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| © Cuellar Solano |
“If Kafka happened to be born in Peru, he would have been a Costumbrism writer”
- Sofocleto, a Peruvian writer and humorist
Peru appears as a paradox filled country. The presence of the two candidates rolling down the election’s final stretch, Ollanta Humala Tasso and Keiko Fujimori Higuchi, seems to represent an incoherent scenario given the great economic growth and development the country has lived this past 10 years (7 % since 2006 opposite to the world’s economic crisis). How can this be? How come one of the fastest development democracies of the region finds itself threatened with a candidate signed as a symbol of Hugo Chavez’s dictatorial and populist policy?
And in the other corner is Keiko, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, condemned in prison for 25 years for crimes against human rights, such as torture and kidnapping; Keiko, the advocate of the most corrosive Dictatorship in the nation’s history (In Nobel Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa’s words).
And in the other corner is Keiko, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, condemned in prison for 25 years for crimes against human rights, such as torture and kidnapping; Keiko, the advocate of the most corrosive Dictatorship in the nation’s history (In Nobel Prize laureate Mario Vargas Llosa’s words).
We want to ask ourselves, in which paradox the Peruvian democracy is immersed in this times of alleged growth?
The economic development flies as the flag of success by the defenders of the status quo. It seems democracy ends up meaning a sense of stability of the economic system particularly the stability of the market liberties. Is this a democracy for the free market and not a free market democracy?
It’s been a century since a Peruvian democracy has lasted more than 12 years. This time around Peruvians “enjoy” 10 years of democracy in a row, it’s expected that the next government allows this streak to pass her puberty years (the last pubescent democracy was overthrown precisely by Alberto Fujimori establishing his Autocracy in April 5 1992).
According to a survey by Latinobarometro in Latin America, Peru is a country that defends democracy so much as neighbor countries like Chile or Brazil. Democracy stands with 61% as the best option for government system (Chile 63%; Brazil 54%; Mexico 49%) ; only 22 % of the population thinks that the state should step over law in a difficult situation (28 % Chile; 44% Brazil); and 55 % thinks there isn’t democracy without congress.
Nonetheless it seems this really doesn’t account for the appraisal of democracy as a reality. The institutional order is clearly lacking of people’s value. The powers of the Country are seen with contempt. Trust in government rounds the 25%, in congress 14 % and 13% for the justice system. Only 18% of the population is happy with the economy’s working manners.
This translates in: there’s a wish for democracy as path, but an utter distrust in the people behind the wheels. The Peruvians crave for a plate of democracy but don’t trust the chef in the kitchen. Even worse, they feel that the whole restaurant is filthy and the management corrupt.
In addition to this, there’s still a great economic gap that gives these election some meaning. If economic reality in Peru was a geographic phenomenon it would be a canyon. A great split between the people that sense the great economic growth as a reality and the 34 % of Peruvians that stills live in poverty including an 11.5 % fighting against odds in extreme poverty (managing to survive with less than 1.25 dollars a day).
Plus, the country is infected with an urban violence crisis (crime gangs) and a war against the Drug Lord’s mafia, leaving the nation in a constant sense of peril.
The promise of a new head of state brings hope of a greater presence of the government throughout the country, a proper distribution of the, so-called, economic bonanza that breaks through the side of the needed. It’s expected of the power to appear as a guardian of safety. The Peruvian folks are waiting eagerly for a change. For the benefits of growth to stop going only to the few as it is perceived by a great portion of the nation for the last 10 years.
Maybe a whole lot of Peruvian people are wishing for a rare Chimera: the mighty government with an Iron Fist against the ones that are frightened. And a caring hand that nurtures cares and brings the benefits of our sky high economic development to the whole country. This dreamed Chimera opens the ideal setting for the coming of populist and authoritarian government.
Some tend to affirm that the ones that vote for Ollanta Humala are putting our democracy in danger. Nevertheless, what is the meaning of democracy for this supposed faceless mass? It seems that democracy appears as the opportunity to put all the marbles of hope in someone who will change everything for good. Democracy is just and open chance every 5 years to dream. Dream that their vote will make this Idyllic candidate the maker of all their wishes and hopes.
That dream/change, that the reality of our paradoxical country denies to see and tells these nameless mass- “the change isn’t needed we’re all right”-even though your children are dying of famine. This country that grows and grows (economically) but has a large percentage of population crying out loud for help.
It jumps to our attention how the country’s capital city, Lima, was taken by surprise over the rising of Humala’s vote to the top of the first round polls. It’s startling that it surprises so much, when only 5 years ago, and with a much radical tone in his speech, this same candidate obtained almost the same quantity of votes in the first round, losing in the ballotage by mere 6 points margin against the contender, our current president, Alan Garcia Perez. And Keiko Fujimori, whose father’s government was still very fresh in the people’s memory due to its downfall and all the corruption that was shown through the public display of the “vladivideos”, came 1st in the election for congress the same year. With this in mind is quite shocking that Keiko Fujimori, taking the 2nd place in the ballotage, took anyone with their pants down.
