With the exception of populist Ollanta Humala, Peru’s presidential candidates have little to offer.
Peru’s Presidential Election: Populist Humala v. MOR Candidates
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Peru
Peru Trade Deal Unravels
In 2007, a determined Democratic caucus put their collective feet down. They refused to consider any more free trade agreements without a new model, with stronger protections for labor, human rights, and the environment. And so in May, the caucus and its supporters cut a deal with the Bush administration for a new and improved FTA with Peru.
U.S. Renews Anachronistic Campaign to Stamp Out Coca Leaf Chewing
Apparently Washington fears that even a modest change to a 1961 convention could call into the question its drug control regime.
Two, Three, Many Colombias
This past September, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton drew criticism for comparing the current situation in Mexico to “Colombia 20 years ago.” Most of that criticism questioned whether the analogy was appropriate or whether the statement was an unnecessary affront to a close U.S. ally, the Mexican government of Felipe Calderón. But the more significant part of Clinton’s comments was her enthusiastic praise for Plan Colombia—the massive U.S. military aid package started by her husband in 1999—and her insistence on the need “to figure out what are the equivalents” for other regions, particularly Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean.
Peruvian President Fujimori’s Right-Hand Man Was a Gun Runner and Drug Dealer — and Employed by the U.S.
Vladimiro Montesinos, one-time right hand man to Peruvian President Fujimori, organized death squads and was recently convicted of running guns to FARC, yet the U.S. made him an ally in the “war on drugs.”
CIA Accountability Hits New Lows
In a virtually unnoticed exchange on February 3, Congressman Peter Hoekstra (R-MI) called the CIA to task for its incredibly ham-fisted handling of an April 20, 2001 incident in Peru. In collaboration with a CIA aircrew working as part of a joint program to interdict drug trafficking, the Peruvian air force shot down a plane carrying an American missionary family, killing two. In an angry tone, the Republican congressman denounced the CIA’s response, released the actual film of the incident, and triggered an official statement from the agency — conveniently left off the CIA website to attract as little attention as possible.
Fujimori Faces Justice
On January 3, 2010, the Peruvian Supreme Court handed down its decision to uphold the April 2009 conviction of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) for four cases of human rights violations. “My son must be very content, as I am, with the judges’ ratification [of the verdict],” said a visibly moved Raida Cóndor in a press conference the morning the ruling was made public. Raida’s son, Armando Amaro Cóndor, was one of the nine students that the Colina Group death-squad kidnapped from their dorm rooms at the Cantuta University and brutally killed in July 1992. “God does exist, and it is He who has given us the strength to persist in this struggle.” Gisela Ortiz, whose brother Luis Enrique was also one of the Cantuta victims, reminded her compatriots just how long a struggle it has been: The confirmation of the verdict represents the culmination of nearly two decades of searching for truth and justice by the family members of the victims.
Trade Agreement Kills Amazon Indians
The recent clash between indigenous peoples and Peruvian national police sends a powerful message from the Amazon jungle straight to Washington: The enormous social, political, and environmental costs of the free-trade model are no longer acceptable.
Time to Strengthen Ties with Peru
Relations between the United States and several Latin American nations have sunk to their lowest level in years. Last September, both Bolivia and Venezuela expelled U.S. ambassadors (Bolivia accused the United States of interfering with its energy policy and Venezuela saw a North American attempt to depose President Hugo Chávez.). Venezuela then recalled its ambassador to the United States, and President George W. Bush expelled Bolivia’s ambassador. In February, Ecuador expelled two U.S. diplomats on charges of interfering in internal affairs. Most recently, in March 2009, Bolivia threw out a U.S. diplomat believed to be helping the CIA sabotage its energy industry. In Guatemala, a country with close ties to the United States, discord emerged as declassified U.S. government documents showed that Washington knew that U.S.-supported Guatemalan officials were behind the disappearance of thousands of people during Guatemala’s 36-year civil war.
Interview with R. Victoria Arana
R. Victoria Arana was born in Lima, Peru. She is a graduate of Vassar College, Princeton University, and the George Washington University – where, respectively, she studied Romance languages and literatures, Middle Eastern culture and literature, and English literature and literary criticism. Today, she teaches in the English department at Howard University. Her most recent publication is World Poetry from 1900 to the Present (NY: Facts on File, 2007). Here she talks with FPIF’s E. Ethelbert Miller about new black literature in Britain and its take on empire.