Peru Today

Albert Einstein once said that “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” 

In December, Peru’s leftist President Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve congress, take special powers, and announced plans for a new constitution. 

Then President Castillo was immediately rebuffed by the majority right of center members if the opposition in Congress who declared him to be in rebellion. As set out in the constitution, Castillo was impeached, subsequently arrested, and Congress swore in his Vice-President, Dina Boluarte. 

She is now the legal and legitimate president of Peru.

Castillo’s supporters unleashed confrontations with government forces across Peru, with over sixty deaths to date. He and the demonstrators are supported by many on the Peruvian left and to varying degrees by Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Cuba, and a number of other regional countries. In a declaration on December 15, these governments rejected the “political framework created by right-wing forces against the Constitutional President Pedro Castillo”. 

President Boluarte’s government has reacted strongly against the demonstrators who want immediate elections, a new constitution (to replace the one created under the Fujimori regime which worked against Castillo), the release of Castillo, and the resignation of both Boluarte and the Congress. 

I believe that the real reasons behind Peru’s political crisis are a long history of political and institutional corruption, racism, and poor leadership. While he did try to usurp the constitution, this happened as he was about to be impeached by Congress for … corruption! 

Boluarte is the sixth president in five years, a result of ongoing scandals that have cost the political class much prestige and the confidence of the people. While President Boluarte’s approval rating hovers at the 20% mark, only 7% of Peruvians polled approve of the Congress’s performance to date. 

In addition, the inherent racism against indigenous populations is a historical fact that pits the white settler class most of whom live along the coast and the marginalized indigenous people who mostly inhabit the Andes, creating two opposing societies that have never been unable to come together with a common vision about their country.

Can Peru pull itself out of its crisis? 

A reality in many countries is that while governments can pass laws, they all too often pick and choose how they are going to implement them according to ideological or personal whims. 

Many Peruvians are calling for a new constitution. 

But a new constitution, absent a political and judicial class able and willing to apply all laws equally and fairly, is not worth the paper that it is written on. 

Would a new Peruvian constitution create a framework for a fundamental change in governance and in civic thinking – since, at the moment, it would likely be produced by a political class seeking their own political objectives rather than proposing a unifying vision for the country based on consensus. 

A renewed Peru would require leaders capable of ensuring that current corrupt politicians be tried in courts and sentenced accordingly, that corrupt politicians be barred from holding public office, that the judiciary be cleaned up, and that law enforcement enforce the laws objectively and honestly. 

Again, a new constitution will never achieve this absent a political class with a totally different vision. People who are ready to govern in the interest of the country rather than their personal or political interests. 

Can Peru do things differently? 

Unfortunately, I doubt it at this point in history.

There is no overriding vision of what Peru should become with respect to social and economic policies. There is no consensus for what a 21st century Peruvian society should look like.

Like much of Latin America, Peru is mired in the past, with leaders who are trapped in 1960’s ideologies rather than 2020’s realities.

A solution for Peru will be impossible to achieve in the eyes of many, until a new crop of leaders can provide a vision that brings people together in the common search for a just society.

And Einstein’s view will continue hold sway as Peruvian society continues to search for justice, equality, and equity for all.

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Edition: Estefanía Cardeña