Peru Has a Choice: Democracy or a Return to Dictatorship

[Judi Lynn]

The country’s elections this weekend offer two stark choices: a deepening of democracy or a return to right-wing dictatorship.

2 HOURS AGO

On January 6, 2021, Americans were horrified to witness Donald Trump’s right-wing supporters storm the US Capitol in an attempt to overturn the presidential election. Their attempted insurrection against American democracy colossally failed, but the riot served as a reminder to Americans that democracy is fragile — and is a system that must be constantly defended.

I’m currently in Lima, Peru with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) to serve as an election observer for the country’s June 6 presidential runoff election. This Sunday, Peruvians will choose between leftist candidate Pedro Castillo, an educator and union leader, and Keiko Fujimori, a career politician and daughter of former dictator Alberto Fujimori.

I’ve served as a poll watcher in local and national US elections, but the stakes have never been as high as they currently are here in Peru.

In the past two days, all four groups that DSA’s observer delegation has met with have expressed serious concerns about the possibility of a right-wing coup attempt should Pedro Castillo win. Castillo is currently leading in the polls. The four organisations — made up of indigenous leaders, lawyers, human rights experts, and trade union leaders — also expressed fears that Keiko Fujimori and her supporters in the military, courts, legislature, and media would engage in fraud or violence to secure her victory at any cost.

Legal experts with Peru’s Mesa de Abogados Por La Democracia (Lawyer’s Table for Democracy) shared their fear that this election could result in a return to Fujimorismo, the term used to describe the right-wing authoritarianism and violence of Alberto Fujimori’s ten-year dictatorship. Fujimori’s government forcibly sterilized 272,028 mostly indigenous, rural, and poor women and murdered thousands of Peruvians in terrible acts of state-sponsored terrorism. Mass graves around the country have still yet to be uncovered.

More:
https://thewire.in/world/peru-has-a-choice-democracy-or-a-return-to-dictatorship

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1. Does the Chicago school of economics

still get involved in this stuff?