Bolivarianism and its critics

Last night we spoke with a Peruvian couple about politics here. The husband, Sergio, repeatedly expressed his disdain for the tactics of the “strike”, which are used throughout the country by the disaffected and disadvantaged to gain recognition for their causes (and have affected us on more than one occasion). I disagreed with him, arguing that this was the only recourse open to the relatively disenfranchised and its effectiveness – roads and rail closed to the tourist dollar – made it a useful method of having their voice heard (since the couple have their own trekking agency, there is no small amount of self-interest involved).

I explained how the miners strike in the UK had been a watershed in our country´s political history and marked the defeat of the workers, whose rights had never been the same, and argued that privitisation had been sold to us as efficiency and profit, whereas it was really job losses and higher prices. By repeatedly referring to the workers as the country, I was able to argue against the “us and them” mentality that the “educated” classes foster: “us”, the enlightened few looking towards the future; “them” the stupid masses stuck in the past. Sergio insisted that “education” was the way forward, which is a subtler take on the position that “I am educated and know what is best. If the people who disagreed with me were as clever/educated as I am, there would be no disagreement because they would see that I am right”. Or as a Venezuelan I knew in London simply repeated time after time, the poor are “estupido”.

Sergio claimed that some of these strikes in Peru were encouraged or inititated by Venezuela´s President, Hugo Chavez, and as he repeated the slurs of the right-wing news: Chavez, “ a charlatan”, Evo Morales: “a Chavez puppet”, I argued for the majority who voted for these men and pointed out that Alan Garcia could be described as a US puppet. Sergio and Jessica consider their president the lesser of two evils, and stated “better the devil you know”, in comparison to Ollanta, the “nationalist” who they seemed to imply hated white people and with whom they associated a return to the violence of the 80s. Their preferred candidate for the 2011 presidential elections is the current Mayor of Lima, Luis Castañeda Lossio, who they see as having turned around an inept and corrupt city government. As for Keiko Fujimori, they felt she had no chance in seventeen months´ time.

Sergio held opinions that I disagreed with but he was a generous listener and claimed at the end of the conversation that he had changed his perspective. For me, it was interesting to delve deeper into the mindset of the opponents of the “new socialism”, “Boliviarianism” or “indigenous movement” that is gaining ground on this continent and was reinforced yesterday with Evo Morales´ landslide reelection in Bolivia.

Divided Peru

The evidence of the depth of political conflict in Peru abounds. As soon as we crossed the border – even before we had got to the first town, Tacna – I was surprised by “Fujimori innocent” slogans and even more by painted “Fujimori 2011” campaign propaganda. I know very little about Peruvian politics but was aware that six weeks previously ex-president Alberto Fujimori had been sentenced to 25 years in prison for being the intellectual author of “dirty war” killings in the early 1990s. This, after all, was a fantastic victory for human rights given the number of Latin American “strong men” who have escaped justice for their crimes. True, the number of dead or disappeared he was accused of being responsible for was tiny in comparison to the military regimes in Argentina or Chile during the 1970s and 1980s, but – after all – murder is murder.

The campaign material turned out to be for the daughter of murderer Fujimori, Keiko. She has vowed to pardon her father if elected in two years and is currently looking likely to be able to do just that. Perhaps surprisingly, it is the rural “have nots” of the divided country that still support “chino” Fujimori. (Despite his surname being obviously Japanese (second-generation Nihonjins exist in relatively large numbers in Brazil and Peru, though there are twenty times as many in the Portugese-speaking nation), the nickname of the ex-president apparently plays on the idea of thrifty, hard-working chinese restaurant chefs.) This may be because the Shining Path guerilla group that Fujimori´s government went after so violently was more of a threat in the countryside.

It is the jungle where the contemporary murder is happening though. Just a few days before I arrived, President Alan Garcia had ordered the violent repression of an indigenous blockade in the north of the country. Between 50 and 150 people had died as a result, including about 25 policemen. There were reports that the bodies of some Amazonians (protesting Law 1090, which allows the exploitation of their traditional lands without adequate compensation) had been burned or carried away by security forces intent on hiding the extent of the massacre. This DOES sound like the continent in the 1970s.

In Arequipa, hand-written posters adorn the gates and fence of the cathedral. They tell of solidarity with the people of La Selva (the lowland Amazonian regions) and the desire for peace. There is also a clear line in references to Garcia as a thief and a murderer. He had Shining Path blood on his hands in his stint as president before Fujimori, and now has that of Amazonian Awajun and Aguarunas too. His prosecution should not be too far off.

As the president blamed outside forces (read Bolivia and Venezuela), nationwide protests were organised and today I went to the rally in the Plaza de Armas in Arequipa. Thousands turned out to show their support, demanding a new constitution, a new president, and the repeal of 1090, which – to allow more dialogue - was suspended by the Congress for 90 days last night. I spoke to a guy who said he worked in construction but sounded well-educated and even broke into English. He expressed the fear that the suspension was just a lull before the storm whilst also seeming positive that real change could occur.

I am left doubting that this divided society is going to be healed anytime soon. Despite the hopes of the protesters today, Garcia seems likely to see out his term and that could mean the death of more indigenous people as well as the beginning of the loss of their land and rights such as clean air and water. Come 2011, it currently looks less probable that Peru will be part of the socialist-indigenous South American bloc, and more probable that it will be re-visiting past fights.