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A12 WORLD NEWS
Monday 10 deceMber 2018

Peruvians vote in referendum on fighting corruption Bolivian police
search for ex-

drug lord who
tigated for allegedly laun-
dering Odebrecht money fled clinic
for her 2011 campaign.
Those probes along with a LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) —
series of leaked wiretaps Jorge Roca Suarez, one
showing judges and law- of South America’s lead-
yers making backroom ing drug traffickers in
deals on matters as grave the 1980s who served
as the sentence for a man 28 years in prison in the
accused of raping a young United States before re-
girl have unleashed the fury turning to Bolivia earlier
of a Peruvian public fed up this year, has fled a medi-
with corruption. cal clinic where he was
A recent survey by Latino- receiving treatment, au-
barometro, a respected thorities said Saturday.
regional polling firm, found Police said an operation
that just 8 percent of Peru- was underway to find
vian’s trust the legislature, Roca Suarez, who had
the lowest in the region. been arrested when he
“The entire system is rotten,” returned to Bolivia in April.
said Gerardo Polo, 40, who A judge had given a 10-
works at an import compa- day pass to the 67-year-
ny and was eager to cast old to seek treatment at
A voter signs her name after having voted in a referendum aimed at curbing corruption in Lima, his ballot on Sunday. While the clinic and he fled the
Peru, Sunday, Dec. 9, 2018. he conceded that the facility Thursday night.
Associated Press measures won’t guarantee “We have to confirm the
By FRANKLIN BRICENO trenched political miscon- ly every former living presi- future abuses he said, “It is escape of this person
LIMA, Peru (AP) — Peruvians duct. dent, with four ex-heads of a scream of rage.” who was serving a deten-
vote Sunday in a referen- “What this referendum is state under probe for ties to President Martin Vizcarra tion ordered by a court,”
dum aimed at curbing cor- potentially giving the gov- Odebrecht. has succeeded in chan- Fernando Rojas, deputy
ruption as the South Ameri- ernment and maybe even President Pedro Pablo Kuc- neling public outrage since director of the Special
can nation tries to put an the political system is a zynski resigned in March taking on the nation’s most Force to Fight Crime, told
end to a scourge that has little breathing room,” said after opposition lawmakers powerful job after Kuczyn- state news agency ABI.
landed lawmakers, judges Steve Levitsky, a Harvard revealed previously undis- ski’s resignation and the Roca Suarez became a
and even former presidents University political scientist. closed ties between Ode- referendum is considered top drug lord after tak-
behind bars. “A little burst of confidence brecht and his private con- a critical step in his bid to ing over from his uncle
The four questions on the and public trust that it can sulting firm. Prosecutors are consolidate power. He is Roberto Suarez, who was
ballot include measures potentially use to get up also investigating former pushing the vote as an es- known as the “Cocaine
that would prohibit legis- and running.” leader Alan Garcia after sential decree to “end the King.” Both men were
lators from immediate re- In recent years Peru has revelations that bribes were plague of corruption.” suppliers to the Medellin
election, create stricter been jolted by the Ode- made during the construc- Three of the four measures Cartel then led by Co-
campaign finance rules brecht corruption scandal tion of Lima’s metro under are expected to pass re- lombian drug lord Pablo
and reform a scandal- toppling the careers of his tenure. Ollanta Humala, soundingly, with only one, Escobar. A video posted
tainted council charged some of Latin America’s who was briefly jailed, and which Vizcarra himself is no by the Santa Cruz news-
with selecting judges. highest-ranking politicians. Alejandro Toledo are also longer backing, unlikely to paper El Deber purport-
All but one of the proposed The Brazilian construction being probed for allegedly succeed. edly showed Roca Su-
measures is expected to company has admitted to receiving illegal payments. The first question would al- arez eating in a market in
pass in a nation where trust paying $800 million to offi- Meanwhile former first low the public to choose the town of San Ana de
in elected officials is abys- cials throughout the region daughter Keiko Fujimori, members of a judicial Yacuma, about 690 kilo-
mally low. Yet analysts cau- in exchange for lucrative the nation’s top opposi- council charged with se- meters (430 miles) north
tion that the referendum public works contracts. tion leader and a two-time lecting judges, a measure of La Paz. Authorities
isn’t an end-all fix to reverse In Peru, the scandal has presidential candidate, is some believe could im- have yet to comment on
decades of deeply en- tainted the careers of near- behind bars as she is inves- prove accountability.q the video.q