Socialist Pedro Castillo Wins Peruvian Election Over Dictator Alberto
Fujimoris Daughter: Former Military Commanders Encourage Electoral Coup -
CovertAction Magazine
Pedro Castillo greets from the balcony of his party's headquarters, Lima,
Peru, June 15, 2021.
Pedro Castillo celebrates election victory in Peru on June 15th from balcony
at his partys headquarters in Lima. [Source: telesurenglish.net]
The Peruvian people have raised their heads to say democratically that we
are going to save this homeland, farmer-turned-teacher, unionist organizer
and socialist Pedro Castillo, 51, told supporters the evening of June 15,
following the end of ten days of counting ballots.
Tonight should not only be a night of joy and jubilation but also of great
responsibility. We have to be cool because today begins the real battle to
end the great inequalities, Castillo said.
We are not Chavistas, we are not communists, no one has come to destabilize
this country, he said, a reference to a common refrain from Fujimoris
party and supporters comparing him to Venezuelas late leftist President
Hugo Chavez.
We are workers, we are entrepreneurs and we will guarantee a stable
economy, respecting private property, respecting private investment and
above all respecting fundamental rights, such as the right to education and
health, he told supporters.
On June 15, Perus National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) concluded
counting all votes cast in the June 6 elections. Free Peru candidate Pedro
Castillo received 50.12% of the votes while Popular Force candidate Keiko
Fujimori received 49.87%. (Details are shown here: ONPE)
In absolute terms, Castillo received 8,835,579 votes, 44,058 votes over the
far-right politician charged with committing several crimes, Keiko Fujimori,
46, who garnered the support of 8,791,521 voters. This is her third time
running for the presidency for the party she formed, Popular Force,
following the 25-year sentence of her father, former President Alberto
Fujimori. She was his First Lady and is charged with some of the same crimes
that he was.
More than 18.8 million Peruvians cast their votes in the country and abroad.
The electoral authorities counted 17.6 million valid votes, over one million
invalid votes, and 121,477 blank votes.
This is a historic election for Peru, and an outstanding inspiration to
workers like Castillo throughout Latin America and beyond. Non-politician
Pedro Castillo is to take office on July 28.
Pedro Castillo en Chota. | Foto:DPA
Photo of the farmer-teacher socialist president on his horse during the
grueling campaign. [Source: noticias.perfil.com]
This historical moment for the poor, workers, indigenous could still be lost
if it is up to right-wing militarists, former commanders, and pro-Fujimori
judges.
As of June 20, still no final word of who actually is the next president.
Keiko Fujimori appealed 200,000 votes at 943 polling stations for being
manipulated with fraudulent signatures, and claimed that there were
impersonations of polling station members in polling stations.
The Special Electoral Jury (JEE) completed its recount of those cases, on
June 19, and found the claims all to be inappropriate and unfounded.
Fujimori appealed to the highest instance, the National Electoral Jury
(JNE), which has so far not found any evidence of fraud. Still, Popular
Force demands it count again. The JNE should come to a conclusion any day
now. See Elecciones 2021: Fuerza Popular pierde en Jurado Electoral Especial
y lanza arremetida judicial.
The threat of political violence or even a military coup is real.
Fujimoris followers have staged fascistic demonstrations, replete with
torches and the singing of the national anthem while giving the Nazi
salute
See Peru ending second week since presidential election with no
declared winner.
[Sixty-three] retired generals and other high-ranking officers issued a
communique demanding the resignation of the head of the election board,
warning of the danger of a Castillo victory and calling for the
strengthening of confidence in the armed forces and the police. The
Defense Ministry felt compelled to issue a statement in response deploring
the use of official military symbols in the communique.
Telesur followed this announcement up on June 15:
Perus Armed Forces on Monday stated their respect for the constitutional
order and disassociated themselves from versions of a coup détat in this
South American country, which is still awaiting the official declaration of
Free Peru candidate Pedro Castillo as the winner of the June 6 presidential
elections.
We regret the political use of the Armed Forces because this not only
undermines their institutionality, but also generates alarm, anxiety, and
division at a time when the country requires unity and calm, the Defense
Ministry said.
The statement pointed out that the Armed Forces had an exemplary role in
the elections guaranteeing the free exercise of the right to vote and
protecting electoral officials. Their mission in this electoral process has
been fulfilled. See Perus Armed Forces Disassociate Themselves From Coup
Attempts.
