Peru In Turmoil

By Joaquin Stevenson

eru faces many challenges, but the most fundamental is its geography. Beautiful mountain ranges, the lush Amazon rainforest, and the arid coast are a stark contrast from one another. Education, healthcare, and other basic needs are poor or lacking in many areas of Peru due to the often impassable nature of this geography. There is also a diverse set of languages spoken in Peru. About 20% of the population speaks Quechua or Aymara as their first language. These two languages, along with Spanish, are all official languages. Many other languages are spoken in native communities that inhabit the Amazon rainforest. To put things into perspective, Peru is about 2.3 times the size of France. The largest of the 24 regions, Loreto, is in the Amazon rainforest, and it is larger than Germany. Customs, traditions, languages, clothing, and foods vary widely across Peru. In its 201 years as an independent nation, immigrants from across the globe have made Peru their home. If anyone were to think of a melting pot, Peru is truly one, where everyone coming out of it is a Peruvian, nothing more and nothing less.

Life in the major cities of Peru is a stark contrast to the rural areas. Movements arising out of the cities have aimed to create a more egalitarian Peru throughout its history. The 1960s saw a rise in communism across Latin America - and Peru was no exception. The “Agrarian Reform” of 1969 was a failed attempt at achieving equity. Expropriating lands from wealthy landowners and handing these over to those that worked the land -“campesino, el patrón no comerá más de tu pobreza”- proved to be a disaster. Working the land was one thing, but managing was something the “campesinos” were not experienced with.

The Communist Party of Peru had gained some more momentum in the 1970s. A professor from one of the most impoverished regions in Peru decided to break away and form his party. Abimael Guzman (a.k.a “Comrade Gonzalo”) would take Leninism, Marxism, and Maoism along with his ideology to convince people to join him in what became one of the most ruthless terrorist organizations of the time, “Shining Path.”

The Agrarian Reform of Gonzalo’s militant groups had left the countryside in bad shape, and Gonzalo found little to no opposition to spread his ideology. In the May 1980 elections, Shining Path began its attack on government and democracy by burning ballot boxes in the town of Chuschi. More than a decade later, Peruvians had grown accustomed to living in terror with car bombs, blackouts, road blockades, and exploding bridges, to name a few, all in the name of Gonzalo’s ideology. Violence and destruction were everywhere, and death abounded. The marginalized increasingly felt that while Gonzalo claimed to “help” them, they were the ones that suffered and lost the most.

However, Peru would never fully transition into a period of peace and democracy. In April of 1992, using a legal argument and the popular support of the Peruvian people, President Fujimori closed Congress and became the de-facto dictator. Many Peruvians along with the Armed Forces supported this move as drastic reforms were necessary to curb hyperinflation and deal with the ever-increasing terrorist activities. A new constitution was drafted, one that set Peru up for economic growth in a free market economy for the years to come. The Peruvian Intelligence Office and the Armed Forces fought to dismantle the terrorist organizations. Towards the late 1990s, Shining Path had been decimated and a few remnants of the terrorist organization were relegated to remote areas of the country. One such area was the Valley of the Apurímac, Ene, and Mantaro Rivers, or VRAEM.

The VRAEM is an area in the south-central Peruvian Andes with dense vegetation, extremely difficult terrain, and very little police presence. Much of the coca leaf produced in Peru comes from this area. The coca leaf grown in this area is purchased by other countries where it is turned into cocaine.

Currently, Shining Path is now focused on this area, using its terrorist skills to support the drug trade. Shining Path also developed an organized political group called the MOVADEF (Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights).

