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Odds & Ends
Perubian Politiks
By Jim Plunkett

If the title appears a bit blurred or out of focus, don't be concerned…. so are the local politics. Before I settled in Peru, I was a bit concerned about the Latin military coups and dictatorships that I might have to face as a resident. I landed in a democratic republic during the mid-sixties, and four years after arrival we got hit with a military coup. Having just served in the U.S. Marine Corps, I thought this might be convenient. It wasn't. We went into seven years of “Big Brother is Watching You,” and five of getting back on track towards democracy.

The second general/president in command during those five years was a democrat, or at least he set the stage for a democracy with free elections and took the curse off of foreign currency and depositing your hard-earned money outside the country if you wished. Elections were held with a small group of presidential candidates. The winner was the guy who had been ousted twelve years earlier in the military coup. Elections were quite clean and orderly, and after years of interrupting constitutional terms of office, Peru now enjoyed true democracy.

In 1985, another election was held with a varied selection of parties and candidates, and again we enjoyed another full term without interruptions. I shouldn't say “we enjoyed” this democratic period, since we ended up with a record inflation of 2.2 million percent in only five years, and a deficit of over $150 million dollars in the coffers of the Central Reserve Bank, and a promise of an Italian electric train intended to alleviate the public transportation problem from one end of Lima to the other. The train never got beyond a row of concrete columns erected in several districts; columns now used for public exhibition of original paintings by local unknown artists. We also ended up with one of the most notorious terrorist groups in the world called of all things, Shining Path, responsible for the death of over 30,000 people.

In 1990, democracy still reigned. This time there was a larger number of parties and new faces. Amongst them was an oriental who hosted a largely unknown program on the official TV station and was president of the local university system's association of deans. This relatively quiet mathematician and professor at the Agrarian University mentioned to a colleague he was planning on running for Congress. His friend said it would cost the same to run for president, and with such unrest and turmoil, he might as well go for broke. He did. While campaigning on a limited budget financed in part by his in-laws and supporters, I watched him drive around my neighborhood near his university on a tractor with a big sign saying he wanted to be president of Peru!

The chinito, or little Chinese-looking man, born and bred by his Japanese immigrant parents, was given the nickname all Peruvians give to anyone with slanted eyes. He blasted through the group of traditional political aspirants, and in the run-offs where the top two candidates dual for the presidency, he managed to overthrow Peru´s literary laureate, an internationally famous novelist who had flown home from Europe earlier to protest a threatened nationalization of the banking system and who ended up running for president due to public acclaim, mostly by the affluent.

The chinito used the democratic tools of government to put the country back on track. Inflation was curbed in a matter of months, and the war against the terrorists intensified. The application of police intelligence was successful in smoking out their great leader, and the threat tumbled rapidly as a result. With a stable economy and a president with mathematical logic and discipline, the taboos were removed for investors, the bureaucratic system received a face-lift, and computers started to replace old Remington-Rands. Foreign capital was invited in, and investments rose to over ten billion dollars during the first five years of tenure.

Unfortunately, ambition set in and the clandestine powers were put into place. El chinito recessed the Congress only two years after gaining office, claiming that obstructing members of the opposition hindered his radical reforms. A plebiscite was called to approve a new constitution that, among other modifications, permitted the president to be re-elected for a second term. It passed and, after finishing off his first term, he ran again and won due to an outstanding record of accomplishments.

When it came time for elections in 2000, el chinito decided to run again. The opposition screamed, alleging that he had already served two terms. He retorted that his first term had really started after the plebiscite had been approved and thus he was just now running for a second term under the new law. It was rumored he had the intention of ruling until 2020. Fate stepped in, and his “faithful Rasputin” went overboard in his corruption and chicanery. A videotape appeared on TV showing “Rasputin” bribing a freshman congressman ready and willing to change ranks to el chinito´s political party, and the whole regime went up in smoke.

In 2001, with the traditional election period off whack, eighteen parties competed for the big office. Finally a short guy with Indian origins who had risen from shoe shine boy to Stanford scholar and World Bank employee became the president of Peru. Despite his five years of personal scandals and the shady reputation of the Congress that has ruled the country until now, the balance sheets show the country has record growth and an international reputation for economic stability. This will be the first time in many years that a new president will assume the government with a positive balance and a promising future.

Waiting to be served this gilded plate of accomplishments is a record group of candidates representing 24 different parties, and a total of 2,800 candidates to congress where salaries now border over $10,000 U.S. dollars a month, plus, plus. Standing out amongst the leaders is a professional woman politician formed as a Christian Democrat from university days with a spotless ethical record, and a young 42 year-old renegade who rebelled as an Army officer in the southern mountains at the end of the “chinto´s” reign in protest against obvious corruption in the Army. As a result of his rebellion, he became a folkloric hero, especially amongst the poor Andean Indians. Without any political platform and a most unorthodox campaign, he is playing footsy with the cunning ex-military ruler of the wealthy petroleum state in Venezuela who swears allegiance to the guy from Cuba. He has also befriended the brand new Indian president elected in the neighboring country of Bolivia, pretending to use his partially dark skin as a symbol of brotherhood.

With the local press quoting public opinion polls from many serious and non-serious sources, and with new scandals popping up every day, no one can predict who will assume the presidency on July 28th, the anniversary of Peru´s independence.

What a boring existence we northerners live with our old, stodgy two-party democratic system, optional voting, low profile congressmen (and women) who enjoy exorbitant salaries and special private health and pensions systems, and ministers or secretaries of a handful of dependencies that manage to stay in office for a full term! Viva la revolucion!

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