Peruvian politics are complicated

Warning: for those of you who dislike politics and history, stop reading now!

On this day, April 5^th 1992 then president Alberto Fujimori turned Peru upside down. At 10 pm on that Sunday night he dissolved both houses of congress and shut down the judicial system. Using the military, he arrested many senators, congressmen and judges who opposed his political party. The next morning, he proceeded to take control of all media outlets, newspapers, radio, and television. Journalists who had spoken out against him in the past were put on house arrest and he confiscated their computers and notes. Once he controlled the media he used it to smear congress, falsely accusing them of drug trafficking, prostitution, and corruption. Peru lived under his rule for 8 years until 2000 when he fled the country and resigned via fax. During his rule he embezzled over $600 million US dollars, used the presidential jet to smuggle coke out of the country, oversaw forced-sterilization of 300,000 indigenous women, and used the military to conduct mass killings in an attempt to rid the country of the Shining Path terrorists. Today he is in a prison in Lima dying of cancer.

Here is where things get crazy.

This Sunday are the elections here in Peru. His daughter Keiko Fujimori is running for president, and is the favorite to win. Why? Well the people still like her dad. Through his auto-coup he brought financial stability and rid the country of the Shining Path. He accomplished this through his mass killings and by using American aid to arm the peasants to fight the Shining Path. Now the peasants love him, I would too if he gave me free guns. In Peru it is mandatory that everyone votes, so the peasants get a big say. The good news is that Keiko will most likely not receive the 50% majority needed to secure the presidency and there will be a run off between the top two candidates. The question right now is who will get second? It is a dead heat.

There are currently ten candidates running for president. When we arrived in Peru in January there were 17 but seven have dropped out or been dismissed by the election board. It is a new law this election that candidates can not pay voters, until now it was legal. And it seems candidates are having trouble with this law. My favorite was Cesar Acuna, when he was accused of plagiarism while in college he seriously said “it’s not plagiarism, it’s just copying.” When he was removed from the election for paying voters he didn’t even argue it. The election board is suspected of corruption as well.  Keiko’s top competitor was banned from the election due to improperly filling out paperwork but when a video surfaced of Keiko personally giving an envelope of cash to a supporter it was overlooked by the board.

So here is a rundown of some of the current candidates:

Alan Garcia- The two-time former president is best known for 7000% inflation, crashing the monetary system, letting the Shining Path run roughshod over the country, and lowering the per capita annual income to $720. Even in 1989 that is hard to imagine. 

Alfredo Barnechea- He is a close friend of Garcia and many claim he is only a puppet of Garcia.

Gregorio Santos- Currently he is in prison for corruption during his time as governor of a district. While in prison he ran for reelection, and won. Now they are holding his governor position until he is released. They let him out of prison last week for a couple of hours so he could attend the presidential debates.

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski- The 77-year-old is very rich. While serving as minister of energy and mines under Alan Garcia he contracted all the government mining projects with… his company. He is also known for selling certain minerals to Mexico for 10 cents a ton and buying it back for $10 a ton, while receiving kickbacks.

Veronika Mendoza- She is currently in a dead heat for second with Kuczynski. She is running on the socialist platform. She wants to increase government spending 50%, withdrawal from free trade agreements, and rewrite the constitution.

On top of all of that the Panama Papers showing tax evasion, drug trafficking and money laundering, has ties to almost every one of these candidates. No one here is surprised by that. 

Overall the whole thing is a mess. On Sunday many Peruvians (10%-15%) will purposefully incorrectly fill out their ballots in protest. Many of those who want to vote correctly still don’t know who they will vote for. I spoke with a man on the street the other day who said he is voting for Santos (the guy in prison in case you forgot). When I asked him why he said, “he is corrupt, but less corrupt then the others.” That is what Peruvians are looking for: the least corrupt candidate. 
 Please pray for Peru this Sunday.