Translated by Conan Rainwater, SJ
In July of 2011, I commented in the Chilean Jesuit magazine, Mensaje, concerning the development of the electoral process that brought Ollanta Humala to power (2011–16) and the significance of that victory for Peru. Today I see that what I wrote ten years ago is still valid, because what these most recent elections show us is that the Peruvian social structure has basically not changed and that the coronavirus pandemic has only exacerbated the economic, social, and institutional gaps that the country has been suffering since the foundation of the republic 200 years ago.
What, however, would be new? I would say that, assuming the figures offered by the electoral authority, a candidate so far removed from the urban-capitalist society has never been elected president of the country. And what is also a novelty, at least during these two decades of democratic life, is the level of violence against government institutions triggered by the rejection of the economic and political elite in Lima to the figure of Pedro Castillo. Sigue leyendo