Miners support Castillo and demand the formalization of their artisanal work. | Photo: @PedroCastilloTe

Lima, August 18 (RHC)-- The president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, met at the Government Palace with thousands of mining workers and union representatives of the Port of Callao to attend to their urgent needs and to gather popular support against the vacancy process that Congress is processing against him.

Representatives of the National Confederation of Small Mining and Artisanal Mining of Peru (Confemin Peru) presented demands to the president for the legalization of their activity and the new regulations required by artisanal practice.

President Castillo's response was to acknowledge that "there are decrees and regulations that are harmful to our brother workers and must be corrected".  To this end, he pointed out, they will set up a technical table with the objective of addressing such issues.

"We have the political will to attend to their postponed needs. The mining formalization is very good for the country, for the mining businessman, for the workers and their families", said Castillo from the Palace's Patio de Honor.

Some 300 leaders from different social bases of Callao also arrived there, including representatives of health unions, youth movements of artisanal fishing and neighborhood associations.

Before them, he announced that in less than 10 days they will hold a Decentralized Council of Ministers in that region to discuss the most pressing issues.  Both groups reaffirmed their support for the President to remain in power, despite the opposition's attempts to charge him for alleged corruption.

"More than a year has passed and there is no evidence of anything, but stories continue to be created against me and the Government. I ratify that I have not taken a single sol from the country," Castillo insisted.

For its part, the Peruvian Congress agreed to "invite" the president of the Council of Ministers, Anibal Torres, to the plenary session to account for "his statements in which he invoked social organizations to take violent actions", referring to the call for a massive march to Lima, the capital, in defense of the president and the constitutional order.