The top official did not deny the conversation, but explained that it was an "internal coordination that takes place in any institution," as a way to clarify what was happening within the framework of the investigations.
"In that meeting, I must reaffirm that I pointed out 'let's tell the truth'," he expressed after wondering which forces had crossed the Government Palace's security checkpoint to illegally record the conversations of a President of the Republic.
In this sense, he said he was aware that groups opposed to these decisions would look for opportunities and pretexts to attack him.
"A new attempt occurred today," he insisted.
Mr. Vizcarra mentioned that —on July 29— a foreign press journalist had sent them information about the existence of the audio released earlier today, but his administration had never heard anything about the matter and calmly waited for it to be made public, because it was a work meeting with no illegal content.
"Those characters are not interested in the sake of the country or democracy. They only want to take over the Government, to guarantee its control, until 2026. We are facing a plot against democracy," he said.
The President also deemed as suspicious the fact that this recording was made public the day after he demanded Congress to approve the reform on the prohibition on nominating sentenced candidates, which was expected to be addressed at Parliament today.
Likewise, he said that whoever presented the audios (
opposition Congressman Edgar Alarcon) is a person whose parliamentary immunity the Prosecutor's Office had requested to be lifted in order to continue with the pending investigations over alleged crimes of illicit enrichment, fraudulent embezzlement, and falsification of documents, among others.
"Those audios have been edited and maliciously manipulated; as you can see, they purposely seek to turn a job-related claim into a criminal or political act, wanting to take words out of context and intend to accuse me of non-existent situations. Nothing is further from reality," he stressed.
"I have never denied knowing Mr. Richard Cisneros; what I have said and I confirm is that I have not intervened in the administrative processes of his hiring," he added.
Impeachment
Furthermore, the President noted that if Congress members want to impeach him, he stands with his head held high and a clear conscience "because nothing that was illegally presented today constitutes a cause for impeachment."
In addition, the Head of State affirmed that he will not resign.
Similarly, the top official said that the democratic forces of Congress cannot lend themselves "to this dirty, subordinate, perverse game of those sectors that seek to destabilize and stain people's honors, solely for political and electoral interests."