The International Community Must be on Alert to Defend Peru
AUGUST 30, 2021
BY NINO PAGLICCIA
We have sound and clear signals from Latin America that its people want progressive anti-imperialist governments that promote real democracy, sovereignty and well-being for all, and not only for a small minority of privileged oligarchs. They have realised that the US imposed capitalist-centred neoliberal model does not work. Peruvians have also joined recently in this left-wing movement, together with Mexicans, Argentinians, Cubans, Venezuelans, Bolivians, Nicaraguans, with the election of working class Pedro Castillo as president. If Washington was hoping to see a coup by the Keiko Fujimori faction taking place in Lima, like it happened in Bolivia in 2019 by the opponents of Evo Morales, the wait was in vain and likely disappointing.
At the end of July Antony Blinken, Secretary of the US State Department, finally spoke to president-elect Pedro Castillo, not to congratulate him; instead he “expressed his hope that Peru would continue to play a constructive role in addressing the deteriorating situation in Cuba and Nicaragua”. This was a not so veiled threatening warning to Mr. Castillo to continue Lima’s alignment with US foreign policy in the region as his predecessor, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski had done before. The warning was followed by a promise of “continued U.S. support for pandemic recovery and … our donation of two million vaccine doses, as well as hospitals, ventilators, cold storage units, and protective equipment.” The US has typically used the global tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic on other countries as leverage in exchange for their submission.
From the beginning the Castillo government, on the contrary, has taken a clear independent position in a series of statements in opposition to blockades and sanctions, in defense of the rights of marginalised people, for participation in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), and even for withdrawing from the infamous Lima Group.
Washington must be on alert watching the loss of another chunk of its “backyard” and wondering how to cause a regime change in Peru, perhaps taking advantage of the small margin of votes by which Pedro Castillo was democratically elected over his contender, rightwing Keiko Fujimori.
Coincidentally (or maybe not), signs of social tensions with demonstrations by supporters of Fujimorismo are already showing in Peru. Some observers are alerting to a coup brewing in the country. The protesters claim to oppose Castillo’s leftist party Peru Libre, communism and terrorism. This is a broad net of typically rightwing “issues” taken from the regime change playbook of the US government.
More:
https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/08/30/the-international-community-must-be-on-alert-to-defend-peru/
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