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Pedro Castillo, the socialist and former school teacher who became Peru’s president in June after defeating the daughter of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, sparked backlash just days into his presidency after he appointed Guido Bellido as his prime minister.
Bellido has been accused of being a “terrorist” sympathetic to the brutal rebel group called Shining Path.
Al Jazeera reported that Castillo’s decision sparked protests Saturday in Lima. Demonstrators shouted, “Terrorism, never again.”
Castillo named Bellido for the role after just one day in office. The Financial Times reported that Bellido is a congressman who has been investigated for “alleged terrorist sympathies.” The paper said he recently asked a journalist what that reporter had against the Shining Path, the group that fought the government in the 80s and 90s and has been blamed for tens of thousands of killings. The Associated Press reported that from 1980 to 2000, clashes between the government and the group resulted in 70,000 deaths.
“Bellido is a disastrous appointment,” Rodolfo Rojas, the head of a risk consultancy in Lime, told the FT. “In 24 hours Castillo’s political capital has gone up in smoke. You simply can’t touch the Shining Path nerve in Peru. It was a bloody terrorist sect and its actions are deeply embedded in the psychology of Peruvians.”
The FT pointed out that conservatives in the country believe Castillo is bent on turning the country into a communist dictatorship. The paper said Castillo may have shown his cards to foreign mining companies operating in the country when he said: “We are ready to recover sovereignty over all our natural resources because many of them nowadays are in foreign hands, with contracts that guarantee them tax stability.”
The Al Jazeera report said many of the protesters were supporters of Keiko Fujimori’s Popular Force Party. As we reported on 22 June, in an article titled, “CASTILLO WINS PERU PRES. RACE. LOSER CLAIMS ELECTION FRAUD.”
A group of retired officers in the country said after the contested election that the military should refuse to acknowledge Castillo as president. Many saw Fujimori as the establishment candidate and some saw calls not to accept Castillo as president as a sign of discrimination to the rural and impoverished regions that came out for the 51-year-old Castillo.
The report said some of Castillo’s supporters have taken to social media to express their disenfranchisement with his pick for prime minister. His critics have tried to tie him to these rebel groups during the campaign. He denied those claims.
He was the anti-establishment pick but won the presidency by fewer than 50,000 votes. The country has the world’s highest Covid-19 death rate per capita, and the economic crisis has pushed millions into poverty, the BBC reported.
Some of Castillo’s voters have taken to social media to express dismay with his pick for prime minister.
“He had promised to put moderates in the cabinet, and they are saying the president has betrayed them,” Al Jazeera’s Mariana Sanchez said.
TRENDPOST: Prior to the start of the COVID War, protests and demonstrations were breaking out in Colombia, Bolivia, Chile and Peru. In fact, in October 2019, riots in Peru broke out when its president, Martin Vizcarra, dissolved congress, which prompted opposition lawmakers to suspend him and appoint another leader.
And we had reported extensively on the millions of people taking to the streets across the globe in protest of lack of basic living standards, government corruption, violence and crime (See “PERU: WAVES OF STRIKES THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY,” 26 November 2019).
A year later, in 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported the country is on edge and has suffered during the coronavirus outbreak. The paper, citing the International Monetary Fund, said the country’s economy is expected to contract by 14 percent this year.
TREND FORECAST: Throughout South America, as economic conditions continue to rapidly deteriorate, civil unrest will escalate into civil wars. With violence, corruption, and crime rising, millions of citizens will risk their lives to migrate to safe-haven nations.