By June 18, the daily La Republica reported that nothing substantial had yet
occurred to ward off this threat. Its front page article was headlined:
Retired former military high-ranking officers instigate rebellion of armed
institutes!
The next day, Minister of Defense Nuria Esparch sent the letter to the
Attorney General (Fiscalía) asking for it to determine if the letter is
evidence of a crime of conspiracy. She also stated that there were no
signatures on the letter and that six of those named were dead.
The current president since 2016, Francisco Sagasti, also condemned the
letter as an inacceptable incitement. See Esparch sobre exmilitares:
Habrían cometido delito vinculado a la conspiración.
Will Peru Be Part of a Renewed Pink Tide?
Although Ecuadors socialist presidential candidate Andrés Arauz lost to
Ecuadors former Coca Cola director, banker millionaire Guillermo Lasso,
last April, the Latin American pink tide from the beginning of the 21st
century appears to be reviving after other recent defeats.
Bolivias new socialist President Luis Arce, Argentinas President Alberto
Fernandez, Nicaraguas President Daniel Ortega, Ecuadors former President
Rafael Correa, Brazils ex-Presidents Lula Da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, and
Colombias ex-Senator Piedad Cordoba sent joyful messages.
In the April 11 general election, Castillo led the race of 18 candidates
with 19% of the voters. He had never engaged in parliamentary politics.
Keiko Fujimori, a congresswoman from 2011 to 2016, took second place with
13.36%. In 2011, she barely lost to liberal-leftist Ollanta Humala with
51.5%. In 2016, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski squeaked by with 50.12% of the voters.
The fact that the JNE has delayed announcing the official victor has
encouraged turmoil and demonstrations in front of JNE and ONPE leaders
houses.
A group of supporters of the presidential candidate of The Popular Force,
Keiko Fujimori, approached the exterior of the house of Magistrate Jorge
Rodríguez Vélez, a member of the plenary session of the National Elections
Jury (JNE), to hold a sit-in. They shouted, Respect my vote, JNE.
Another call is being made today, so I can say its a systematic thing
They are not going to scare us, Rodríguez responded.
Protesta frente a la casa del magistrado Jorge Rodríguez Vélez. Foto: John
Reyes/La República
Keiko Fujimori backers claim election fraud in front of JNE presidents
house. [Source: larepublica.pe]
Although election committee officials did not announce the new president
victor the final day of counting, the national media did. The moderate La
Republica headlined: Pedro Castillo wins over Keiko Fujimori by ballots
100% counted.
Peruvian voters were faced with two extremes unlike in previous elections,
and many were unhappy that a moderate candidate did not make the run-off.
Peruvians had the choice of taking a chance with a major change in the
economy towards benefiting the poor and the working class, or bringing in
the daughter of former President Alberto Fujimori.
Peru's ex-premier Alberto Fujimori wins thousands of Twitter followers from
prison | The Independent | The Independent
Alberto and Keiko Fujimori in their glory days. [Source: independent.co.uk]
He is serving time for ordering the murder of 25 persons by a secret death
squad whose killers were military men, in addition to massive corruption,
receiving bribes and other crimes committed while his daughter was his
adviser.
On October 10, 2018, Keiko Fujimori was arrested on charges of money
laundering, illegally receiving money for her 2011 and 2016 presidential
campaigns from the Brazilian Odebrecht real estate and construction company,
for several other corruption cases, including leading a criminal
organization.
She was sentenced to three years pre-trial detention as a high escape
risk. The prosecution seeks 30 years imprisonment. Keiko Fujimori was
released on bail under house arrest on May 5, 2020.
On June 10, Perus anti-corruption prosecutor José Domingo Pérez asked the
judiciary to order a new pre-trial detention for Keiko Fujimoris
interference in the ongoing criminal investigations.
It has been determined once again that the defendant Fujimori Higuchi does
not comply with the restriction of not communicating with witnesses, said
the prosecutor.
Fujimori is still under investigation for the Odebrecht case, one of the
most significant bribery and graft scandals in Latin America. The prosecutor
told the court that she is communicating with Miguel Torres Morales, a
witness to alleged illegal campaign financing for Fujimoris 2011 and 2016
presidential bids.
For Keiko Fujimori, this election determines whether she goes to prison for
a long time or takes the reigns as chief of state.
