“Everywhere they cook broad beans, but in Peru they only cook broad beans.” César Moro
In charge of the country is a weak government of uncertain duration. His performance is questioned inside and outside the country –Washington has been clear about it– and it is probable that it will not be sustained until 2026 as its figures want. This political situation inevitably affects the economy: what investors can risk a large sum of money in a country whose future is unpredictable?
Despite the fact that the rains and landslides have provided a tragic distraction that obscures claims and deters demonstrations, unrest persists in the country without political actors showing signs of understanding it. Rather, they reproach the mobilized over and over again for not asking for schools, medical posts or roads, which is what was always offered to them and was not always fulfilled.
Politicians have always seen the mobilized as those who give them their votes in exchange for promising them something. But when they complain as citizens, and not as simple pedons, ulterior motives are attributed to them or political reasons are tried to be blamed on them. As if having political motives were criminal, as if it were not what a citizen who lives in a democracy does. And the action of groups of vandals, who have attended these demonstrations, tarnishes, but does not disqualify, the most important popular mobilization that has occurred in the country in decades, which probably originated from the failure of the State shown in the number of deaths in the pandemic, the highest in the world in relation to the population.
Frustration of democratic functioning
The situation shows the failure of a political system that calls itself democratic but has only been so on election day. From then on, those elected turn their backs on their constituents and, as seen ad nauseam in recent years, they dedicate themselves to their own: representing minority groups, whether legal or illegal, in exchange for bribes and favors. This is how this Congress works that shames us as Peruvians.
Meanwhile, social unrest persists. It does not just stem from historical humiliations: right now, recent law enforcement abuses – which have been investigated and documented by the international press – have no real chance of being investigated and punished. The Public Ministry has lost the teeth that it showed with Castillo, thus revealing that his leadership obeys, before and now, a political orientation.
In the Supreme Court there is a majority that defends the jurisdictional exercise in what precisely corresponds to the judges: the control of the constitutionality and legality of the acts of government. That is, the operation of the checks and balances of democratic functioning. They have just expressed it, loud and clear, in the face of a decision by the Constitutional Court –designated by Congress precisely to carry out these low duties– that seeks to put the decisions of the Legislative Branch outside of judicial control.
In a framework where the institutional framework represented by Congress and the Executive Branch is rapidly losing legitimacy, the demand for a constituent assembly is a demand, probably somewhat confused, to have in the command of the State those who truly represent common interests, not interest group leaders.
And then, what is the output?
The constituent assembly is a mirage. Peru Libre waves that flag for its own benefit and has no idea what a new constitution should contain; for some reason it has not advanced even an outline of proposals. But, strictly speaking, a society is not refounded simply by changing the constitution. This is so as our experience and that of other countries demonstrates; but, as it is verified, the mirage is attractive for those who seek a change.
Antauro’s caudillo proposal and his list of “fusible” seems to have been somewhat dislodged by the mobilizations, to which the character tried to climb, without being able to obtain a little place in them. A few months ago he seemed like a radical caudillo on the rise. He today he is overshadowed.
It seems probable that in the next electoral opportunity –whenever, since there is no date yet–, after the failed bet with Castillo, he will venture to elect someone who represents the right, to be something like a chicha Bukele. The problem with the right is that it does not have a minimally presentable character. López Aliaga must be praying for some saint to grant him the miracle of managing a municipality, which he surely already discovered is too big for him. In Fuerza Popular Hernando Guerra-García is seeking to accumulate merits, assuming that Keiko remains in the announced decision not to be a candidate once again; and in Avanza País there is no figure. General Chiabra has kept out of bickering, but he is not devoid of an ambition to achieve which he has no team or party.
So what? In another era a military coup would have been anticipated. Today it is not impossible but it is unlikely. The hypothetical coup plotters would probably have the support of the banners of the right who, devoid of neat figures, would take that option as their own. But that support yields little in social terms, in any case not enough to legitimize the expected heavy hand. Instead, a coup would have the rejection of the international community. The ambitious decorated will have, then, to think about it several times.
The underlying problem resides in Peruvian society which, election after election, produces the politicians we have known in the last four decades. Suffice it to remember that all the presidents of these years have been faced with judicial processes. We are not capable of generating better actors.
It is hard to recognize that Peruvian society has been going through a profound process of decomposition that is evident both in the sphere of public life and in private life. From the expansion of common crime to the conversion of politics into work of enrichment, the country has plunged into a dark night.
