Keiko Fujimori, presidential candidate in Peru, during a press conference on April 16.SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA / Reuters
A group of former ministers of the authoritarian regime of Alberto Fujimori and the former right-wing presidential candidate, Lourdes Flores, have bowed to the conservative politics Keiko Fujimori before the second round of the presidential elections to be held on June 6. The surprise victory of the radical teacher Pedro Castillo in the first round has led conservative politicians to close ranks with the leader of Fujimori, for whom the Prosecutor's Office is asking for more than 30 years in prison for money laundering, criminal organization and obstruction of justice due to the unreported millionaire contributions -in their electoral campaigns of 2011 and 2016- by the Brazilian Odebrecht and the main Peruvian financial group. Castillo leads all the polls so far.
“No one trained in the Christian Popular Party school would ever play the game of communism. We consider it a retrograde thought that would do a lot of damage to Peru, "said ex-congresswoman Flores Nano, who ran for the presidency for Christian democracy in 2001 and 2006, in a video. The leader of the Fujimori party Fuerza Popular has recruited her team from advisers to a former Minister of Economy in his father's government, Jorge Baca, and to former Fujimorista congressman Carmen Lozada, who was in Parliament from Fujigolpe in 1992 to 2000. In the Legislative, Lozada was one of the greatest defenders of the regime and coordinated actions against the opposition with the then de facto head of the armed forces, Vladimiro Montesinos, Fujimori's main adviser.
Former Foreign Minister of the Fujimori regime Francisco Tudela also gave his support to the candidate and has criticized former Fujimori adviser Hernando de Soto, who finished fourth in the first round, for not having yet joined that campaign. The conservative economist De Soto was a presidential candidate with the political group Avanza País and has indicated that both Fujimori and the rural teacher Pedro Castillo represent risks for the country. The daughter of former Fujimori foreign minister, Adriana Tudela, a virtual congresswoman from Avanza País, has announced her support for the candidate Fujimori.
The political scientist Gonzalo Banda has highlighted to EL PAÍS that those who were champion of intellectual anti-Fujimorism such as the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, and the former Prime Minister Pedro Cateriano today could be called "intellectual keikism" for their support of the candidate. "But I do not know how decisive these support will be because analysts Steven Levitsky and Alberto Vergara have criticized them for such hasty support," said the professor at the Catholic University of Santa María, in Arequipa, the fourth region with the highest number of voters. The former presidential candidate of the far right, Rafael López Aliaga, third in the first round, reported last week that he will tour the country to counter Castillo's candidacy.
On Monday afternoon, several giant LED signs in Lima showed the slogans “think about your future, not communism, think about your children”, “protect your work and freedom”, similar to the messages of Keiko Fujimori and her spokespersons , who defend the current economic model and encourage the fear of communism that, they say, represents the teacher and union leader Castillo. “It is speculated that it was businessmen who paid for these signs, but they do not seem like well-structured scare campaigns,” explains the professor. Banda believes that "if the
political
establishment
continues to align itself with Fujimori, the effect of 'everyone against Castillo' will be seen: they will make him a victim of the official political class."
The left-wing populist candidate has more intention to vote in the regions, while Fujimori has a slight advantage in Metropolitan Lima, according to three polls last week. Lima has 29% of the electorate. "Now we see the return of the prodigal sons of Fujimorism, but none have a regional profile, they are a hyper-centralist proposal from Lima, while Castillo represents the popular spirit," notes the political scientist.
The majority of the Lima press also supports the candidate.
The researcher and professor at the University of Lima Lilian Kanashiro points out that "regardless of whether the Lima media support Keiko Fujimori, the question is whether it works."
"I sense that for the regions there is nothing to destroy because the pandemic ended what there was, only survivors, grief and pain remain," reflects the author of the book
Presidential Debates televised in Peru 1990-2011
.
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