Peru – The Story of a (Military) Coup d’État Foretold?

Peru – The Story of a (Military) Coup d’État Foretold?

By: Peter Koenig

Published 10 April 2016 (13 hours 49 minutes ago)

Imagine a country that in the last four decades has been governed (sic) successively by thieves; that every five years goes through the same circus of having to elect a President as the lesser evil, already knowing that whoever is elected will continue robbing their nation; a country that arguably can be considered the richest in natural resources (per capita) of all of Latin America, but where the people at large have hardly benefited from the exploitation of the mostly unrenewable resources, to the contrary, the population has grown poorer and the gap between rich and poor has grown wider over the past 30 years; a country that boasted an average annual growth of 5 percent to 7 percent in first ten years of the 21st Century (confirmed by the Masters of International Finance, the World Bank and the IMF) – a growth rate of which 80 percent went to 5 percent of the population – again widening the divide between the haves and have-nots, increasing unemployment and delinquency; a country basically controlled by five families which also control and manipulate 90 percent of the news the people are subjected to; a country that has been under neoliberal reign for at least the last 25 years – and a country that is firmly in the grip of the United States of America. This country is Peru.

For the last weeks and months Peru was and is in a frenzy about who may win today’s – April 10, 2016 – Presidential elections. Of lesser importance seem to be the 130 Parliamentarians, belonging to a myriad of parties and new and old alliances and cross-alliances, a political amalgam for hardly anybody understandable. It is unclear whether the chaos is by design or simply part of the Peruvian electorate system which reoccurs every five years; with the same type of candidates (in one case even the same candidate since 1985!), with the same empty promises and lies, with the same accusations towards one another – and all of them with an honest-to-god face proclaiming they would eliminate corruption – spoken by the same people about whom the electorate knows are all corrupt. The common question goes: Who is the least corrupt to vote for?

A couple of months ago, there were 19 Presidential candidates from an equal number of political parties. There are many more parties who did not have the financial means, nor a charismatic enough contender to present a candidate. It is said, to run a decent campaign for President you need at least two million dollars.

Today, on the Big Day, there are 10 candidates left. Last weekend they gave themselves the last TV debate before the elections, presenting their dreams, fantasies and lies of what they wanted to do for the 30 million Peruvians – none of them having an idea on how to pay for their programs – or they were simply lashing out at each other. It looked and sounded like a debate of adolescents. It would have been a hilarious spectacle if it wouldn’t be so serious, putting one of these clowns at the helm of a complex multi-cultural nation with uncountable riches, below and above the ground. And mind, you almost all of the candidates are totally submissive to the Northern Neighbor, who graciously concedes them for now being part of his ‘backyard’ (Obama about Latin America).

More:
http://www.telesurtv.net/english/opinion/Peru--The-Story-of-a-Military-Coup-dEtat-Foretold-20160410-0035.html