By Henry Srebrnik, [Saint John, N.B.] Telegraph-Journal
On Dec. 7, facing yet another impeachment vote by Peru’s Congress, his third in 18 months, President Pedro Castillo moved to pre-empt his likely ouster by announcing plans to dissolve the legislature and call elections for a new one. He indicated he would rule by decree until then.
While two previous attempts had failed, Castillo must have feared this third motion had the potential to unseat him. So he took this drastic step in the hope that Peruvians would prefer his government of emergency to the elected, but divided, Congress. In his televised address, he declared that “we have decided to establish an exceptional government aimed at re-establishing the rule of law and democracy.”
But Peru’s Congress, controlled by Castillo’s opponents, defied him and voted overwhelmingly -- 101 legislators to six, with 10 abstentions -- to remove him from office for “permanent moral incapacity.” Pressure on him had been building as he and members of his family came under investigation for alleged fraud and influence peddling.
Several ministers resigned within minutes. Neither the police nor the armed forces backed Castillo’s autocratic gambit and his bodyguards stopped him from seeking refuge at the Mexican embassy. Castillo was arrested and judges have ruled that he be held in preventive detention for 18 months pending trial on charges of rebellion and conspiracy. He faces at least 10 years in prison.
His own vice president, Dina Boluarte, called it an attempted coup. Now in charge, she urged Peruvians to come together to allow her to fight corruption. None of this is surprising -- in fact it has become routine. Peru has had six presidents in the last five years.
Most Peruvians blame the country’s political woes on Congress, seen as corrupt and self-serving. However, the push for an early presidential election, previously blocked by both far-left and far-right lawmakers, has now been approved by Congress. It will be held next December.
Supporters of Castillo took to the streets in anger. Demonstrators invaded the international airport in Arequipa, a gateway to Peru’s tourist attractions. Visitors from around the world have been left stranded in the ancient city of Machu Picchu.
In nearby Ayacucho, soldiers used firearms as protesters threw stones and stormed the airport. Defence Minister Luis Otarola Penaranda declared a 30-day state of emergency on Dec. 14.
Both cities are in the Andean region, which was at the epicentre of the decades-long brutal conflict with the Shining Path rebel group, in which some 70,000 people were killed.
A teacher and union militant, Castillo became nationally known for leading a months-long 2017 teachers’ strike. A self-defined Marxist, Castillo promised to change the country’s neoliberal economic model for what he called a “popular economy with markets,” with pledges to redistribute huge copper riches by nationalizing strategic sectors such as mining.
Castillo’s rural, working-class background was unprecedented in Peruvian politics, dominated by a Lima-based Spanish-descended oligarchy, and it raised hopes that he would run an administration focused on improving the lives of the poor.
But he careened from one crisis to the next. With little political experience and facing a hostile Congress, the 53-year-old president quickly appeared out of his depth. He surrounded himself with a group of very questionable “advisors” who finally became recognized for their ineptitude and corruption.
His cabinet underwent constant change: Castillo has seen five prime ministers come and go. So it all finally came to a head. We need only look at what preceded Castillo’s demise by revisiting his narrow win in last year’s election.
With nineteen candidates competing for the presidency April 11, 2021, Castillo came in first with just 18.9 per cent of the vote. The runner-up, Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of disgraced former president Alberto Fujimori, followed, with 13.4 per cent. The June 6 runoff between them was so tight that Castillo won it with just 50.13 per cent to runner-up Fujimori’s 49.8.
Peru is a highly polarized state, economically and ethnically, and Castillo had his strongest support in the Andean highlands, largely populated by Indigenous peoples such as the Aymaras and Quechuas.
He had far less backing in the capital, Lima. Fujimori carried the city, which accounts for about 30 per cent of the national population, along with five coastal electoral districts.
The current crisis has capped the most turbulent era in Peruvian political history since authoritarian president Alberto Fujimori, Keiko’s father, resigned and fled to Japan in November 2000. In 1992, the Peruvian Army had helped then-President Fujimori successfully carry out an autogolpe (“self-coup”) enabling him to rule as a dictator for eight years.
Fujimori maintained a self-imposed exile until his arrest while visiting Chile in November 2005. He was extradited in September 2007 and was convicted of human rights violations. Sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, he was pardoned in 2017.
Castillo’s own setbacks came as Peru is in economic trouble. The United Nations warned last month that Peru has the highest rate of food insecurity in South America, with half the population lacking regular access to sufficient nutrition.
Latin America is split on the question of just who the legitimate president in Peru is. While six countries back the new Boluarte government, eight support Castillo. In any case, Castillo’s removal continues the seemingly endless and convoluted instability in Peruvian politics.
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