The announcement was made, on the occasion of his first 100 days in power, by a Pedro Castillo in a traditional brightly colored tunic, wearing his usual white wide-brimmed hat, on Wednesday 10 November. The president of Peru has decided to put the presidential plane up for sale.
The plane is an old Boeing 737-528 with 70 seats completely painted in gray – it belongs to the Air Force. Its maintenance and operating costs have become much too heavy. It is therefore the first symbolic austerity measure taken by this new president, a teacher from a Marxist-inspired party, elected in July on promises to rationalize public spending.
¿Cómo fri?
Ahora el presidente Pedro Castillo anuncia la venta del avión presidencial de Perú para obtener recursos que se destinarán a salud y educaciónhttps: //t.co/kGZXQ2CmnU pic.twitter.com/qBWJvO8rmk
– Joaquín López-Dóriga (@lopezdoriga) November 11, 2021
This is not the first time that the country has tried to part with this plane. Already in 2007 it was auctioned. Twice. But that didn’t work: at the time, the state was asking for more than $ 18 million. We must also believe that this trend is fashionable among supporters of the left in Latin America, since the Ecuadorian and Mexican presidents are also going to separate from their official plane to put a little butter in the spinach. At the moment, they don’t have a buyer.
El presidente de Perú, Pedro Castillo, anunció el miércoles que ordenó vender el avión presidencial como medida de austeridad y destinará el dinero que recaude a salud y educación, sectors muy golpeados por la pandemia #AFP pic.twitter.com/i4D5irjVCk
– Agence France-Presse (@AFPespanol) November 11, 2021
In Peru it is not known how much Pedro Castillo hopes to obtain. But he pledged that the money from the sale would fund health and education, two sectors badly hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
With 200,000 deaths from Covid-19 for 33 million inhabitants, Peru has the highest death rate in the world. Before the pandemic, the Peruvian economy was one of the most dynamic in the region, the virus brought it down. Last year, the GDP lost 11%, the country went into recession. The government hopes to vaccinate 70% of the population over 12 years old by the end of the year (to date the figure has barely reached 51%). But hospital staff are exhausted. In terms of education, the students have not had face-to-face lessons since March 2020.
Great turbulence also in the political sky, with a succession of resignations in recent weeks: after the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, it is the Minister of the Interior who tried to pass off as a working meeting a large party organized at his home for Halloween, when any gathering had just been banned by decree. Peru faces recurring political instability: it had three different presidents in a single week last November. Not to mention the fact that seven of the country’s ten previous leaders have been convicted or are under investigation for corruption.
To get his country back on track, Pedro Castillo is also announcing a revaluation of the minimum wage which will go from 930 to 1,000 sols, or 223 to 250 dollars from December 1. And to get money into the coffers, he also banned officials from traveling in first class. “In a government of the people, officials will travel like ordinary citizens“. Whether by train or by plane.