Presidential Turnovers

In the past 7 years, Peru has had 6 different presidents, and after each change, peaceful protests have ensued. In 2016, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski was elected president and in 2018 he was removed from office; his VP, Martin Vizcarra became president. On November 10, 2020, Vizcarra was impeached and declared “morally incompetent”. Then President of Congress, Manuel Merino, took the oath of office and became president. It became known that Merino had planned this impeachment by securing the support of the Armed Forces. Many peaceful protests against Merino sparked all over Peru and abroad. One peaceful protest in Lima turned violent when an armed group sought to take down a building. The group was immediately stopped, but several protesters and police were injured and 2 people died. Facebook pages with details on times and places of these protests sprung up, anyone who wanted their voice heard could do so at the location closest to them. In the New York area, the protest took place across the United Nations building on November 15, 2020, at 11 am. A few hours into the protest, word got out that Merino had resigned. The people’s voices had been heard.

Congress went back to the drawing board and Francisco Sagasti became president, confirming that Presidential elections would take place in April 2021. A total of 24 parties presented presidential candidates in one of the most fragmented elections ever in Peru. The top two candidates would move on to the runoff election. Pedro Castillo of the far-left Free Peru party received 19% of the vote, while Keiko Fujimori of the conservative Popular Force received 13%. Castillo won the runoff election with 50.126% of the votes and became president.

However, the Free Peru party and Castillo himself were an immediate cause for concern. The leader of his political party had an open investigation for glorifying terrorism. Free Peru claimed to be supportive of Marxism and Leninism, sounding alarms about their links to Shining Path. As Castillo took office on July 28, 2021, his chosen cabinet had questionable characters. For example, Guido Bellido, the new Cabinet Head, was the very party leader subject to the terrorism investigation. By December 7, 2022, when Castillo violated the Constitution by conducting a coup against himself to make himself dictator, 60 people had rotated through all the cabinet positions. Several of these individuals were being investigated before their appointments to the cabinet, by the Prosecutor’s office for glorifying terrorism or corruption.

On December 7, 2022, Castillo was scheduled to be impeached for the third time; the prosecutor’s office had 6 open investigations on him. Among many other things, Castillo had been meeting in secret with vendors and key government officials at a house owned by a business acquaintance in Lima. Castillo, with the help of others, had been using his power and influence to allocate big government projects for personal monetary gain. The Prosecutor’s office had more and more evidence of these illegal arrangements. Castillo reacted by attempting to close Congress and trying to rule by decree. Congress reacted with a successful impeachment. Following the constitutional order, Castillo was ousted from the presidency in a matter of hours.

The Current Political Situation

During his time in office, former President and almost dictator Castillo appealed to the masses and in the process sought to weaken Peru’s democratic institutions while spreading a divisive narrative. With his removal, people violently took to the streets, not seen before in Peru. One of the protests in Arequipa, the second largest city in Peru, started with the takeover of the airport, a move reminiscent of military actions and not of regular disgruntled Peruvians. That same protest moved immediately thereafter to the milk production plant of one of the most important companies in the country. The guardpost and a company car were burned, explosions were seen and looting took place. The violent nature of these protests and the rhetoric of those who led them were very reminiscent of Shining Path.

Blockades were being set up by the protestors on main highways, causing the produce to rot and exports to miss their shipment. Peru’s crown jewel, the citadel of Machu Picchu, was closed to tourism, representing millions of US dollars in losses for the southern central Andes. Just like with Shining Path, the poor and marginalized sectors of the

Spring 2023

of the population were most affected. The protestors claimed dislike for President Dina Boluarte (Castillo’s former VP) and they wanted changes to the constitution. Those leading the protests were encouraging violence and continuing the divisive narrative, rekindling the population’s unsettlement. Many interviewed protestors have never read the Constitution nor know what “needs” to be changed. In a recent survey of the Peruvian population, when asked who is behind the violent protests, 34% of Peruvians believe it is Shining Path, 33% believe it is the illegal miners or drug traffickers and 27% believe it is Free Peru, Castillo’s political party. MOVADEF leadership in the protests has been identified. There are many ongoing investigations on the protests, their leaders, and the financing.

Mudslides and floods curbed these protests as the entire country had to pivot in late February and March to deal with saving people and properties. Despite the continuous investigations, what is clear is that the Executive and Legislative branches need to work together to find a solution that will provide political stability to the country.

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