Peruvians Launch Anti-Corruption Protest Amid Investigations

Peruvian civil rights groups are uniting in the fight against corruption as hundreds of workers march in Lima in response to recent developments in the Operation Car Wash and Odebrecht scandals.

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Peruvians began protesting at 1:00 p.m. local time, moving from a neighborhood park towards the Ministry of Housing and the Interior Ministry, organizers said.

"We have seen an avalanche of complaints, signs and evidence that directly involves politicians and businessmen with serious corruption cases," former presidential candidate Veronika Mendoza said in support of the event.

"It is a drama, but it is also a historic opportunity for our country to rid ourselves of the corrupt, to purge politics."

The event is attended by members of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru, the Lima Bar Association and political parties Broad Front, New Peru Popular Action, the Purple Party and several others.

Congresswoman and New Peru activist Tania Pariona Tarqui showed her support, calling on the public to march in defense the nation’s democracy.

“There is a parliamentary majority that has exempted payments of taxes and that threatens the independence and the prosecution of the Nation," she said.

Further developments in the large-scale investigation by the Peruvian Parliament commission was announced Tuesday. The officials entrusted with investigating the Operation Car Wash scandal approved a summons request to bring first lady Nancy Lange in connection to a letter, testifying her connection to her husband Peruvian President Pablo Kuczynski’s business firm.

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“President Kuczynski uses his immunity to avoid justice," said congresswoman Yeni Vilcatoma. Vilcatoma proposed that the evidence, a letter from the president admitting his evasion of questioning and his wife’s position as adviser to his firm, be incorporated into the investigation.

The document clearly shows Lange’s involvement in advising Kuczynski and his partner Gerardo Sepulveda found a firm in 1994, which shared a location with First Capital Partners, an advisor to the Odebrecht construction company in 2005 and 2006. Investigators suspect the official of acting as a financial consultant to Odebrecht, local media reports.

Kuczynski has been under scrutiny by the commission, which believes the president may have accepted bribes to finance his campaign in 2011 and 2016. The official publicly denied these allegations on Nov. 15.