Peru

Peru: The Political Crisis Worsens

July 12, 2022 Carlos Noriega, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! coup, Pedro Castillo, Peru, Right wing politics

The crisis in Pedro Castillo’s government is worsening. Less than a month before the rural teacher and trade unionist who came to power as candidate of the left completes his first year in the presidency, the right wing, which from the first day of the government has bet on a coup, accelerates its plans to remove him from office abusing the power of the Congress that it controls. The instability of the government is accentuated by the destabilizing maneuvers of the right wing, which in its coup plans has the support of the big media, but one cannot deny the responsibility of a presidential administration that has moved away from its proposals for change, is now inoperative and lacks direction, is stained by allegations of corruption, accumulates errors and controversial ministerial appointments, and is weakened from within by sectarian attitudes and divisions in the governing party.

Peru Is Engaged In A Political War

February 20, 2022 Gustavo A. Maranges, Resumen English. Educate! Neoliberalism, Pedro Castillo, Peru, Politics

The political landscape in Peru is pretty complicated these days. The country has been living a political crisis for years due to the desire of a small minority to control the country both economically and politically. From 2016 until today, five people have occupied the presidential chair. All of them have faced tremendous resistance from Congress, which impeached two of them and threatened to do it with the other two, including the current President Pedro Castillo. The last remarkable event of these tireless attempts by Congress to impeach Castillo was unveiled by the weekly “Hildebrandt en sus Trece”. According to the outlet, two politicians, together with some Congress members from the opposition, including the Congress President Maria del Carmen Alba, gathered in the hotel “Casa Andina de Miraflores” to discuss the best way to get President Castillo out of the way.

Peru Community Plans To Restart Blockade Of Mine Road Amid Truce

February 14, 2022 Al Jazeera. Resist! Blockade, Mining, Peru

Members of a Peruvian community have promised to restart a road blockade against a prominent copper mine, even as a second community promised a 45-day truce in the dispute. The planned disruption is the latest in a series of protests along the road leading to the Las Bambas mine, which is owned by MMG Ltd and produces 2 percent of the world’s copper supply. Dozens of impoverished Andean communities live along the 400km (248 miles) dirt road. They have regularly complained that the trucks transiting to the mine pollute the environment while failing to increase the quality of life for residents. Since opening in 2016, the mining road has been blocked for more than 400 days by different groups.

Peru Ratifies UN Treaty On The Prohibition Of Nuclear Weapons

December 24, 2021 ICAN. Create! Nuclear Ban Treaty, Nuclear Weapons, Peru, United Nations

Addressing the UN General Assembly this September, the minister of foreign affairs of Peru, Óscar Maúrtua, hailed the TPNW’s entry into force as a “great achievement” and “a legal and moral starting point on a long road to achieve nuclear disarmament”. Peru is the 14th country in Latin America to ratify the TPNW, following Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Uruguay, El Salvador, Panama, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Honduras, and Chile. An additional four countries in the region have signed but not yet ratified the treaty: Brazil, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Guatemala. Gisela Luján Andrade, Peruvian member of the Human Security Network for Latin America and the Caribbean (SEHLAC), an ICAN partner organisation, warmly welcomed Peru’s ratification.

Peruvian Congress Rejects Impeachment Of President Castillo

December 11, 2021 Brasil De Fato, People's Dispatch. Resist! Castillo, Electoral Politics, Impeachment, Peru

Peru’s Congress rejected the initiation of impeachment proceedings against President Pedro Castillo with 76 votes against, 46 in favor and four abstentions. The vacancy motion was proposed by the right-wing caucus, composed of the parties Avanza País, Popular Renewal, and Popular Force of former presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori. In order to be admitted, the proposal had to obtain 40% support in the legislature, equivalent to 52 votes. This was the Peruvian president’s third clash with Parliament in only five months in office. The voting process was accompanied by demonstrations of support for the government in front of Congress. “On behalf of my government I am thankful that the vote of Congress prioritized Peru over all interests. Brothers and sisters, let us put an end to the political crises and work together to achieve a Peru that is just and based in solidarity.

Thousands March Against Right-Wing Maneuver To Impeach Pedro Castillo

November 29, 2021 Tanya Wadhwa, People's Dispatch. Resist! Electoral Politics, Peru, Right-Wing, Socialism

On November 25, Peruvian opposition legislators from three right-wing parties, presented a motion in Congress that seeks to remove socialist President Pedro Castillo from office. The motion, which alleged “moral incapacity” of the head of state to govern, was presented with the signatures of 28 legislators of the Popular Force, Popular Renewal, and Go on Country parties. The motion will go to a vote in Congress scheduled for December 7 and will need 52 votes from the 130 legislators for impeachment procedures to begin. If it manages to receive support to begin debate in Congress, a final vote to oust Castillo, would require 87 votes, which is an unlikely scenario. The ruling Free Peru (PL) party, with the support of the progressive Together for Peru party and the Purple Party, has the endorsement of 45 legislators.

