On the other hand, Vladimir Cerrón, a government ally in the hardliner faction of Perú Libre, responded to Mendoza: "You betrayed [them] when you joined the Government of Perú Libre, with your personal and group ambitions, with your taking over of the cabinet, preventing the Party's program from being implemented, brainwashing the president, fulfilling his role as an agent of the right."[45] Far-right former president Manuel Merino, who briefly held the presidency after Vizcarra was vacated, questioned politicians such as Francisco Sagasti, Mirtha Vásquez, Julio Guzmán, Alberto de Belaunde, Gino Costa, Verónika Mendoza and Sigrid Bazán remaining silent in the face of the deceased, unlike with the deaths of Brian Pintado and Inti Sotelo in their short 2020 administration.[46]