Trumpism is not dead. A new political philosophy comprising a combination of white supremacy, vote suppression, market fundamentalism and authoritarianism is influencing the presidential elections on June 6, 2021 in Peru, South America.
All the votes have been counted and national and international election observers have confirmed that the election was fair, but right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of imprisoned former dictator Alberto Fujimori, is staging a coup to prevent her rival, the son of illiterate peasant Pedro Castillo to become president. Her cries of fraud, without any evidence, have shaken the class system and a fragile democracy.
Pedro Castillo won the election with a slim margin of 44,000 votes with the support of the rural poor who are 54% of the population, including the 19% who live in absolute poverty (i.e. live on less than $1.00). per day). He has promised to apply the country’s resources to reduce the country’s high rate of poverty (VisionLaunchMedia- 3 Statistics and Facts of Peru’s Tragic Poverty Rate by Crystal Lombardo, August 24).
In contrast, Fujimori’s campaign was essentially a fight against communism that won over many middle-class voters and has the backing of the entire Lima establishment, business leaders, and the mainstream media, as well as the middle class. .
In a society where great social, racial and regional inequalities exist, Castillo is an outsider whose popularity is seen as a threat by privileged Peruvians. Fujimori advocates continuing the same failed market-driven policies that brought Peru to where he is today.
Fujimori’s strategy is clearly similar to Trump’s. Spread disinformation, delegitimize elections and create an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty.
First of all, you smear your opponent by calling him a communist. So if you lose, you scream and accuse your opponent of stealing the pick from you.
Inspired by Donald Trump’s refusal to accept defeat in the US elections, Fujimori has promised his supporters that the elections “will be reversed.”
An illustration of the uneven playing field is that, even before the election, he hired the best legal minds to file more than a thousand petitions in court to overturn 400,000 votes, nearly all of them from Andean regions that overwhelmingly supported Castillo.
In mid-June, more than sixty ex-military men published a letter calling for a coup against Castillo and there have been racial memes on social media among the white middle class saying that Andeans are too ignorant to vote and calling for a return to the alleged forced government of Alberto Fujimori. sterilizations against indigenous women.
Fujimori has a vested interest in the election outcome because she faces 35 years in prison for bribery and corruption and, as president, she would be free to drop the charges and pardon her imprisoned father.
The injustice of the electoral system is illustrated by the fact that, although the election was more than three weeks ago, the National Office for Electoral Processes (ONPE) has not certified the result.
Peru is yet another example where democracy is threatened.
In the process of development, democracy was supposed to replace feudalism in Europe, the one-party state in Africa, and military rule in Latin America. But increasingly liberal democracies around the world are seeing the rise of authoritarian populists like Jair Bolsonaro (Brazil), Rodrigo Duterte (Philippines), Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel), Narenda Modi (India) and now Keiko Fujimori, who are seen themselves as the equivalent and allies of Donald Trump.
The people voted for them. It is shocking that almost 50% of voters in Peru chose to hand over the presidency of the country to someone with such a questionable character as Keiko Fujimori. If she had won, it would have been like handing over the keys to the chicken coop to the fox.
The coup also has geopolitical implications with the alleged involvement of the US as some people in Fujimori’s team have ties to the CIA.
However perfect the theory of a political system may be, it is only as good as the extent to which people observe its principles. When democracy fails, it gives rise to political instability and even violence.
There is a persistent ideology in the world that covers the social emotions, the style of government, the political movement and a set of mechanisms to acquire and maintain power associated with Donald Trump.
On January 6, the Trump mob stormed the Capitol in Washington DC, the very heart of American democracy, and it took the intervention of the military to save, not one side or the other, but the system itself and the democracy prevailed.
In Peru it remains to be seen whether the people will be able to save their democracy or will have to live the unpleasant alternative of a bloody revolution.