Global Indigenous: Chemicals, Climate And Consultation

November 28, 2021 Deusdedit Ruhangariyo, Indian Country Today. Resist! Canada, Guatemala, Indigenous Activism, Indigenous Resistance, Peru, Scotland

The Ontario-based Aamjiwnaang nation is surrounded on all sides by petrochemical facilities, and members had long suspected that the facilities in “Chemical Valley” had exposed them to potentially dangerous chemicals. The data, which had been held secret for many years, was disclosed by the environment ministry following questions from Global News. The Aamjiwnaang people, situated along the Michigan border, think that the government of Ontario has been disrespectful by withholding the data from them. “This is just the continuation of the Canadian legacy of putting Indigenous people, people of color, at a lower place,” Janelle Nahmabin, also known as Red Cloud Woman and chair of Aamjiwnaang’s environment committee, told Global News.

Peru: ‘This Is The Beginning Of A Soft Coup’

August 28, 2021 Sengo Perez, Workers World. Educate! Coups, Electoral Politics, Latin America, Peru

People are afraid. People have a very reverent attitude toward the Armed Forces, which are understood as guardian institutions of the nation. But a nation does not have tutelage; a democracy does not accept tutelage [rule by the state apparatus]. People do not know, and besides, nobody dares to say that the tanks, the rifles and the ships are ours. They do not belong to the marines or the military: they are ours; they have been bought with our money. The military are public servants, so we have no reason to serve them. But in Peru there is an inverse criterion sponsored by the Armed Forces themselves. Throughout history we have been taught that they are institutions of protection against which you cannot say anything. You can say anything you want against the Bar Association, against the Medical Association, against the Judiciary, but nothing against the Navy, nor against the Army, nor against the Air Force. And I, modestly, as a common citizen, ask myself: Why?

Peru: A Coup Brewing

August 18, 2021 Ángel Guerra Cabrera, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! coup, Left Politics, Peru, US Imperialism

The onslaught of the Peruvian right wing against the government of President Pedro Castillo Terrones began long before he was proclaimed president after many delays—it began when his passage to the second round of the elections was confirmed—and has been intensifying for days with virulence and a frankly coup-like character. It includes, among other maneuvers, demands for the president’s resignation in small but very widespread demonstrations of Fujimorism, and requests from deputies for the replacement of Prime Minister Guido Bellido and Foreign Minister Héctor Béjar. The latter, by the way, has laid the basis for an independent and sovereign foreign policy, a defender of non-intervention, a promoter of unity and regional integration through UNASUR and CELAC, which is a distinct departure from the moribund Lima Group: “we condemn blockades, embargoes and unilateral sanctions that only affect the peoples,” he has said.

Perú On The Lima Group

August 11, 2021 Mision Verdad, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Peru, Solidarity, US Imperialism, Venezuela

A few days after the inauguration of Pedro Castillo, the Peruvian government has changed the official position that its predecessors maintained regarding the internal affairs of Venezuela. Yesterday Perú’s newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs Héctor Béjar pointed out that the policy of the new government will be opposition to blockades and “sanctions.” Commenting on the future of the Lima Group directed by the US and formed under Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (2016-18), who is currently under house arrest, Béjar noted that there are already several countries of the interventionist group that changed their position on Venezuela. The Lima Group represented an attempt to bring together countries that did not recognize Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro as the rightful head of state of the Bolivarian Republic.

Peru’s Socialist President, Pedro Castillo, In His Own Words

August 3, 2021 Pedro Castillo, Progressive International. Educate! Pedro Castillo, Peru

Peru’s presidential campaign between leftist Pedro Castillo and right-wing Keiko Fujimori has been an epic struggle. When it was clear that Castillo would win with a razor-thin margin, Fujimori — like Donald Trump — cried fraud and is now trying to carry out an electoral coup. While international observers, and even the US State Department, agree that the elections were free and fair, Fujimori’s legal maneuvers have managed to delay the official declaration of the winner, sow even more division among the public, and embolden the far right.

Arce-Castillo Socialist Alliance For South America, Part II

July 26, 2021 Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Popular Resistance. Educate! Bolivia, Peru, Pink Tide, Socialism

Arce in Bolivia and Castillo in Peru face some similar challenges: paralyzed economies, the exhaustion of some sources of income such as natural gas and the emergence of others (e.g. lithium); the pandemically-related rise in poverty; deep social divisions between rich and poor and between well-endowed areas and areas less fortunate; a historical legacy of ruling class entitlement; health and education systems in great need of additional resources, especially in the poorer and more remote regions; environmental challenges such as the destruction of the Amazon rain forest; the insistent pressure for access and profit by multinational corporations, especially in the extractivist industries; the need to fortify and expand national institutions and the role of the State in the national economy; the always looming threat of the regional hegemon, the USA and its allies, both local and global, which, when angered sufficiently stifle economic and political development through the application of sanctions and financing of local “pro-democracy” movements.

Arce-Castillo Socialist Alliance For South America, Part I

July 25, 2021 Oliver Boyd-Barrett, Popular Resistance. Educate! Bolivia, Peru, Pink Tide, Socialism

On July 28, 2021, Pedro Castillo, son of illiterate Andean peasants will be inaugurated as President of Peru, celebrating the victory of his socialist party Perú Libre in the elections of June. Peru has strong historical ties to other regional powers, most notably Ecuador and Bolivia. Castillo’s victory follows by two months the swearing in of Guillermo Alberto Santiago Lasso Mendoza as President of Ecuador in May. Although Lasso is center-right, he will be constrained by the continuing hold over Ecuador’s 137 seat assembly of allies of former President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) which maintains the largest bloc with 49 seats, and the leftist Pachakutik party which has unprecedented indigenous influence, holding about 45 seats in alliance with the center-left Democratic Left party.

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