{"id":277379,"date":"2020-12-02T08:32:38","date_gmt":"2020-12-02T13:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=277379"},"modified":"2020-12-02T08:32:38","modified_gmt":"2020-12-02T13:32:38","slug":"perus-democracy-faces-greatest-trial-since-fujimori-dictatorship-after-two-presidents-are-ousted-in-one-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/12\/02\/perus-democracy-faces-greatest-trial-since-fujimori-dictatorship-after-two-presidents-are-ousted-in-one-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Peru’s democracy faces greatest trial since Fujimori dictatorship after two presidents are ousted in one week"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Exactly 20 years ago, Peru\u2019s political leaders faced \u2013 and ultimately failed \u2013 a similar test, after the fall of dictator Alberto Fujimori. (Pixabay photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peru\u2019s new interim president took office on Nov. 17 under unenviable circumstances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Francisco Sagasti became the South American country\u2019s third president in a week after President Martin Vizcarra was impeached for \u201cmoral incapacity<\/a>\u201d in what many Peruvians saw as a coup by Congress<\/a>. Then Vizcarra\u2019s successor, congressional president Manuel Merino, was quickly forced to resign after furious public protest.<\/p>\n

New president Sagasti must now steer a shaken nation not just toward elections, scheduled for April 2021, but also toward renewed faith in democracy.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not an unprecedented mandate for a Peruvian leader. Exactly 20 years ago, Peru\u2019s political leaders faced \u2013 and ultimately failed \u2013 a similar test, after the fall of dictator Alberto Fujimori<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And their failures explain why Peru, in the words of political scientist Alberto Vergara<\/a>, peered into the \u201cabyss\u201d of repressive authoritarianism for six days this November \u2013 with protesters facing indiscriminate and deadly violence,<\/a> even kidnapping, torture, illegal detention<\/a> and sexual abuse<\/a> by Peruvian police.<\/p>\n

Great expectations fall short<\/h2>\n

During Fujimori\u2019s corrupt military-backed rule between 1990 and 2000, Peru\u2019s democratic institutions were dismantled and its democratic values subverted. Dissenters faced death, disappearance and torture<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fujimori\u2019s regime came crumbling down<\/a> in November 2000 because of electoral fraud and a mass popular uprising<\/a>. Fujimori was removed from office by Congress<\/a> and replaced by congressional leader Valent\u00edn Paniagua.<\/p>\n

As interim president, Paniagua had a mandate \u2013 as Sagasti does today \u2013 to lead a deeply scarred nation into a formal democratic transition and help society heal. In 2001, Paniagua established a truth and reconciliation commission<\/a> to document Fujimori\u2019s atrocities and created a constitutional commission tasked with identifying the structural changes required to safeguard Peruvian democracy in the future.<\/p>\n

Paniagua\u2019s successors did not see his initiatives through.<\/p>\n

The truth commission meticulously documented state crimes, and in 2009 Fujimori was convicted of mass human rights abuses<\/a>. But prosecutions of others and redress for victims \u2013 particularly poor, rural and Indigenous populations \u2013 have been excruciatingly slow and inadequate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Peru\u2019s leaders after Paniagua also discarded arguments that Peru needed a new constitution<\/a> with greater protections for democracy and the rule of law. Drafting a new constitution might have ensured, as the late Peruvian politician Henry Pease<\/a> put it, that \u201cscoundrels won\u2019t feel free to dissolve the Congress\u201d as Fujimori had.<\/p>\n

Instead, Alejandro Toledo, the first democratically elected president after Fujimori, channeled reform demands into 2002\u2019s \u201cNational Agreement<\/a>.\u201d This document, developed jointly by government, civil society and political parties, laid out the basis for Peru\u2019s democratic transition and established a shared national vision.<\/p>\n

But it did little to tackle Peru\u2019s chronic governance problems. Social, environmental and accountability controls over public and private investment remained weak. So did Peruvian courts, which are vulnerable to special interests because of a politicized and often corrupt judicial appointment process<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Uneven growth<\/h2>\n

