preventive detention for Yenifer Paredes, the president's sister-in-law, and José Nenil Medina, the mayor of Anguía. Both were transferred to Ancón II prison overnight. Judge Jhonny Gómez had spent nearly four hours reading his decision, citing substantial suspicion of criminal conduct, flight risk, and obstruction of justice. Paredes' defense had already filed an appeal, but she remained behind bars. Palacios noted that much of the case against Paredes centered on her role in concealing evidence—specifically, the disappearance of security camera footage from the presidential palace and her obstruction of investigators trying to enter the building. Her own father's involvement in the cover-up had sealed her detention.
Palacios was careful to distinguish between preventive detention, which is meant to ensure a defendant's appearance at trial, and what she saw happening here: the use of detention as a form of advance punishment, a practice the law forbids. Yet the courts had ordered it anyway, and the machinery of the justice system had moved swiftly.
But the police reshuffle, in Palacios' view, represented something different and more troubling—an attempt by the president to neutralize his investigators before they could move further up the chain. She called on Congress to act. The body needed to file a motion of censure against Geiner Alvarado, the minister of labor and communications, whom prosecutors had linked to the alleged criminal organization operating under Castillo's direction.
There was one curious note in the political weather: according to a recent poll by the Institute of Peruvian Studies, Castillo's approval had climbed ten percentage points despite the cascade of investigations swirling around him. Palacios attributed this to a narrative that had taken hold among some voters—that Castillo was a victim of the system. Yet his disapproval remained substantial. In Tacna, residents had booed him, insulted him, and thrown eggs. "The president is doing poorly," Palacios concluded, "but Congress is doing worse."
Citações Notáveis
Paredes' detention stems largely from her role in concealing evidence, including the disappearance of security footage from the presidential palace and obstruction of investigators.— Rosa María Palacios, legal analyst
The president is doing poorly, but Congress is doing worse.— Rosa María Palacios
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why does it matter who becomes inspector general of the police? Isn't that just an administrative shuffle?
Because the inspector general has the power to decide whether Harvey Colchado stays in his position. Colchado is the officer leading the investigations into Castillo himself. If you control who evaluates Colchado, you control whether those investigations continue.
And Segundo Mejía Montenegro—what's the problem with him specifically?
He was thrown out of the police for working two jobs at once, including as a security chief at a university where he used his position to intimidate people. He only got back in through a legal loophole. Now he's the one who decides Colchado's fate. It's circular.
Palacios compared it to the missing palace security footage. What's that about?
Yenifer Paredes, the president's sister-in-law, is in prison partly because she helped make those recordings disappear. She obstructed the investigation. So when the president then removes the investigators and replaces them with someone questionable, it looks like the same pattern—making inconvenient evidence and inconvenient people go away.
But Castillo's approval went up. How does that happen while all this is unfolding?
Some voters see him as being persecuted by the system. That narrative is powerful, even when the facts suggest otherwise. But it's fragile—when he shows up in person, people boo and throw things. The approval numbers don't match what people actually do when they see him.
What does Congress need to do?
Censure the labor minister, who appears to be part of the inner circle. But Palacios is saying Congress itself is failing to act decisively. The institutions are moving slowly while the president moves fast.