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The Health Crisis is Changing Peruvian Politics
BY SIMEON TEGEL | MAY 8, 2020
Enjoying popular support, Peru’s president is flirting with progressive politics.
Peruvian President Martín Vizcarra
Presidencia Peru (Flickr)
LIMA, Peru – It took me 10 years of living in Lima and the coronavirus lockdown to finally tour downtown on my bike.
As anyone who knows this chaotic and heavily congested city can attest, drivers here are among the most impatient and reckless in the Western Hemisphere, and a huge deterrent for those limeños who want to get around on two wheels.
But now, with private vehicles banned from circulating and combis grounded for lack of customers, cycling without risking life and limb finally feels possible. Yet this transformation in the Peruvian capital’s urban landscape may, in part, stick even after the pandemic is over.
In an attempt to get people out of the rickety, overcrowded buses and minivans in which most of the city’s residents travel – and which provide the perfect environment for community transmission of the coronavirus – the administration of President Martín Vizcarra is proposing various measures to promote cycling, including doubling Lima’s cycle-paths from 145km to 301km.
More:
https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/the-health-crisis-is-changing-peruvian-politics/
