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Eliminating Poverty in Peru

Poverty reduction in Peru
Peru, a small country of 32 million located on the western coast of South America, has made significant reductions in poverty in the 21st century. Over the last 20 years, Peru’s GDP quadrupled and its poverty rate decreased by nearly 30% by 2019. Peru’s rapidly growing economy, combined with substantial social welfare programs, resulted in a drastic increase in quality of life for poor and middle-class Peruvians. But notably, these gains largely concentrate in urban areas. While the Peruvian economy was not exempt from a COVID-19 induced recession, expectations have determined that it could rebound in 2021. Here is a review of how things stand in regard to eliminating poverty in Peru.

Eliminating Poverty in Peru

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Peru experienced 14 consecutive years of poverty reduction. Its economy ranks as one of the 21st century’s fastest-growing economies due to the high demand for its natural resource exports of copper, petroleum and zinc. While Peru’s middle class enjoys substantial growth due to its booming economy, inequality persists, especially in rural areas. A web of social welfare programs has been integral to Peru’s successful war on poverty as well as increased access to education and financial institutions. Previous administrations successfully balanced growth and poverty reduction in Peru, but more work is necessary.

Rural Poverty in Peru

Despite Peru’s strong growth and successful anti-poverty initiatives, much of the rural population still suffer material deprivation. In 2014, Peru’s rural poverty rate was nearly 50% with an estimated 15% of rural children suffering from chronic malnutrition.

Past administrations created several initiatives to expand welfare access in rural areas. However, Peru’s diverse geography and mountainous rural terrain make them difficult to implement. Rural Peruvians experience limited access to social programs and high transaction and transportation costs. Additionally, they enjoy far less economic opportunity or connection to growing markets than their urban peers.

Rural poverty concentrates most widely among the indigenous population, who often live in geographically isolated areas. Exacerbating the urban-rural cleavage are conflicts between the government and indigenous rights groups over mining and energy projects in the Andes. This conflict highlights the friction between extractive policies that constitute the base of Peru’s growing economy and the lived experience of rural Andeans who bear the cost of these industrial initiatives.

Peru’s New President

Pedro Castillo of the socialist Free Peru party won the June 2021 election. His election marked a paradigm shift in Peru’s political landscape. The former teacher and son of rural peasants, Castillo won a close election against Keiko Fujimori, daughter of Peruvian dictator Albert Fujimori who ruled the country from 1990 to 2000. Fujimori claimed that election fraud was responsible for Castillo’s victory, but the Peruvian election authorities ultimately dismissed her claims. Representing his rural constituency, Castillo declared that “Votes from the highest mountain and farthest corner of the country are worth the same as votes from San Isidro and Miraflores” in response to the baseless claims of election fraud.

Castillo promises to aggressively fight poverty and increase the state’s role in the economic response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Castillo’s posture as an anti-establishment populist will make his economic revolution difficult in the face of elite opposition. However, Peru’s difficult year increased the appetite for radical reforms to the neoliberal economy. Peru has experienced the highest deaths per capita of any country in the world and has seen its poverty rate increase due to the 2020 recession. Castillo’s five-year term will be a new chapter for a country that has not seen a truly left-wing president in a generation.

Snowballing Success in Eliminating Poverty in Peru

Peru has made impressive gains against poverty in recent decades. However, a multitude of factors has prevented these gains from undergoing equal distribution among urban and rural Peruvians. COVID-19’s impact led to the election of a socialist president who has pledged to take aggressive steps toward poverty reduction, especially in rural areas. While Peru’s poverty rate is less than half of what it was two decades ago, there is still a long road ahead to ameliorate the material deprivation that nearly 7 million Peruvians experience.

– Will Pease
Photo: Flickr

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Contributing Factors to the Political Crisis in Peru

Factors of the Political Crisis in Peru
The political crisis in Peru is an ongoing event that first came about in 2017 and still needs to resolve. Corruption within the country’s government spearheaded discontent among Peruvians and planted the seed for the continued crisis in Peru. The crisis itself has become more complex as it has developed over the years. Thus, the process of a resolution has seemingly become just as difficult to navigate. Here are a few factors that helped create the crisis and continue to perpetuate the political issues surrounding it.