The consequences of Peru\u2019s lack of reform were dramatically revealed in recent years in the Lava Jato<\/a> corruption scandal, in which construction companies bribed politicians across Latin America to snag big government contracts.<\/p>\n

Since 2016, four Peruvian presidents and Fujimori\u2019s own daughter have been criminally implicated in Lava Jato. Vizcarra, whose impeachment set off Peru\u2019s current political crisis, became vice president because of this long-running scandal. He came to power in 2018 when then-president Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned after accusations of bribery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But when lawmakers ousted President Vizcarra with the same charges in November 2020, it caused immediate public condemnation. Protesters felt lawmakers\u2019 interpretation of \u201cmoral incapacity\u201d \u2013 a clause in the Peruvian constitution \u2013 was dubious at best<\/a>. At worst, they feared, it was a cynical manipulation by congressional conservatives to seize Peru\u2019s government.<\/p>\n

When Vizcarra\u2019s successor, Merino, appointed as his prime minister politician Antero Flores-Araoz<\/a> \u2013 an ally of congressional extreme right-wingers \u2013 those fears seemed to be confirmed. Some 2.7 million Peruvians \u2013 almost one-tenth of the population \u2013 took to the streets<\/a>. Merino resigned after six days, having failed to secure the military\u2019s support.<\/p>\n

Today, 85% of Peruvians surveyed by the Vanderbilt University pollsters Latinobarometro agree that Peru \u201cis ruled by a handful of powerful groups for their own benefit<\/a>\u201d. The country loses about US$6.5 billion to corruption every year<\/a>, according to the national comptroller.<\/p>\n

Still, Peru\u2019s economy has boomed since 2000, fueled primarily by mineral extraction, gas and crops like asparagus, grapes and avocados<\/a>. Mining accounts for about 60% of exports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While these activities occur in rural areas, Peru\u2019s countryside remains extremely poor<\/a>. People in gold-rich Cajamarca are about five times more likely to live in poverty than those in metropolitan Lima.<\/p>\n

Peruvians who protest against the environmental damage<\/a> and disruption of livelihoods<\/a> caused by mining \u2013 both legal and illegal \u2013 are often met with police and security force violence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Protests and legal battles over mining in Peru have earned little political response. Oversight of mining operations is so weak that police and military forces sometimes sign agreements with companies to protect mines<\/a> from protests.<\/p>\n

Sagasti\u2019s task<\/h2>\n

Improving political and economic inclusion and reforming the police are now high on Peruvian protesters\u2019 list of demands.<\/p>\n

As in 2000, some protesters and politicians are again calling for a new constitution<\/a> that will strengthen the separation of powers in Peru<\/a> and hold elected officials more accountable for their actions.<\/p>\n

[Deep knowledge, daily.<\/em> Sign up for The Conversation\u2019s newsletter<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Back in the 2000s, Congress neglected such structural changes<\/a>, allowing the problems that gave rise to Fujimori\u2019s regime to continue after his overthrow.<\/p>\n

Today Peru\u2019s vigilant young protesters expect<\/a> Sagasti to do more. To succeed as a post-crisis leader, he\u2019ll need to restore Peruvians\u2019 trust in government and lay the foundation for a more democratic future.<\/p>\n

Gisselle Vila Benites<\/a>, Adjunct Researcher at the Center for Mining and Sustainability Studies at the Universidad del Pac\u00edfico (Peru) and PhD Candidate in Geography, University of Melbourne<\/a><\/em> and Anthony Bebbington<\/a>, Milton P. and Alice C. Higgins Professor of Environment and Society, Professor of Geography, Clark University<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Peru\u2019s new interim president took office on Nov. 17 under unenviable circumstances. Francisco Sagasti became the South American country\u2019s third …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":277380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-277379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-gisselle-vila-benites-university-of-melbourne","mauthors-anthony-bebbington-clark-university","mauthors-the-conversation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277379"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":277381,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277379\/revisions\/277381"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277380"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}