Pedro Castillo has been in power for just over 100 days, but political actors from the most oppositional right and extremist groups demand his removal from office from time to time. What was a polarized environment by the election of the ruler has opted for a marginal but dangerous movement.
During an official ceremony in Cajamarca, his native region, Castillo launched the following phrase a couple of weeks ago: “Today what they call vacancy is in vogue. I call it ‘laziness’ because that’s what only lazy people think ”. The Peruvian president was referring to what certain right-wing politicians, a radical group and a sector of the citizenry have constantly tried to place in the public debate.
In a video that went viral on October 22, the former presidential candidate of the far-right party Renovación Popular and virtual candidate for mayor of Lima for 2022, Rafael López Aliaga, publicly pointed out that he is promoting the vacancy —or presidential dismissal— for “ start from scratch “because Castillo” is blowing up the country. “
“We have to start from scratch again, I am promoting the vacancy, that man does not deserve to be there, I say so” demands “His Majesty” Rafael López Aliaga. 🐷🍷💰 pic.twitter.com/jFfFbomvjP
– Christian Bustamante ® (@chrisbustc) October 23, 2021
Although legislators from López Aliaga’s party have denied that their short-term objective is to formalize an initiative like that from the hemicycle, at least one of its members had suggested the cancellation of the elections that Castillo won.
An extremism that sneaks into the opposition
Political speeches that go in the direction of vacancy are welcomed by ‘La Resistencia’, a group radicalized in its conservative far-right ideology, made up of some 200 citizens and active in street riots since 2018. ‘La Resistencia’ already had sympathy with the figure of López Aliaga during the presidential campaign, distancing himself even from Fuerza Popular, Keiko Fujimori’s party, which they had originally supported. At the moment, it remains a marginal band, but generates attention with frequent public events.
France 24 contacted Juan José ‘Jota Maelo’ Muñico, leader of ‘La Resistencia’, a former candidate for Congress with National Solidarity (now, Popular Renovation) and self-identified as an “anti-communist ultra-rightist”.
In the dialogue, Muñico explained that the ideal setting for the group is the vacancy of Pedro Castillo. He spoke convinced that the general elections, in which Keiko Fujimori lost, were fraudulent in favor of the now president. However, there was never conclusive evidence of that. ‘Maelo’ attributes it to an institutional takeover of the left, although without providing evidence.
“What Peru needs is a government of the extreme right. In the government that we live in now, the ‘Caviares’ (as progressive and moderate left-wing people are called in Peru) have taken over the Judiciary, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Constitutional Court, the National Elections Jury. What we need is a strong government that is not willing to give in anywhere. (…) If our destination is jail, then we are going to continue doing our activities in the streets, sit-ins, escraches, until the last day we are free, ”he responded to this media.
‘La Resistencia’ not only spreads theories about Castillo’s management, but also about those of his predecessors Francisco Sagasti and Martín Vizcarra. At the end of October, the group thwarted the presentation of a book by Sagasti, which was a reissue of a compendium of articles and interviews by the former president on the challenges of the Republic.
“We think that a public figure, a political figure, is subject to the rejection of the population that does not agree with them,” said Muñico when asked about the intolerance of ‘La Resistencia’ and its new subgroups ‘Los Combatientes’ and ‘The Insurgency’. According to ‘Maelo’, their speeches are not hateful nor do they identify with fascism, although their members are particularly violent and some tend to emulate the Nazi salute in their public appearances.
At the beginning of July, when Francisco Sagasti was still in office, certain members struggled with the Police in an attempt to get closer to the Government Palace, by then fenced in its surroundings to avoid excesses. They were also responsible for vandalize a mural that served as a tribute to the young people killed in the 2020 protests.
On October 29, the extremist group once again gathered in front of the Lima Court of Justice, where they used megaphones to call for the “extermination of communists” and to rise up in rebellion against the government of Pedro Castillo. Peruvian investigative media, such as El Foco and Epicentro TV, have also reported other groups formed by businessmen and retired military personnel that also promote Castillo’s departure.
Potentially dangerous radical groups in Peru, analysts warn
Peruvian political scientist Kathy Zegarra explained to France 24 that the radical groups against the Castillo government have found a certain space not only because of the polarizing atmosphere left by the elections, but also because some media gave a disproportionate platform to public figures who fed the extremist speech. He added that the post-electoral episode had already installed a narrative of shock.
