Roberto Sánchez is campaigning for the presidency in 2026 with a castillista message, promising the release of Pedro Castillo while presenting himself as the man who can carry that political project forward. Sánchez says he imitates Castillo in symbolic acts, including wearing a hat and following his political route.
That posture puts the Juntos por el Perú candidate back at the center of the same story he is trying to revive. Sánchez served as minister of Commerce Exterior and Tourism from July 2021 to December 2022, then submitted his irrevocable resignation on December 7, 2022, the same day he abstained in the congressional vote on vacancy that ended with Castillo’s removal.
The number behind the campaign is not small. Sánchez is now asking voters to trust a man who once held a seat inside Castillo’s government and who is again leaning on the former president’s name as a political shield. Alex Flores has called that stance a double standard, while Jaime Quito says Castillo forgave Sánchez and backed the party’s presidential ticket.
The break with his past is not the only obstacle. Sánchez has been linked to hiring allies through the Fondo de Apoyo Gerencial, with salaries reaching S/ 15,000 a month, and the Fiscalía is investigating alleged salary cuts of up to 10 percent from workers in the sector in exchange for keeping their contracts. Prosecutors also included him in a broader investigation for alleged organization-crime offenses and other crimes during the Castillo era, including an alleged offer of money to the wife of Bruno Pacheco so she would keep silent during investigations into Castillo.
His name also appears in disputes over mining policy. Sánchez is associated with initiatives that allegedly benefited informal mining, including the extension of Reinfo, and he is described as coauthor of a rule that decriminalizes and avoids sanctions against miners who use explosive materials without permission.
That leaves Sánchez campaigning on the memory of a presidency that collapsed with him inside it, while critics point to the very day he stepped aside and cast his abstention as proof that his loyalty was conditional. For voters deciding whether the Castillo brand still has political value in 2026, that contradiction may matter more than the hat.
