In a crowded campaign where few names break through, roberto sanchez is trying to turn memory into momentum. His rallies and public gestures are built around a simple message: he stands with Pedro Castillo, and he wants voters to see him as part of that unfinished political story.
That choice gives his candidacy a clear identity, but it also places him at the center of a deeper argument about loyalty, rupture, and credibility in Peru’s fractured race.
Why does Roberto Sanchez keep returning to Pedro Castillo?
Roberto Sanchez, of Juntos por el Perú, has leaned into a castillista narrative in the campaign for 2026. He calls for the release of Pedro Castillo and presents him as a popular symbol, even adopting gestures that echo the former president, including the hat and a similar political path. For supporters, that language is a way to reconnect with voters who still identify with Castillo’s project. For critics, it is a calculated repositioning.
The contrast is hard to miss. During Castillo’s government, Sanchez served as minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism from July 2021 until December 2022. But on December 7, 2022, the day of the attempted self-coup, he submitted his irrevocable resignation. Later that same day, in Congress, he abstained in the vote on impeachment that ended with Castillo’s removal. Those two moves remain central to how opponents describe him.
The congressman Alex Flores, once an ally, has called that stance a double standard. On the other side, Jaime Quito, a candidate for the national Senate for Juntos por el Perú, says Castillo forgave Sanchez and backed the party’s presidential slate. The split captures the political challenge around roberto sanchez: he is trying to claim continuity while carrying a record that others read as a break.
What controversies are following the campaign?
Beyond the political symbolism, roberto sanchez faces questions that have made his candidacy more complicated. One line of scrutiny involves the hiring of people close to him through the Management Support Fund, with salaries reaching S/ 15, 000 a month and no transparent selection process. At the same time, the Public Ministry is keeping open investigations into alleged cuts of up to 10 percent of workers’ salaries in exchange for job retention, a case that could involve crimes such as embezzlement and fraudulent administration.
He is also included in an investigation over alleged organized-crime offenses and other accusations from the Castillo era, linked to an offer of money to the wife of Bruno Pacheco so she would stay silent during investigations into Pedro Castillo. In addition, he has been tied to legislative initiatives that would have favored informal mining, including extending Reinfo and coauthoring a rule that decriminalizes and avoids sanctions for miners who use explosive materials without permission.
These issues matter because they shape how voters interpret his promise of continuity. For some, they are evidence of a politician close to the center of the Castillo era’s disputes. For others, they are proof that the campaign’s moral language does not match the record.
What does his candidacy say about Peru’s election?
The broader race helps explain why his message remains visible. More than 27 million Peruvians are voting in an election marked by fragmentation and uncertainty. Among more than 30 candidates, neither Roberto Sanchez nor Alfonso López-Chau was above 15 percent in pre-election intention to vote. That leaves both left-wing contenders trying to rise in a field where no one has an easy path.
Sanchez is aiming to capture rural support, while presenting a proposal built around a new Constitution and Castillo’s liberation. López-Chau, meanwhile, is running under Ahora Nación with a program centered on fighting corruption and rebuilding institutions. The contrast shows two different answers from the left to the same national crisis. One reaches back to a disputed presidency; the other pushes institutional repair.
Peru’s instability gives the race added weight. In the last decade, the country has had eight presidents and remains trapped in a legitimacy crisis. The next government will need to build congressional majorities and preserve governability to avoid another institutional breakdown. In that context, roberto sanchez is not only asking for votes. He is asking Peruvians to believe that a contested past can still be recast as political renewal.
At the edge of the campaign, that is the image that lingers: a candidate invoking Castillo’s name, standing under the same symbolic hat, and trying to turn contradiction into conviction. Whether voters see that as loyalty or inconsistency may decide how far roberto sanchez can go.
