“They say that we no longer know anything, that we are backward, that they have to change our heads for a better one. They say that our heart is also not suited to the times, that it is full of fears, of tears, like that of the calandria, like that of a large bull that is slaughtered; which is why it is impertinent. They say that some doctors say that about us.”
Arguedas, Called some doctors
It was in 1931 that Alphonse Capone was sentenced by an American court and, after spending time in a comfortable hotel-type prison, he was taken to the feared Alcatraz, where he spent six and a half years. Everyone knew that he was the boss of the Chicago mafia and a multiple murderer, who even with his own hands had eliminated three possible traitors. However, the justice system prosecuted and convicted him for not paying taxes, that is, for the crime of tax fraud.
Many years later, everyone knows that Luis Almagro had a lot to do with the Bolivian coup against Evo Morales, in particular for spreading the false news of electoral fraud. (In Europe there was talk of Evo’s “resignation” until two parliamentarians from Brussels recognized that it had not been such, but rather a coup d’état, which ended with the president exiled in our country, the coup started the whipala – “chifa tablecloth ”- of the police uniforms, burning that flag). That coup cost the lives of several dozen people, including women, as a result of the violent repression carried out by the dictator Áñez’s police, with weapons provided by Argentina. This same character, Secretary General of the OAS, could not contain himself and verbally advocated a war against Venezuela, although he later tried to back down. The truth is that he was in check and seemed to falter in his position, but not as a result of all of the above but, paradoxically, of having or having had (like Otárola) a girlfriend within the organism, perhaps his only notable human trait. These traits of morality hypocritically distort the first thing that the Law must preserve: life.
Now the President – so to speak – of Peru, Mrs. Dina Boluarte, is being investigated and her home was raided because she wears high-end watches, one of which would be valued at $16,000, which would indicate that she had committed a crime. of illicit enrichment. It is a true scandal, by the way, but not because of her illicit enrichment or because of her possible “Rolex”, but because if this is the reason for her removal, this lady will join the list of Capone and Almagro.
Indeed: as everyone can remember, Mrs. Boluarte became president of Peru through the arbitrary and irregular dismissal of President Pedro Castillo, of whom she was vice president. In addition to the kidnapping and imprisonment of Castillo, which is still ongoing, this lady ordered the repression of the protesters who defended President Castillo, causing dozens of deaths, including children.
During this lady’s administration, the pardon that former President Kuczynski had negotiated with Fujimori in exchange for his impunity was revalidated (today Kuczynski is on conditional release) and Fujimori was granted freedom, convicted of crimes against humanity that, as It is well known, they are not pardonable. Given that this pardon will be taken to the inter-American Human Rights system, the ambassador to the OAS appointed by Mrs. Boluarte declared that Peru must abandon the system, since it does not recognize any authority to the seven subjects who are in the Inter-American Court in Costa Rica.
But, perhaps above all this – and to measure the magnitude of the scandal – no one can ignore that the coup against President Castillo was intended to open the way for the renewal of the concessions for the exploitation of Peru’s natural wealth, signed in his moment by the criminal Fujimori. What is at stake, then, are billions of dollars that contribute to the heritage of the Peruvian people.
In summary: the scandal is that the natural riches of Peru and the lives of dozens of citizens murdered by the repression ordered by Mrs. Boluarte, the usurpation of the presidency, the Castillo prison, the pardon for Fujimori and the projected exit from the system Inter-American Court of Human Rights, in the eyes of the curious Peruvian “justice”, seem to be less important than the supposed $16,000 “Rolex” of this elegant lady.
The vacancy against Castillo, we must not tire of repeating it, is constitutionally null. The procedural issues are not simple. They don’t attract much attention. But Castillo’s fall was not a valid “removal.” The procedure established by the constitution to legally remove a president was not respected. But Castillo doesn’t have any rolex. He does not represent any sector with power. He does represent the neglected people of the Sierra. If Castillo had agreed to be part of the spurious businesses of the Peruvian political class (the Obededrecht scandal stains everyone, including the left, except him) Castillo would undoubtedly continue to be the president. It is not because he did not agree to negotiate anything or receive bribes. He did not agree to negotiate with the corrupt congress that massively disapproves of society. If he had agreed to be part of the business, he would be comfortably sitting in the Palace. But he did not. He would be a millionaire like the congressmen. But he is not. They have not found a single piece of evidence against him. Nothing. He is the least questionable of all the presidents who have been persecuted in the region, which are many. Many still do not see (yes Petro, yes AMLO, yes Evo, yes Xiomara, but not others) that Castillo is a victim. He is a cholo teacher who came to power and was not corrupted at any time. That’s why he was ejected.
Ayacucho is famous for its altarpieces. That is where the murderous repression of the Boluarte government was unleashed with fury. There a woman, whose husband had been murdered, grabbed Boluarte by the hair, out of helplessness at seeing that this woman, unpunished for her crimes, traveled to Ayacucho to throw candy and laugh in her face. Otarola, resigned for reasons similar to those of Almagro, after justifying the death of Rosalino Flores and the husband of Ruth Barcenas (a role similar to that of Gustavo Ardiazen in the OAS), said that they “do not defend violence.” It is paradoxical that as a “reward” for her crimes it was the governor of Ayacucho who “gifted,” after the massacre, an expensive watch to the president. And it is paradoxical that Otárola has been removed from his position for “arrecho”, as they say in Peru. But not because of his crimes, which are serious. Which is the message? That the life of an Indian is worth less than a Swiss watch? Historically, Indians could be killed by their owners, without consequences. They were forced in Chiapas to walk on roads other than those they had to carry on their shoulders to cross. The double standard rests historically, not from now, on the lives of the most humble, who seem, like Ruth Barcenas’ husband, not to count. The Indians and chuscos are invisible. The “soldiers” (they were boys who went to fight, like many of them in the Malvinas) from Bagua, from CENEPA, who gave their lives for their country (in a war that included the infamy of weapons smuggled by Argentina to Ecuador, forgetting the common bond of brotherhood that unites us Peruvians, whose air force wanted to fight in the Malvinas and not just transport planes in Belaunde’s time) and today they survive disenfranchised by selling sandals (“it’s the same feeling,” said Castillo, “the disenfranchised of always”) at fairs, they are invisible. Rosalino Flores is not seen. Peruvian justice looks the other way. He remains silent. Meanwhile the constitutional court is quick to misinterpret Birdat Campos. Or to say that an unarmed rebellion (of a people fed up with a corrupt congress, which borders on 90% disapproval and is dominated by those who have lost elections) is a coup d’état. But murdering 70 unarmed protesters is not a crime. Sending war tanks to the university either. It is “preserving order.” That is why Fujimori establishes himself, after opening his Tik Tok account, (his “humanitarian” pardon recalls Pinochet’s arrest in London in 1998; Pinochet boarded the plane on a stretcher, but got off walking and smiling in Santiago) as a “guarantor.” ” of “continuity.”