“I think that, mainly, the fact that a person from the left has won and is in power triggered many fears from the more conservative side. After the second round, the mobilizations of people who raised messages of ‘no to communism’ and who, at the same time, were empowered with disinformation or opinions taken as reality became common. What is dangerous about groups like ‘La Resistencia’ is that in their sympathetic environments, reflection, objectivity and truth do not even matter ”, said the specialist.
As it is recalled, the country was in suspense for about a month about the official result of the elections because the candidate Keiko Fujimori challenged the electoral records, alleging a fraud that was never proven. However, opposition congressmen, such as Fujimori’s Popular Force and López Aliaga’s Popular Renovation have insisted on such a theory, to the point of calling Castillo “illegitimate.” A citizen sector and some opinion leaders in Lima, where polarization was more intense, have adopted the same position.
For the Peruvian political scientist Daniel Encinas, the frequency of the appearance of far-right groups is worrying. He suggests not to overestimate your calling strength, but also not to ignore the alarms. In the case of Renovación Popular, remember that, although Rafael López Aliaga’s party reached an expectant third place in the first presidential round of April, its capital of voters remains much stronger in Lima than in the rest of the regions.
“We are not talking about huge mass movements yet. The ‘anti-communist’ mobilizations or those that insisted on the theory of ‘fraud’ or those led by extremist groups are still small on the global scale. What I would say is that all political or mobilization groups in Peru are weak. However, I don’t think we should underestimate the speeches either, since there is an interest on their part to escalate to probably worse stocks, ”Encinas told France 24.
Argentine political scientist Yanina Welp indicated that it should not be lost sight of the fact that extremism tends to feed on misinformation. In this sense, they recruit followers with the dissemination of aberrant, false or distorted data. However, in this strengthening of anti-democratic discourses, it also works in favor of the lack of sufficiently representative political leaders to counteract the escalation.
“I believe that with the growth of these radical groups, one does not have to call for scaremongering, but caution, because an escalation of discourse and action can be dangerous. In the case of Peru, specifically, the weakness of the political parties has deteriorated mediation, and this is how false information that is ideologically related to certain groups is what ends up defining or strengthening positions, ”he told us.
Is Castillo really communist and how powerful are the voices of vacancy?
It should be noted that Peru Libre, the party that invited and launched Pedro Castillo for the general elections, originally attributed a Marxist-Leninist ideology. Its founder and general secretary, Vladimir Cerrón, has been publicly opposed to the slightest sign of moderation or ‘right-wing’ of Castillo in the Government, which has resulted in an internal confrontation between the most dogmatic and sectarian members, and the wing moderate that supports Castillo. Such a division is evident in Congress, where 16 of the 37 members of the ruling party voted against giving confidence to the current Cabinet of Ministers.
Political scientist Daniel Encinas told France 24 that Castillo does not fit the profile of a communist politician. However, there were moments when his speech provoked a greater retreat from the right and sharpened the polarization.
“I identify Castillo as an extreme populist, certainly with elements of the left, but not a communist. Until today, Castillo resorts to populism to vindicate unjustly excluded groups, but painting a field between an abusive elite and a besieged people. And it must be remembered that, at the beginning of the campaign, he had a discourse contrary to the institutions and that he later rectified. But the most ideological line is not in Castillo, but in the leadership of Peru Libre, which basically presents itself as a vanguard party, but with clear authoritarian leanings, ”Encinas described.
The threat of “vacancy” requests for the stability of the Peruvian Government
For the political scientist Kathy Zegarra, among the ultra-right groups that are asking for Castillo’s vacancy, there is no room for analysis on gestures of moderation or boundaries, since they form their movements based on closed theories and extreme remarks. This is how they reject what is minimally close to the left, to the center or even to the center right. On the other hand, he explains that the risks are more palpable when the impeachment suggestions against Castillo are installed lightly in democratic institutions or in media platforms.
It is worth remembering that the word “vacancy” is frequently heard between televised debates in Parliament. For example, Congresswoman from the right-wing Avanza País party Adriana Tudela has insisted that the president qualifies for a vacancy since July 29, when he chose to appoint Guido Bellido, a militant legislator from Peru Libre, as head of the Cabinet of Ministers. for alleged crimes of apology to terrorism and money laundering. Bellido was removed from office by Castillo on October 6, after a series of inter-day controversies.
“It is worrying that, within the institutions, vacancies are spoken so lightly as if it were the only tool of political control. There are other measures, such as censorship or the interpellation of ministers and investigative commissions, but suggestions for vacancies have been normalized, ”said Zegarra. The specialist recalls that the Castillo government is already, in itself, at a disadvantage due to its precarious citizen approval and the questions accumulated by bad decisions and political blunders.
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