Keiko Fujimori in prison, and awaiting the conclusion of judicial
investigations into crimes of corruption, accepting bribes, leading a
criminal band. She is out on house arrest. [Source: peruactu.com]
Daniel Espinosa, a Peruvian journalist compared what Keiko Fujimori is
doingattempting to compel the masses into the streets in a move that is as
irresponsible as it is dangerousto what Donald Trump did by inciting his
fanatics to storm the U.S. Capitol.
Keiko Fujimori originally filed a lawsuit of 802 cases of fraud against
electoral authorities and requested a computer audit of the digitalized
electoral records before the current 943 claims of fraud in the country and
abroad.
The electoral juries rejected most of them, because they were presented
after the legal deadline, and there was little or no evidence of fraud at
the polling stations.
From the start of counting the votes following 12 hours of casting ballots
on June 6, who led had been nip and tuck. One or the other candidate had led
by from 0.1 to 0.5% of the votes. Following a short-held lead by Castillo,
Fujimori led in urban areas.
She held the lead throughout Sunday evening and early Monday. Later in the
day with more rural votes counted, the tide turned in Castillos favor.
Fujimori immediately claimed that his party had distort[ed] or delay[ed]
results that reflect[ed] the will of the people. How this was to have
happened was not forthcoming, but she called upon her supporters to protest.
Perus currency (sol) headed to its biggest drop in more than a decade and
the S&P/BVL Peru General Index fell as much as 5.8%, the most since
November, with mining companies and financial firms among the hardest hit.
Overseas bonds were steady in light trading while the cost to insure against
a default edged higher
after investor favorite Keiko Fujimori saw her
early lead over leftist opponent Pedro Castillo fade overnight and in the
early morning.
With almost 93% of votes counted [morning of June 7], Fujimori had 50.1%
support to 49.9% for Castillo, a former farmer and then school teacher and
union organizer from the Peruvian highlands. Castillo traded places once 94%
were counted: 50.7% to Fujimoris 49.92%.
Vote counting slowed. One day, only 451 votes were counted. In one example
of alleged fraud, a village where 197 people voted, only one favored
Fujimori. Vote counters, election observers and ONPE found no fraud. Even
the pro-U.S. Organization of American States leadership stated that there
had been no fraud.
While Fujimori won every district in Limas capital region, the unionist
teacher, who had led an important teacher strike in 2017, and whose parents
are illiterate peasants, is overwhelmingly supported in the countryside.
Misma reacción. Keiko en el camino de trumpistas de la región. Foto: Jhon
Reyes / La República
Defeated Fujimori denies reality à la Trump. [Source: larepublica.pe]
Castillo stands for reforming the economy with greater state control over
markets and natural resources; curtailing mining; increasing public works
and social welfare spending with a 30% cut from corporate profits gained
from the use of fossil fuels; and increasing pensions and wages. Fujimori
wants more of the same free market economy, and spreads fear of
communism taking over the country internally.
The corporate and White House favorite is also supported by Peruvian middle
and upper class urban women simply because she is a woman. Fujimori is
supported by celebrities, wealthy players on the national soccer team, and
the nations most famous author, Mario Vargas Llosa.
The former communist sympathizer turned extreme conservative was the
recipient of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature. He even campaigned for
Fujimori without regret. According to Vargas Llosa, she is the best of the
lesser of evils; he said that her conduct is very decent.
Peruvian Writer Mario Vargas Llosa Wins Nobel Prize - WSJ
Mario Vargas Llosa [Source: wsj.com]
Fear Tactics
Upon completion of voting, National Elections Board (JNE) chairman Jorge
Luis Salas stated that there were 166 international observers and 1,400
Transparency Civil Association observers monitoring the voting process.
Furthermore, tens of thousands of police and soldiers were on patrol on
election day. They reported no instances of chaos or violence. There were,
however, a few hundred reports of bringing candidate propaganda into voting
areas.
Many people fear that the military, or parts of it, will align with Fujimori
to prevent the worker socialist from leading the country.
Three days before the final count, Daniel Espinosa wrote:
So far, the Peruvian military has respected its mandate as a
non-deliberative body, and has avoided interfering in the political contest.
Even the Organization of American States and Human Rights Watch, two bodies
which normally side with right-wing candidates in Latin America have openly
rejected Fujimori´s accusations of fraud and called for a swift resolution
of her weak complaints. For their part, international observers agree that
the poll was clean.
