Government crisis in Peru: Seven months full of scandals

He was considered a beacon of hope for the rural population and the left – but many supporters are disappointed in Peru’s President Castillo. Scandals, corruption and government crises characterize his short term in office.

It was primarily the protests of Peru’s women that brought down President Pedro Castillo’s last cabinet. Dozens of feminists protested against Prime Minister Hector Valer in Lima a week ago. His wife and daughter accuse him of physical violence – after only three days in office, he had to resign. Primitiva Rojas, a peasant woman, is furious: “We disagree with your governments, Mr President, what is going on here?”

All of Peru is wondering. Castillo has had to reshuffle his cabinet four times – there have been cases of corruption, homophobic statements, and internal party struggles. The 52-year-old left-wing village school teacher and trade unionist has only been in office for almost seven months. Surprisingly, and only by a razor-thin margin, he was elected last year.

Contradictory positions

With his white, traditional straw sombrero, Castillo emerged as the voice of the historically neglected rural population, while he was considered a communist bogeyman by the upper class in Lima. After all, Castillo drove on the ticket of the radical left-wing party Perú Libre, whose puppet he is still considered by many to be. Castillo promised radical change, more social justice, while representing ultra-conservative and misogynistic positions.

So far, however, the government has proven one thing above all, says political scientist Paula Távara: lack of leadership. “The government isn’t showing any clear direction and hasn’t tackled any of the promised political projects so far,” she says. “Instead it’s sinking into chaos, new ministers are constantly being appointed who have no qualifications other than their party membership. Posts are distributed according to favours to forge political alliances.”

Many and powerful opponents

A power struggle is raging in Peru’s congress: On the one hand, there is the camp surrounding right-wing populist Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of ex-dictator Alberto Fujimori. She narrowly lost to Castillo last year and is now sawing his chair. At the same time, Castillo is being steered by a clique of shadow advisors who make government decisions, explained ex-Prime Minister Mirtha Vasquez, who has resigned.

A week ago, Castillo explained in an interview with the news channel CNN that he was still learning how to become president. The 26-year-old translator Belén Nieto once chose Castillo, but now she too shakes her head. “I think it’s a time bomb, the opposition is taking advantage of it and attacking the government for their part, but they don’t have any concrete proposals either, it’s all leading to a standstill,” she fears. “People don’t support him anymore. All of this is fatal, we can’t keep deposing our presidents all the time.”

Peru has been in crisis for years, and trust in politics is at an all-time low. On the one hand, there is corruption: there is hardly an ex-president who has not stumbled upon a bribery scandal. Nepotism runs through all parties. In November 2020, three heads of state took turns, there were protests with dead people. And all this in the middle of the pandemic, which hit Peru harder than almost any other country.

Disappointed followers

The hope that a new era could dawn with the political newcomer Castillo quickly fizzled out for the student Valerie Quispe: “We live in chaos, on a political, economic and social level. But our governments don’t take care of the people. We have such a rich country, but we’re still waiting for someone to come and rule this country.”

Meanwhile, Castillo showed up without his distinctive trademark in the last few appearances: the traditional hat. The country is still puzzling over what message it wants to send. Meanwhile, there are also the first scandals in a new cabinet.