Overview
- Ricardo Belmont publicly rejected members of his Partido Cívico Obras caucus for signing a document backing a motion to censure Interior Minister César Astudillo and warned he would expel legislators who persist in supporting the removal.
- Caucus spokespeople said the signatures reflect citizen concern about rising insecurity but that the signed document does not settle the caucus’s final vote and that they have already discussed the matter with Belmont.
- Party leaders scheduled a meeting with Belmont to define an institutional stance, so the formal decision on whether to back the censure remains open.
- Belmont argued that removing a minister too quickly undermines planned security measures and said ministers should be given roughly six months before they can be credibly evaluated for dismissal.
- The dispute risks deepening internal divisions in Obras, could change the balance of votes on the censure in Congress, and highlights the tension between quick political responses to public insecurity and preserving time to implement security plans.