Angel Paez
05/29/2021 16:00
Clarín.com
World
Updated 05/29/2021 4:00 PM
Divided between the radical right and left,
Peru
is preparing for a close
ballot
on June 6, which will decide who will be the next president.
The polls of the last week indicate a possible "
technical tie
" between
Pedro Castillo
and Keiko Fujimori, and the campaign is shaken.
But, more numbers, fewer numbers, the daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a sentence in prison for murder, kidnapping and corruption, should be concerned because a few days after the vote,
she has not managed to destroy
the modest public school teacher of Province.
Since democracy was restored in 1980, Castillo is the first presidential candidate not to reside in Lima but in the Anguía district, in the North Andean department of Cajamarca, one of the country's richest mineral-rich regions.
In fact, Yanacocha, one of the most important gold mines in the world, is located in the region.
However, according to official figures, Anguía is the third poorest town in the entire country (out of a total of 1,874).
This contradiction is also reflected in the elections
.
Unlike Pedro Castillo, who had never before run for the presidency of the Republic, Keiko Fujimori was the first lady of her father's regime (1990-2000), and has added a 20-year career in politics: as a congressman (2006- 2011), and
three times a
presidential
candidate
(2011, 2016 and 2021).
Keiko Fujimori and Pedro Castillo propaganda posters on a street in Lima.
Photo: XINHUA
She founded a Fujimori party, Fuerza Popular, unlike the political organizations that her father constituted.
But he is
her main campaign advisor from prison
.
Castillo was forged as a politician when he became a union leader of provincial teachers who questioned the main union organization of teachers, the Unitary Union of Education Workers of Peru (Sutep).
In 2017, outside of Sutep, Castillo led the largest and most successful teachers' strike in many years.
Because of his radicalism,
he approached far-left organizations
, such as the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights (Movadef), a group of followers of Abimael Guzmán, imprisoned in perpetuity for having led a violent and bloody war against the State between 1980 and 1992, until he was captured during the Fujimori government.
But the national notoriety did not make Castillo move to Lima, as provincial politicians who achieve recognition tend to do.
He continued teaching in the public school.
Posters against Keiko Fujimori, in a march in favor of the leftist candidate Pedro Castillo, in Lima, days ago.
Photo: EFE
Keiko Fujimori and the shadow of corruption
Instead, Keiko Fujimori, who is criticized for not having had a known job, despite having graduated as a business administrator from Boston University and earned an MBA from Columbia Business School, has devoted all her time and effort to win the presidency, with
the never-hidden goal of getting his father out of jail.
This intense desire to reach the head of state at any price, apparently was what prompted him to accept millionaire contributions from powerful business groups in the two previous presidential campaigns, without reporting said money to the electoral authorities as required by law.
And this practice of
secretly receiving funds
is what led to the investigation by prosecutor José Domingo Pérez to request 30 years and 10 months in prison for Keiko Fujimori for the crimes of organized crime, money laundering and obstruction of justice.
And also for her husband, the American Mark Vito Villanella, 22 years and 10 months.
According to the prosecutor Pérez, Fujimori received in cash 17.3 million dollars of illicit origin in the two campaigns, money that he did not register with the competent electoral authority.
And of that amount, 7.5 million was captured when she served as a congressman, between 2010 and 2011. During that period, as a public official, she had to declare these flows according to the rules.
Keiko Fujimori
did not say what he did with that money.
Castillo is not facing any legal case for alleged acts of corruption by Keiko Fujimori and a dozen of his main collaborators in the presidential campaigns of 2011 and 2016.
Stains near Castillo
But Vladimir Cerrón, the founder and leader of Peru Libre, the party that nominated him for the presidency, is serving a suspended sentence - in freedom - of 4 years and 8 months for acts of corruption when he served as governor of the department of Junín.
In compliance with the sentence, in a possible government of Pedro Castillo, Cerrón will not be able to exercise public function.
Vladimir Cerrón graduated as a neurosurgeon in Havana, Cuba, he is a declared Marxist-Leninist, admirer of the Cuban revolution and recognized Chavista.
In 2016 he founded his own radical left party, Peru Libre, with
provincial sectors opposed to the moderate left
, such as Juntos por el Perú and Frente Amplio, which in this year's presidential elections nominated Verónika Mendoza and Marco Arana, widely known in the country.
However, Pedro Castillo, with very few financial resources compared to his Lima competitors, surprised in the first round of April 11.
When CNN broke the news, it did not have a photo of the candidate.
He put a shadow.
The crack
The ballot has clearly divided voters in two.
Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, who in the presidential campaigns of 2011 and 2016 asked not to vote for Keiko Fujimori because his promise to release his father Alberto Fujimori represented the consecration of crime and larceny, this time asked Peruvians to support her "In the name of democracy."
Mario Vargas Llosa changed his mind and is now asking for a vote in favor of Keiko Fujimori.