This myopic sight is responsible of the veil that obscures the real deal, there’s a large part of the country that claims for a change. Not for ignorance, like some people unfairly wanted to give as an easy (and irresponsible) explanation, but for the only opportunity this frail democracy gives them to raise their voices and dream that this Chavez’s boogeyman (for the conservative right especially) will give them exactly that CHANGE. If there’s anything this claiming voice ignores is the meaning of this hype called economical development and the value that the most conservatives give to the present model of economical policies.
Our young and fragile democracy gives them this sole opportunity to be heard, are we listening? Paradoxical, how the democracy in this ill mannered configuration where there is no real “equalité” happens to revert its own functioning against itself. Democracy without real freedom for all its children. Without opportunities for everybody. This democracy of some, this “democracy of the free market only”, because we’re not saying the free market is the devil. But freedom of economy without freedom for all to be part of this development seems to only come to this state of splitting:
Us and Them, Them and Us.
“Ignorant” against the rich and educated.
“The vile rich man” against the forgotten ones.
Even the amazing appearance of characters so out of context, the commies vs. the right wing.
But the paradox doesn’t end there. There’s still more to unravel. If Ollanta is feared because, like Chavez did in Venezuela, he will destroy democracy, break up the freedom of speech and intervene in the private enterprises matters, (leaving the liberal economic model that is the supposed corner stone of the wheels of progress in Peru), then how come Keiko Fujimori representing his father’s party, without making a stance against the image of his government but vindicating it as the best government in the republic history, taking his father as an imprisoned advisor, and accepting some of the crimes and excessive manners as “things that we had to do”, is not feared?
How come the representation of this autocracy is the safe way to secure democracy? A tyranny with a large number of its leaders behind bars. A former government ranked 7th (according to international organization Transparencia Ranking) as most corrupt governments in history, with around 2200 millions of American dollars still missing from the arcs. An Autocracy that is guilty of different offenses against human rights: female sterilizations without consent, murder of innocent and execution of criminals and suspects alike without a proper legal procedure. And the outrageous buying of the public and private media.
This paradox of democracy allows only this outrageous thought to be observed as the rational and upright way of defending our well being as citizens of a country. Isn’t this obvious? Are we blind? Are we defending civil rights? Are we trying to save democracy and the freedom of powers, its institution, and, above all, the well being of the people? It seems this argument is only plausible if we think of the maintenance of the status quo of what I call the democracy of the economic growth, not a democracy of the people. This is not the defense of the morality of a country but a defense of a system that it’s clear is making its own destiny of obliteration. We cannot think that this is the way to secure the continuity of a real democracy and that in 5 years we will be able to vote again and fell like nothing happened in the meantime.
It feels like this is not a lack of memory, in 2006 Fujimorism flied high in the congress ballots with all the footprints of its corruption still fresh, with Alberto Fujimori himself in the middle of his trial. Now it appears as THE option. The memory is left aside; it doesn’t matter as long it secures certain stabilities. If Fujimori’s realm was the most corrupt and criminal it doesn’t matter. It’s just that, it doesn’t matter.
It’s accepted, sometimes it’s ignored, it’s not forgotten it’s just an uncomfortable truth that is put aside in the balance of the choice. Even worse, it’s praised as the way to secure democratic order, liberty and constitutional health. The paradox in its most perverse formation.
I can acknowledge that some are making this choice out of fear. But I cannot abide that someone can defend this choice as the defense of the democratic and legitimate order in our country. That is an incoherent and dismal rationalization.
And the flag of change in the choice of Humala is not an innocent child, immaculate and without shadowy places. His speech is quite inconsistent specially if compared with his own government planning. The shadow of Chavez and another autocratic future is not a free granted suspicion. Be sure, Ollanta is not Obama. His past actions make him a tenebrous candidate, his word of encourage of an attempt of coup d’état (by none other than his imprisoned brother Antauro Humala) in which 4 policemen and 2 insurgents were killed. In addition to accusations of crimes of murder and torture under his lead over the military outpost in Madre Mia, Peru. This is not a saint’s beatification résumé.
We as a Nation have to start taking responsibilities as citizens of our decisions. If we want this country to really grow or else it seems that the paradox is here to stay. The paradox by which the democracy tends to risk itself for its continuity. The more years we spend in this ill mannered democracy the higher the risk of and uprising in the way of a civil war (that we’ve already suffered) or an military or civil autocracy, The continuity of this democracy of the economic liberties cannot outlast the demands of its own forgotten people. Change is needed for the sake of our own freedom.
Diego Polo
Diego Polo
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