For anyone patient enough to look for the truth behind Peru's current protests...... [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

U.S. Americans, unless they take the time to discover what has been at the heart of protests throughout the Americas, usually have no idea what the corporate media tells them is true or completely bogus.

I saw a comment in GD comparing the Peruvian protests to the Brazilian protests, and they could not be different. It's essential to do enough research to learn this, and to know what has actually happened in each country. To assume all protests concern the same situation is completely delusional.

Here's one article, to use as a start, and the material discussed can be grasped only by doing enough digging to find out why it's different from Brazil's situation:

LATIN AMERICAPeru rises up after coup against elected President Pedro Castillo

Peru’s elected left-wing President Pedro Castillo was overthrown in a coup by the right-wing-controlled congress. A Peruvian activist explains why the people are rising up and demanding a new constitution.


By Ben Norton
Published 2022-12-10

Peru’s democratically elected left-wing President Pedro Castillo was overthrown and arrested in a coup on December 7 by the right-wing-controlled congress, which has an approval rating of between 7% and 11%.

Castillo is a humble teacher and union organizer from a rural, indigenous-descent community in a country whose political system has long been dominated by racist elites.

As soon as Castillo entered office at the end of July 2021, far-right elements in the congress, loyal to the US-backed former dictator Alberto Fujimori, constantly tried to overthrow him and destabilize his government.

. . .

Transcript
BEN NORTON: Hey, everyone. I’m Ben Norton. And today I have the privilege of being joined by an activist in Peru, Daniela Ortiz. She is an anti-racist activist, and also an artist.

And today, we’re going to be talking about the coup that happened against the elected left-wing president, Pedro Castillo, on December 7 there. This was wildly distorted in foreign media reporting.

And I’m going to ask you about this, Daniela, but there was essentially an attempt to have a congressional coup against the elected President Castillo by the right-wing-controlled congress. And the most recent poll from just a few days ago shows that the congress in Peru has an 11% approval rating.

And in response to the congressional coup attempt, we saw that President Castillo dissolved congress and called for a constitutional referendum, and that led to a coup against him.

And now there has been a new president that has been appointed, who is unelected, his vice president, Dina Boluarte, who has made a political alliance with the right wing and called for a government of national unity with the right wing.

Meanwhile, there are large protests going on in Peru demanding that Castillo, who was arrested by the police, be freed, and calling for new elections, and also calling to have a constituent assembly to create a new constitution.

. . .

BEN NORTON: This is very important. For people who don’t know the modern history of Peru, there was a fascist dictator, Alberto Fujimori, who governed until 2000.

And both his son and his daughter are prominent politicians in the congress in Peru. And his daughter, Keiko Fujimori, was the other candidate who ran against Pedro Castillo in the second round of the elections.

And the Fujimori dictatorship committed genocide, sterilization of indigenous women. So they represent the far-right wing of Peruvian politics.

Now, you mentioned something very important, Daniela, which is that the right-wing-controlled congress has taken out multiple presidents.

In fact, Peru has had six presidents in five years, because of this Fujimorista constitution that allows the Congress to remove elected presidents because of “moral incapacity,” which really means whatever they want.

Can you talk about why the political system is so unstable, and why Castillo and also people in the streets right now have been demanding a new constitution where the elected president can actually be allowed to govern?

More:
http://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2022/12/10/peru-coup-president-pedro-castillo/