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A30 WORLD NEWS
Diaranson 21 Juli 2021

Leftist teacher, political novice, is Peru’s president-elect

(AP) — A teacher in one
of the poorest communi-
ties in the Andes who had
never held office is now
Peru’s president-elect af-
ter officials in the South
American country de-
clared him the winner of
a runoff election held last
month.

Leftist Pedro Castillo cata-
pulted from unknown to
president-elect with the sup-
port of the country’s poor and
rural citizens, many of whom
identify with the struggles
the teacher has faced. Castillo
was officially declared win-
ner Monday after the coun-
try’s electoral count became
the longest in 40 years as his
opponents fought the results.
Castillo received 44,000
more votes than right-wing
politician Keiko Fujimori in
the June 6 runoff. This is the
third presidential election first proposals on nationaliz- unknown to president elect him,” said Levitsky, an expert South American country cy-
defeat for the daughter of ing multinational mining and has divided the Andean na- on Latin American politics. cled through three presidents
imprisoned former President natural gas companies. In- tion deeply. last November.
Alberto Fujimori. stead, his campaign has said He added that if Castillo tried
he is considering raising taxes Author Mario Vargas Llosa, to change the constitution Castillo recalled that the first
“Let’s not put the obstacles to on profits due to high copper a holder of a Nobel Prize for of Peru — enacted in 1993 turn in his life occurred one
move this country forward,” prices, which exceed $10,000 literature, has said Castillo during the tenure of Alberto night as a child when his
Castillo asked his opponent per ton. “represents the disappear- Fujimori — “without build- teacher persuaded his father
in his first remarks in front ance of democracy and free- ing a consensus, (without) to allow him to finish his pri-
of hundreds of followers in Historians say he is the first dom in Peru.” Meanwhile, alliances with center games, mary education at a school
Lima. peasant to become president retired soldiers sent a letter to it would be very dangerous two hours from home. It
of Peru, where until now, the commander of the armed because it would be a justifi- happened while both adults
Wielding a pencil the size of Indigenous people almost forces asking him not to re- cation for a coup.” chewed coca leaves, an Ande-
a cane, symbol of his Peru always have received the spect Castillo’s victory. an custom to reduce fatigue.
Libre party, Castillo popu- worst of the deficient public The president-elect worked
larized the phrase “No more services even though the na- Fujimori, who ran with the as an elementary school “He suffered a lot in his
poor in a rich country.” The tion boasted of being the eco- support of the business elites, teacher for the last 25 years in childhood,” his wife, teacher
economy of Peru, the world’s nomic star of Latin America said Monday that she will ac- his native San Luis de Puna, a Lilia Paredes, told AP while
second-largest copper pro- in the first two decades of the cept Castillo’s victory, after remote village in Cajamarca, doing dishes at home. The
ducer, has been crushed by century. accusing him for a month of a northern region. He cam- couple has two children.
the coronavirus pandemic, electoral fraud without of- paigned wearing rubber san-
increasing the poverty level “There are no cases of a per- fering any evidence. The ac- dals and a wide-brimmed He got used to long walks.
to almost one-third of the son unrelated to the profes- cusation delayed his appoint- hat, like the peasants in his He would arrive at the class-
population and eliminating sional, military or economic ment as president-elect as she community, where 40% of room with his peasant san-
the gains of a decade. elites who reaches the presi- asked electoral authorities to children are chronically mal- dals, with a woolen saddlebag
dency,” Cecilia Méndez, a annul thousands of votes, nourished. on his shoulder, a notebook
The shortfalls of Peru’s pub- Peruvian historian and pro- many in Indigenous and poor and his lunch, which con-
lic health services have con- fessor at the University of communities in the Andes. In 2017, he led the largest sisted of sweet potatoes or
tributed to the country’s poor California-Santa Barbara, teacher strike in 30 years in tamales that cooled with the
pandemic outcomes, leaving told a radio station. The United States, European search of better pay and, al- hours.
it with the highest global per Union and 14 electoral mis- though he did not achieve
capita death rate. Castillo has Hundreds of Peruvians from sions determined that the substantial improvements, he Castillo said his life was
promised to use the revenues various regions camped out voting was fair. The U.S. sat down to talk with Cabinet marked by the work he did
from the mining sector to for more than a month in called the election a “model ministers, legislators and bu- as a child with his eight sib-
improve public services, in- front of the Electoral Tribu- of democracy” for the region. reaucrats. lings, but also by the memory
cluding education and health, nal in Lima, Peru’s capital, of the treatment that his il-
whose inadequacies were to await Castillo’s proclama- Steven Levitsky, a political Over the past two decades, literate parents received from
highlighted by the pandemic. tion. Many do not belong scientist at Harvard Uni- Peruvians have seen that the the owner of the land where
to Castillo’s party, but they versity, told a radio station previous political experience they lived. He cried when he
“Those who do not have a car trust the professor because that Castillo is arriving to and university degrees of remembered that if the rent
should have at least one bi- “he will not be like the other the presidency “very weak,” their five former presidents was not paid, the landowner
cycle,” Castillo, 51, told The politicians who have not kept and in some sense in a “very did not help fight corruption. kept the best crops.
Associated Press in mid-April their promises and do not de- similar” position to Salvador All former Peruvian presi-
at his adobe house in Anguía, fend the poor,” said Maruja Allende when he came to dents who governed since “You kept looking at what
Peru’s third poorest district. Inquilla, an environmental power in Chile in 1970 and 1985 have been ensnared in you had sown, you clutched
activist who arrived from a to Joao Goulart, who became corruption allegations, some your stomach, and I will not
Since surprising Peruvians town near Titicaca, the myth- president of Brazil in 1962. imprisoned or arrested in forget that, I will not forgive
and observers by advancing to ical lake of the Incas. their mansions. One died by it either,” he said.
the presidential runoff elec- “He has almost the entire es- suicide before police could
tion, Castillo has softened his Castillo’s meteoric rise from tablishment of Lima against take him into custody. The