Norris McDonald | Pedro Castillo, revanchism and Fujimori’s ghastly legacy

Peru has been gripped by extremely angry street protests since President Pedro Castillo was removed from power by an opposition-controlled Congress on December 7. He was then arrested, charged and jailed in what appears to be an American-inspired coup against his government.

Several protesters have been killed, hundreds more have been wounded and many more arrested.

While America, Canada and the Western press have supported the hastily installed vice-president Dina Boluarte who replaced Castillo; Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Bolivia, in sharp contrasts, have strongly condemned the overthrow and arrest of President Castillo.

In a joint statement, the four countries called President Castillo’s removal an act of “anti-democratic harassment”.

Peru is among 20 Latin American and Caribbean countries that, much to America’s anger, have joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This list includes not only left-wing, progressive governments but right-wing and centrist administrations.

Shortly after he was elected, Castillo said that he would be strengthening political and economic relations in China and took several bold actions to advance this process.

This, in fact, may have added to the political tensions that led to his government being overthrown.

What role did America played in all this?

Do you think it is normal for American ambassadors to be so openly and deeply involved in the internal affairs of other countries?

AMERICAN INTERFERENCE

Dear friends, while all the circumstances of Peru’s political crisis remain unclear, evidence is now coming to light that accuse America of being a key player in having Castillo removed.

Ken Norton of MROnline.com reports that one day before the December 7, 2022, coup, American Ambassador Lisa Kenna openly met with the Peruvian Defense Minister Gustavo Babbio Rosa.

Lisa Kenna is a 10-year veteran CIA agent, Ken Norton says.

Following Castillo’s removal from office, United States Ambassador Lisa Kenna reportedly met with Peru’s vice-president Dina Boluarte who had replaced him.

America, Canada and the Western press, in the wake of the coup, have claimed that Castillo had to be removed for what they claimed were his so-called wrong actions to abolish congress and call elections. But a more plausible explanation is that his policies would have been a threat to imperialism and the entrenched Peruvian oligarchy.

Pedro Castillo is a schoolteacher who comes from a rural peasant background. His socialist political party, ‘Free Peru’, was regarded by his political enemies as a threat to the political establishment.

America and Canada, therefore, openly supported Castillo’s removal and, in a clear case of twisted logic, blames him, the victim of a coup, for attempts to “undermine democracy”.

FUJIMORI’S HAUNTING LEGACY

Tensions between President Castillo and the hostile right wing was long simmering from he defeated Keiko Fujimori in the June 2021 presidential run-off elections.

Keiko Fujimori is the daughter of a former Peruvian strongman, President Alberto Fujimori. He was accused, tried and jailed over the La Cantuta massacre of several Peruvian students and other alleged atrocities that took place during his brutal right-wing government’s 1990-2000 rule.

Alberto and Keiko Fujimori are part of a Japanese clan that makes up less than one per cent of Peru’s population but dominates politics and business.

I believe that Alberto Fujimori’s extreme right-wing legacy still haunts Peruvian politics. And I think we are seeing it in the shocking brutality of the military crackdown against protesters of the coup.

Alberto Fujimori’s loyalists appear to be once again trying to gain political ascendancy in Peruvian politics, with his daughter Keiko the political face of these imperialist supported attempts.

We have seen this same scenario play out in Ecuador and Pakistan, where a revanchist attempt is made to punish a government for not toeing America’s ‘One Don’ imperialist line.

Meanwhile, Jamaica was faced with a situation in which former US Ambassador Donald Tapia scolded the country for its burgeoning political economic relations with China in the context of the Belt and Road Initiative.

Of course, that didn’t go down too well with many Jamaicans. The Gleaner, for example, in a November 13, 2019, editorial, demanded that Ambassador Tapia be called in by the Jamaican foreign ministry to be reprimanded.

Of course, this never happened. And America continues her ‘One Don’ actions without regard for the international principle of non-interference in internal affairs of nations.

REVANCHISM VERSUS DEMOCRACY

Given all this, what we are seeing, in my opinion, is not just political backwardness of anachronism – the act of stubbornly clinging to old habits and behaviour. It is far worse than that. This can be summed up as revanchism.

Revanchism is an act of revenge that, in a philosophical sense, is akin to attempting to regain lost territory. In this sense, we have seen, from the American ‘One Don” point of view, that they think the world is theirs.

It is this type of revanchist attitude that tends to increase global animosity towards the United States by many countries who resent American bullying actions.

There is a general feeling among the developing nations that America, through her diplomatic and political representatives, acts like ‘busha’ or ‘backra masta’ overseeing plantations.

My dear friends, the Peruvian coup fits the same historical pattern and practice of ‘One Don’ bullying prototype, of keeping developing nations in line or, if they refuse, clearly make them suffer the political consequences.

And, in this perception of a global plantation – just like under slavery – the ‘One Don’ backra masta appears to think that it is their right to chase down economic slaves. Countries who are trying to break out of the ‘One Don’ imperialist global political economic control are, therefore, bullied and kept in line.

The struggle for true social democracy, therefore, will continue to have ups and downs but “we must take the long view of history”, Chris Lawrence, a grassroots Jamaican trade unionist, always told his political protégées.

In the final analysis, even as countries, nations and people struggle for a better way of life, they are perpetually confronted and therefore must continue to struggle against the One Don’s imperialist attempt to keep them trampled underfoot and subservient!

That’s just the bitta truth.

Norris McDonald is an economic journalist, political analyst, and respiratory therapist. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and miaminorris@yahoo.com.