Can't open Pycharm Console and can't upload helpers for remote interpreter (PyCharm 2021.1 and PyCharm 2021.2)

I am unable to open the Python Console tab in PyCharm 2021.2 (same happened in 2021.1 also). The error is:

Error:Console process terminated with error:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/root/.pycharm_helpers/pydev/pydevconsole.py", line 33, in <module>
from _pydev_bundle.pydev_console_utils import BaseInterpreterInterface
File "/root/.pycharm_helpers/pydev/_pydev_bundle/pydev_console_utils.py", line 12, in <module>
from _pydevd_bundle import pydevd_thrift
File "/root/.pycharm_helpers/pydev/_pydevd_bundle/pydevd_thrift.py", line 20, in <module>
from pydev_console.pydev_protocol import DebugValue, GetArrayResponse, ArrayData, ArrayHeaders, ColHeader, RowHeader, \
File "/root/.pycharm_helpers/pydev/pydev_console/pydev_protocol.py", line 6, in <module>
_console_thrift = _shaded_thriftpy.load(os.path.join(os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__)), "console.thrift"),
File "/root/.pycharm_helpers/third_party/thriftpy/_shaded_thriftpy/parser/__init__.py", line 29, in load
thrift = parse(path, module_name, include_dirs=include_dirs,
File "/root/.pycharm_helpers/third_party/thriftpy/_shaded_thriftpy/parser/parser.py", line 475, in parse
parser = yacc.yacc(debug=False, write_tables=0)
File "/root/.pycharm_helpers/third_party/thriftpy/_shaded_ply/yacc.py", line 3256, in yacc
signature = pinfo.signature()
File "/root/.pycharm_helpers/third_party/thriftpy/_shaded_ply/yacc.py", line 2961, in signature
digest = base64.b16encode(sig.digest())
UnboundLocalError: local variable 'sig' referenced before assignment

Seems to be something wrong in .pycharm_helpers.

In addition, and possibly related, I regularly get the following error on the Event Log:

Couldn't upload helpers for remote interpreter: File /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm2021.1/remote_sources/293810872/46911889/.pycharm_helpers/packaging_tool.py: /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm2021.1/remote_sources/293810872/46911889/.pycharm_helpers/packaging_tool.py is not a file or directory

Despite this message, the .pycharm_helpers DO get uploaded to the VM, even after I delete them. 

The directory /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm2021.1/remote_sources/293810872/46911889/.pycharm_helpers doesn't exist at all locally, even though on the VM, .pycharm_helpers does exist in the home directory. Also, /Users/<username>/Library/Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm2021.1/remote_sources/293810872/46911889/ contains all the other files from the VM home directory (just not .pycharm_helpers).

I have tried the following:

• Invalidate caches
• Delete local caches manually (~/Library/Caches/JetBrains/PyCharm2021.1/)
• Delete ~/.pycharm_helpers on the VM
• Delete and recreate Python interpreter