The case of Peru

Imitating Alberto Fujimori, the President of the Republic of Peru, Pedro Castillo, wanted to carry out a coup, but forgot to inform the military, or at least those who really matter, who are the ones who know about these things. .

Despite this, the Peruvian president went on radio and television, announced his "coup", dismissed all parliamentarians, declared that the judiciary would be "reorganized" and announced that there would be new elections to reform the Constitution and create a new National Congress.

Having said this, since his famous "coup" did not prosper, he told his escort to take him to the Mexican Embassy, ​​where his new buddy, the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, had given orders that he be placed in asylum to give him an exile that promised to be “golden”.

The protection body that a head of state has, after receiving the president's orders, failed to comply with them and, instead of taking him into exile, deposited him in the Prefecture.

From there he went to jail, where he is now.

That prison, let us remember, is a police unit that was specially set up for former president Fujimori, with whom Pedro Castillo will surely have a lot of time to talk in the future.

Meanwhile, the vice president, Dina Boluarte, elevated to the Presidency by the parliamentarians, announced that a period of peace was beginning in the republic.

Without knowing that all the left and extreme left groups, which have a certain capacity for mobilization in southern Peru, had taken the cause of the former president very seriously, declaring that the "right" had kidnapped him.

These groups immediately proceeded to close roads, seize airports, attack police officers and assault offices of the judiciary and the Prosecutor's Office, and spread chaos in the poor country.

The situation has calmed down for the moment, but the famous Language Congress, which meets every four years and was to be held in Arequipa, will no longer take place: it will now take place in a more peaceful place, Cádiz,

This event, which was going to bring to Arequipa nearly 300 researchers from the entire Hispanic world, and the King and Queen of Spain themselves, has been suppressed, leaving a void that will undoubtedly not be filled again, at least in the future. foreseeable.

What a pity.

With the enthusiasm with which all the universities of Arequipa awaited this congress, many professors were preparing to present essays and theses on "miscegenation", a topic that should be discussed at said international event.

What is the current situation in Peru?

The vice president, recognized as president by parliamentarians once the coup president was ousted in accordance with constitutional procedure, has promised to step down after the first election, which will take place in one year and three months.

After the effervescence that shook the country, it seems to have calmed down and the situation gives the impression of a calm calm, although it could be transformed under any pretext.

Perhaps it is ridiculous to celebrate what happened, since the international image of Peru has been seriously affected in recent weeks.

All this was foreseeable since the Peruvians, in a blunder, elected a president like Pedro Castillo, who clearly did not have the basic training to exercise that command.

For this reason, I called on my compatriots to vote for Keiko Fujimori, who seemed more prepared than the poor Cajamarquino who was elected, and who has been declared, according to an almost general consensus, the worst president in the history of Peru, (including, of course, the coup plotters).

There are positions that cannot be entrusted to a rural teacher like him because he is clearly reckless.

This candidate was someone running for a Marxist party, who had been close to a Shining Path front group,

Is there any chance that the current calm will last until the next elections?

It is not impossible, provided that the groups and small groups of the extreme left calm down, bury their dead with circumspection, and have peace and coexistence as their main claim.

It is a lot to ask, without a doubt, in the turbulent Latin America of these days.

Something similar should be demanded of the leaders of Mexico, Bolivia, Argentina and Colombia, who have irresponsibly supported Pedro Castillo and the Peruvian extreme left, in their delusional thesis of the "kidnapping" of the former president, undoubtedly forgetting the problems that they have in their own land and that seem quite serious.

So much so that, compared to those of Peru, the latter seem barely venial sins.

But it is not excluded that the president of Mexico, above all,

that he has taken the family of the former Peruvian president and granted them asylum, and that he seems to have a particular grudge against Peruvian affairs, persist.

It can be said of him that, since he is not in a position to solve Mexican problems, he insists on solving Peruvian affairs.

But he doesn't know how to do it, and with his absurd statements he only confuses things more and more.

This, and the three countries that accompany him, would do well to follow the example of Chilean President Gabriel Boric, who, admirably, has refrained from reaching into the Peruvian hornet's nest, maintaining a neutrality that honors him, as well as the Peru maintained a respectful neutrality when the demonstrations and scandals affected what seemed like a successful formula for Chilean society.

At least in this case,

Perhaps it is worth ending with a brief reflection on Latin America in general.

Things are not going well in the countries that Christopher Columbus brought into contact with the rest of the world.

Instead of choosing the most sensible formulas —promoting investment, confronting the great national shortcomings through relations with the international community—, Latin America seems to insist on following the example of Cuba and Venezuela, countries that, it is enough to find out what is happening with their populations, and the desertion of its inhabitants to go abroad —to the United States of course, or, in any case, to any of the Latin American countries—, in search of work and a future that does not mean continuing to be impoverished and ruined. , only to realize that they offer the worst prospects.

Enough of imitating bad examples,

that only lead to aggravate the situation of the poor, above all, but also of those middle classes that it would seem that we want to ruin, plunging them more and more into misery or unemployment... Venezuela has "expelled" six million of inhabitants (one million have gone to Peru), judging by the way in which the poor Venezuelans have invaded the countries of Latin America, in search of peace and work.

This is not how a country progresses and rises.

Today any country can choose progress and modernity.

But, to do so, it must renounce absurd policies that have already been defeated by the history of the 20th century.

While we cling to an anachronistic past, we can miss the boat.

And the result is a set of increasingly poor and backward countries, from which the citizens just want to flee.

© Mario Vargas Llosa, 2022. Press rights in Spanish in Spain and Latin America reserved for Ediciones EL PAÍS, SL, 2022. Press rights in Spanish for other territories and for other languages, reserved for Mario Vargas Llosa c/ o Carmen Balcells Literary Agency, SA.

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