In the final comparisons in my two-piece work The World According to Aztecs and Incas: MYTHS AND STORIES OF MEXICO AND PERU, I describe corruption in the supreme layers of power of Peru:

Economist Alejandro Toledo, son of poor Indian peasants, gathered the opposition and in 2001 was elected president of Peru and thus the countrys first Indian President. Now he was responsibel for the indebted country, where over half the population lived in poverty while Perus economy experienced a growth higher than neighboring countries. Apart from a fall in 2009, economic growth in Peru was between 5 and 7%; the middle class doubled its income in a decade.

In 2006, Toledo was replaced by Alan García, who had been President in 1985-90; now García promised to manage the economy better than last – when hyperinflation raged. The other candidate of the election was the officer Ollanta Humala Tasso, who had fought the Shining Path and in 2000 had attempted a coup against President Fujimori; Humala was criticized for his father being a Communist and for his brother being sentenced to 25 years in prison for taking 17 police officers hostage and killing 4 of them.

At the following election in 2011, Humala was elected as Perus new President. During that election campaign, too, he was cried up as a socialist – he himself declared to be inspired by Social Democrat-oriented President Ignácio Lula da Silva in Brazil. Immediately after his election victory, Peruvian shares took the biggest dive ever, but the prices were corrected when he had appointed his ministers and the stock traders had seen his program

In 2017, Toledo as President is accused of having received 20 million US Dollars in return commission. When he is in the United States, an international arrest warrant is issued; a judge decides he must stay in jail while he is investigated. (Reuters Staff 2017) But he remains free.

The accusations against Toledo are part of the gigantic corruption, Operation Car Wash, which was committed between 2001 and 2016 by Latin Americas largest contractor Odebrecht, the state-owned Brazilian oil company Petrobras and Brazils largest meat producer JBS. In a lawsuit in the United States, the chief executive of Odebrecht and 75 senior executives have confessed spending 800 million US Dollars to bribe politicians in 11 Latin American countries; allegedly 29 million US Dollars in the years 2009-2015 must have been given in Peru.

One year after Humala ends his presidential term in 2016, he is remanded in custody for receiving a bribe from Odebrecht.

New President will be economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Godard, Perus former finance and prime minister. In the second round of elections, he wins razor-sharp over Keiko Fujimori, the imprisoned President Fujimoris daughter.

Shortly after Kuczynskis inauguration, the prosecution initiates investigations against him for his relations with Odebrecht. A large parliamentary majority votes to demand impeachment, but this majority is not sufficient to dismiss him. To lessen the opposition from former President Fujimoris supporters in parliament, President Kuczynski grants President Fujimori – a medical pardon, he explains. Fujimori asks for forgiveness and promises to support President Kuczynskis reconciliation.

After 21 months as President, Kuczynski resigns after attempts to bribe for stopping impeachment. Vice President Martín Vizcarra – who was elected for the same party as Kuczynski – takes over the presidency. He too, solemnly promises to fight corruption.

In 2018, President Fujimori is imprisoned again.

In July-August 2018, journalists uncover power abuse among the top in Perus judicial system.

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(pp. 479-480 in volume 2, reproduced without notes and illustrations):

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO AZTECS AND INCAS: MYTHS AND STORIES FROM MEXICO AND PERU. Edited, translated, retold and commented by Mikael Witte. Volume 1 + Volume 2

476 pages + 540 pages. Richly illustrated in colors

Published by Selskabet for smukkere Byfornyelse