Peru: Fujimori’s Pardon and Castillo’s Domestication

Nicolás Lynch
If six weeks ago the conformation of the third cabinet of Pedro Castillo’s government already signaled us the domestication of his government by the neoliberal right, today the reinstatement of the pardon to to the former corrupt president Alberto Fujimori given in 2017 by Pedro Pablo Kuczynski confirms to us this trend of a reactionary capture of what in the beginning was a leftist government. It does not matter who issued the pardon, in this case the Constitutional Court of conservative majority, but the political climate in which it is given. In the last few days we have observed the understanding of the deal made under the table between the government and the parliamentary opposition of the right and extreme right, postponing the imminence of the censure of ministers and the presidential vacancy itself.

In the face of the cry of “out with everyone” that was beginning to be heard again in the streets, now it seems that it dominates, but in the heights of the ruling party and the congress, “we all stay”. This is a reminder of the pact of impunity and opportunism that we Peruvians have seen in the last six years in most of the political class, which instead of seeking a solution to the problems and recurring crisis we are experiencing, only looks after their immediate interests in the management of the small or great power they have at their disposal.

Thus, the crisis has gone from being a growing concern among citizens to being considered a situation that has no viable solution, at least in the short term. This means that the usual people continue with the feast to which we are accustomed and the ordinary citizen is relegated to survive on a day to day basis. This is the point, the corruption of almost all former presidents, political leaders and their respective entourages, also seems to touch today what was supposed to be a government of change and in this process it encounters the worst of our politics: Fujimorism and the fraudulent pardon of its leader, Alberto Fujimori, takes place for the second time.

There is no direct evidence of complicity of Pedro Castillo’s government with the pardon and even several ministers and the president of the Council himself, Anibal Torres, have expressed their opposition, however, there are different coincidences that happen in the parliamentary sphere that make us think otherwise. How is it that the fury of the vacancy is placated without question and the ministers are left without votes and then the sentence of the Constitutional Court just happens? Everything smells of an agreement, but I am not referring to an agreement that can come out of democratic dialogue, but rather a compromise, of an under-the-table arrangement.

At this point, having already explicitly abandoned the program that led Castillo to victory in the second round, including the purpose of calling for a Constituent Assembly as Premier Anibal Torres has repeatedly said, the only program left is to last. And to last in this context is nothing else, as Ollanta Humala knows very well, but neoliberal continuism.

The problem is that we are not, as we were ten years ago, in a moment of boom of that model, but in one clearly of crisis, of serious crisis, with corruption and together with the pandemic, have brought about the crisis of the political regime and of the state that we are living through. I mean that the forms of institutional organization and social domination no longer serve the powerful to make politics and have ceased to be useful to reproduce their own power. For this reason, I do not believe that the eagerness to last that Castillo and his group have today has a future. We are heading for another crisis, perhaps greater and with unpredictable consequences. Doing more of the same is not a way out for Peru at this time.

What is surprising is the weakness of the forces, not only of the left but also of the democratic forces, that want a fundamental solution for Peru. This is creating a dangerous political vacuum in which almost any bet can gain ground. It is necessary to be attentive to the disguises and to assume that if there is a way out for Peru, it is on another road different from the neoliberal one, because as the waltz says “all repetition is an offense”.

Nicolás Lynch is Professor of Sociology at the National University of San Marcos.

Translation by Resumen Latinomericano – English