Mirtha Vásquez, President of the Peruvian Congress, was met over the weekend by officials from the casino sector which has been shut down since March despite having a protocol approved by national authorities.
The meeting featured Luis Valdez and Omar Chehade from Alianza para el Congreso (APP), Lennin Checco, spokesperson for the Frente Amplio, and Claudia Cornejo, Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur). On the other hand, the casino sector was represented by Cynthia Morante, Jullie Medina and Celisa Díaz, and by leaders of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP).
Morante explained that “more than 85 thousand casino employees were unable to work in the past nine months,” according to RPP. In addition, she said that they requested “for the facilities to reopen so that we can resume our jobs and be able to bring food to our tables”.
In addition, Cornejo and the president of the Congress assured that they will seek a solution so that the casinos can resume their operations. They also said that they will deal with the Government to reach an agreement that would allow them to mitigate the economic situation of the employees.
Last week, casino employees marched to Congress to demand the reopening. Despite the fact that the National Chamber of Tourism (Canatur) had asked former President Manuel Merino to address the issue and allow the operations, and having a protocol approved by Mincetur, the casinos are about to enter the ninth month without activity.
In the first seven months of the pandemic, the state lost up to $42m in unpaid taxes. Currently, the industry employed more than 86k people directly and another 26k indirectly.
