Peruvian president with rural roots removed after attempted coup

Peru's president, Pedro Castillo, was removed from office and arrested yesterday after he attempted a coup.  This action came a few days after the New York Times published this deep-dive story by Mitra Taj and Genevieve Glatsky on how Castillo, a former farmer himself, has failed to solve rural inequality.  The story gets at the tension between rural folks and elites, which I can't help think sounds awfully similar to what we see in the United States. 

Here's an excerpt: 

Last year, Pedro Castillo became Peru’s first left-wing president in more than a generation after campaigning on promises to address the poverty that rural Peruvians have long disproportionately suffered, and which worsened under the pandemic.

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During his campaign, Mr. Castillo raised expectations in rural Peru with talk of structural change, and promises to replace the country’s constitution, nationalize the extraction of natural resources and double spending on education.

He took a surprise lead in the first round of elections among 20 candidates with 19 percent of the vote by courting voters disenchanted with the political establishment. In the runoff, he eked out a narrow victory over Keiko Fujimori, a polarizing figure and the daughter of a former authoritarian president, Alberto Fujimori, who is in prison for human rights violations and corruption.

But today, many of Mr. Castillo’s rural supporters are struggling to purchase basic goods and services and have become disillusioned by his performance.

Cajamarca, a mostly rural region 350 miles north of Lima where Mr. Castillo was born and built his career, has long been one of the country’s poorest areas.

In communities stretching from the regional capital to Mr. Castillo’s tiny home village of San Luis de Puña, supporters like Ms. Cieza said they expected more from him.

“He said he was going to change the country,” she said. “He tricked us.”

Since taking office, Mr. Castillo has ushered in an era of controversies noteworthy for their clumsiness and frequency, while failing to make much headway on many of his campaign promises.

He has churned through more than 80 ministers and filled many posts with officials lacking relevant experience.

His administration failed to purchase fertilizer for the biggest planting season of the year, after three bids by private companies were annulled because of negligence and corruption. His government has also dragged its feet on cash payments and subsidies to low-income Peruvians.

Mr. Castillo has survived two impeachment attempts in Congress, where critics say he is not morally fit to be president.

The Peruvian leader denies wrongdoing and has denounced what he calls a “new form of a coup” orchestrated by prosecutors, lawmakers and the media. His administration has taken an initial step toward trying to dissolve Congress in response to lawmakers’ refusal to hold a vote of confidence on his government.

One congressman, Guillermo Bermejo, a close ally of Mr. Castillo, said the president’s opponents would not stop until they return power to traditional elites based in Lima, the capital.

“People with fancy last names have been carving up the ham for 200 years,’’ he said in a televised interview on Sunday.

Yet truckers and farmers in rural areas have staged protests in recent weeks over high prices for fuel, food and fertilizer.

In Cajamarca, farmers said they planted half as many potatoes this year than in the past after prices for the most widely used synthetic fertilizer nearly tripled following the start of the Ukraine war. The cost of cooking oil, rice and sugar have doubled, making them unaffordable for the poorest Peruvians. High fuel prices has made it more expensive to get products to markets.

In a slice of Peru where Mr. Castillo’s campaign slogan, “no more poor people in a rich country,” once roused cheers, today it elicits laughter.

San Luis de Puña, the rural hamlet where Mr. Castillo was born, is a five-hour drive from the regional capital along mostly unpaved roads that wind through mountains and past verdant valleys, open-pit gold mines and adobe homes without electricity or running water.

Then there's this "defense" from an elderly female farmer who lives in Castillo's home district: 

“They really hate him, don’t they? Because he’s from Tacabamba,’’ Alicia Delgado, 68, said while noting the president’s rural roots in a country where rural Peruvians have faced centuries of discrimination.