The Associated Press
Presidential candidate Pedro Castillo looks out over supporters from the
balcony of his campaign headquarters as they celebrate partial results in
Lima, Peru, Monday, June 7, 2021, the day after the runoff election.
[Source: usnews.com]
Fujimorism mobs are attacking prominent figures on the streets who stand by
Pedro Castillo. Some of their houses have been surrounded and threats
shouted. A totalitarian atmosphere is developing, according to one of the
few dailies not in Fujimoris pocket.
Fujimori and her rich backers are endeavoring to destabilize the country, to
prevent Castillo from assuming the presidency, or lay the basis for his
overthrow once in officea strategy she may have learned from the CIA and
her years in the United States.
Fujimori received her college education in business administration. She
married an American, Mark Villanella, an IBM consultant. She was involved
with the Mossack Fonseca tax evasion shelters known from the Panama Papers.
When she first ran for the presidency, she hired former New York City mayor
and Donald Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani as an adviser.
02cf0741-Peru Rudolph Giuliani
Fujimori talks with former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and reporters in
Lima in 2011. [Source: foxnews.com]
Waya, another Peruvian paper, wrote that this election will be remembered
for citizen polarization, the psycho-socials, the false news and the fear
campaigns that have been deployed at the national level to direct the vote
towards the presidential candidate Keiko Fujimori.
For the business elite, its media, the police and military leaderships, the
only real danger to democracy, as they see it, is Pedro Castillo. All the
endemic pro-capitalist political corruption, bribes, swindles and murders
are apparently of no consequence when confronting socialism, which aims to
equalize rights and benefits, end military solutions to struggles
resisting poverty, injustices, and wars for profit.
The hundreds of U.S. businesses in Peru include scores of chemical
companies. Peru is the worlds second largest copper producer. It is also a
large source for silver, gold and zinc.
Conclusion
In the last days of the campaign, both candidates concentrated on promising
total battle against the coronavirus, which, as of June 17, had taken
189,522 Peruvian lives and infected 2,015,190. Peru leads the world in
percentage of deaths per capita: 572.3 per 100,000. Of its 33.3 million
population, more than two million have been infected. Perus per capita
death rate is nearly double that of Hungary, the country with the second
highest rate of deaths per 100,000 population at 305.
At the end of the ballot tally, the state announced a curfew in Lima and
Callao from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m., in an effort to curtail the spread of
Covid-19 infections and deaths.
Perus ethnic makeup (self-identified) is 60% mestizo; 27% indigenous (85%
are Quechuas, the remainder are Aymaras and Amazonians); 5% white, ca. 2%
black/mulatto, and 6.7% others.
Voting is mandatory in Peru for all persons aged 18 to 70. Turnout in this
election, at 74%, was lower than the 82% in 2016 but still high.
Latin Americas poor and Indigenous peoples will be watching with hope to
see what this feisty farmer-teacher-unionist will attempt to accomplish as a
socialist president. Perus rich, its military and police leaderships, and
Wall Street/Pentagon/CIA will be watching too.
Just in the last generation, the U.S. has backed at least nine coups or coup
attempts against progressive or socialist presidents.
In 2002 against Venezuelas Hugo Chavez (unsuccessful); in 2004 against
Haitis Jean-Bertrand Aristide (successful); in 2009 against Honduras
Manuel Zelaya (successful); in 2010 against Ecuadors Rafael Correa
(unsuccessful); in 2016 against Bolivias Evo Morales (successful); and in
2018 against Nicaraguas Daniel Ortegathe former revolutionary and
progressive.
r/MapPorn - U.S. backed coups in Latin America: Costa Rica 1948, Guatemala
1954, Paraguay 1954, Brazil 1964, Peru 1968, Chile 1973, Uruguay 1973,
Argentina 1976, El Salvador 1979, Nicaragua 1981, Panama 1989 (invaded),
Venezuela: 2002...
[Source: reddit.com]
The U.S. has also blessed right-wing parliamentary coupsin 2012 against
Hondurass Supreme Court; in 2012 against Paraguays President Fernando
Lugo; and in 2016 against Brazils Dilma Rousseff.
Records show, in the last century, at least 87 coups in South America and
the Caribbean, all either conducted directly by the self-proclaimed
greatest democracy, the United States of America, or by its wealthy Latin
American and military proxies.