Photo: EFE
Pedro Cateriano, a well-known anti-Fujimori politician and close friend of Vargas Llosa, who was forced by Fujimori supporters to resign as prime minister on August 6, 2020, also asks to vote for Keiko.
Interviewed by
Clarín
, Cateriano denied having gone from antifujimorismo to profujimorismo.
"I'm still the same, defending freedom in the face of the totalitarian threat," he said.
"Today Peru faces a candidacy (Pedro Castillo) that does not have a democratic vocation. Freedom is the most precious asset of man. And it is what Castillo wants to violate, under our noses. He wants to end the Court Constitutional, with the Ombudsman, with Congress. With all the institutions that defend the constitutional order. I do not agree, "he added.
The politician remarked: "And I hope that the majority of Peru does not either. I keep thinking about the same thing. And if that thought pushes me towards a vote that is the lesser evil, I take it."
Campaign accusations
In recent weeks, the Fujimori campaign has focused precisely on imputing to Pedro Castillo communist militancy, authoritarian proposals and
close ties with the senderistas.
But even former Fujimori members such as Daniel Salaverry, who was part of the majority Fujimori parliamentary bench, and president of Congress for Fujimorism between 2018 and 2019, warns about the dangers of the candidate Keiko Fujimori and supports Pedro Castillo.
"As president of Congress, I resigned (from the Fujimori party) Popular Force, because I witnessed that Keiko Fujimori had an eagerness to obstruct the fight against corruption, making arbitrary use of a parliamentary majority," Salaverry told
Clarín
.
"Therefore, if she is elected president of Peru, I have no doubt that she will repeat such an action, and even more concentrating an absolute power in the Executive and the Legislative. There will be no balance of powers," he suggested.
Keiko Fujimori greets supporters during a campaign tour in Cuzco this Thursday.
Photo: AFP
"On the other hand, on the other side I see Pedro Castillo who is a person who wants to serve the country, a humble man with a dream and hope. He does not have a majority in Parliament, so he does not represent a threat. elected president, the balance of powers will be maintained. In addition, Pedro Castillo has already dissociated himself from radical characters and positions, "Salaverry explained to
Clarín
.
Five former presidents investigated
In 2016, since the Odebrecht corruption scandal broke, the investigations have involved five former presidents: Alejandro Toledo (detained in the United States and undergoing extradition proceedings), Ollanta Humala (with roots and impediment from leaving the country), Pedro Pablo Kuczynski (with house arrest).
Alan García committed suicide to avoid arrest.
And Martín Vizcarra, dismissed for alleged acts of corruption with construction companies associated with Odebrecht.
The Fujimori majority set up an investigative commission in the Odebrecht case that exempted Keiko Fujimori from responsibility, but could not prevent the prosecutor José Domingo Pérez from obtaining the preventive detention of the presidential candidate on two occasions.
Keiko Fujimori has tearfully said that the time she spent in a cell is the price she paid for reaching her price and spoke of "political persecution."
The prosecutor has said that he has 14 effective collaborators whose testimonies will serve to prove the crimes attributed to Keiko Fujimori.
But the messages of the daughter of the former president in prison are especially for Lima voters or urban concentrations.
But
in the provinces, Castillo has a voting intention that sometimes doubles that of his rival
.
Keiko Fujimori has difficulties to overcome the vote against, which sometimes reaches 50% of those surveyed.
The recent massacre attributed to former Shining Path militiamen in San Miguel del Este, stirred the presidential campaign in Peru.
Photo: EFE
Provocative posters
A group of businessmen has hired advertising panels in the main avenues of the capital with messages against Castillo saying that he is a friend of the terrorists of the Shining Path - an organization that several years ago renounced the armed struggle - that will implement a regime like the Cuban and that will apply the policies of Chavismo.
“Since 1990, Fujimori has had political and economic control of the country and has not been able to solve the most critical problems of our country.
It has imposed the indifference and forgetfulness of the State.
And corruption has been its flag, ''
the vice presidential candidate for Peru Libre, Dina Boluarte
, told
Clarín
.
“On the other hand, Pedro Castillo is a teacher and teacher leader and receives the support of all the forgotten regions that want structural changes and economic and social reforms.
It was also part of the peasant rounds that fought against the Shining Path terrorists and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), ”added Boluarte.
Over the weekend Keiko Fujimori traveled to Cusco, where the vast majority voted for Castillo in the first round, but the anti-Fujimori protests forced her to cancel her vote.
She knows that there is a half of the country that does not want her, but it is
uncertain
whether Castillo will manage to maintain the lead in a divided country.
Lima, special for Clarín
CB
Look also
The transformation of the Vargas Llosa: from enemies to allies of Keiko Fujimori in Peru
Does the Shining Path still exist? 10 days before the ballot, Peru debates between massacres, drugs and politics