The New President

President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski won his political position by a very slim margin in a race against Keiko Fujimori in the 2016 election. His political party was only able to secure a small portion of seats within Peru’s Congress. Naturally, it faced strong opposition in many different facets. President Kuczynski’s political opponents and opposers portrayed him as a lobbyist that served as a political threat to Peru’s government. As a result, there were some questions surrounding his presidency and its legitimacy from the very beginning.

The Opposing Party

The political alliance behind Keiko Fujimori is the Popular Force Party. Following her electoral defeat, the Popular Force Party slowly began to pick away at its opposition using an obstructionist strategy. The party continuously targeted cabinet members of their opposition in hopes of ousting them and succeeded in several instances, warping the political landscape of Peru and deepening its government corruption. This strategy ultimately led to a dismantling of the cabinet and a continuous shuffling of members.

Suspicion of Corruption

Under the suspicion of corrupt government practices, the Peruvian Congress ousted President Kuczynski with a vote of no-confidence very early on in September 2017. This vote followed a sort of dare from the President. It forced out his second education minister and gave him a limited time span of three days to swear in a new Cabinet. Following the vote that ousted him, Congress tried the President in a congressional impeachment hearing in December 2017. This happened when he testified on a matter of suspected corruption. The particular incident that the hearing discussed was his involvement in receiving payments from one of his businesses from Odebrecht, a well-known Brazilian construction firm.

The vote following the deliberation of Congress did not result in his impeachment. However, a new scandal arose. It became publicly known that the President negotiated with former President Alberto Fujimori’s son to keep his position in power. These rumors of negotiations between the two sparked unrest and distrust among Peruvian citizens because of the public view of Fujimori. In exchange for the safety of his position, Kuczynski pardoned Fujimori for crimes against humanity and corruption, despite his 25-year prison sentence that the public largely supported.

Release of Former Dictator

The release of former dictator Fujimori sparked intense indignation and dissatisfaction among Peruvians. Arguably, this was the pivotal point marking the beginning of the political crisis in Peru. The courts overturned the pardon that President Kuczynski performed and he eventually resigned, consequently pushing Vice President Vizcarra into the presidency. He wasted no time in pushing an anti-corruption campaign in an attempt to quell protests and civil discord among Peruvians. However, the Popular Force Party still attempts to block these proposed anti-corruption reforms.

Dismantling of Congress

The past few years have been key in determining the political state of Peru, and it remains a delicate one. As of October 2019, President Vizcarra dissolved Congress after facing opposition. This dismantling of Congress has plunged Peru into a constitutional crisis which it must address immediately. The political crisis in Peru does not affect just corruption levels or prominent figures defeating their opposition. Instead, it affects Peruvians in ways they may not even be fully aware of. It primarily stifles public policy progression due to legislative gridlock. This means that no anti-corruption reforms or efforts can come to fruition because of the persistent corruption stalling and dismantling Peru’s politics. Direct legislation cannot pass because of this. For instance, there are necessary reconstruction efforts to address damages from detrimental coastal flooding that occurred in 2017. The Peruvian economy originally experienced a boom following its democratic transition. However, the growth has slowed substantially in the midst of this crisis.

Solving the Political Crisis

Although the situation may seem bleak, it is not an unfixable issue. The political crisis in Peru requires cooperation mainly from its primary political parties. The days of ousting the opposition in a never-ending battle for power must end. In addition, a united front must form against corruption. However, this may not be easy. Such a united front would require the major political parties in Peru. The parties have to abstain from their corrupt practices long enough to negotiate a new way of governance. This will help avoid the power struggles that have brought political turmoil upon the nation. The international community must provide support for Peruvians in this time of crisis. Additionally, it should help to rebuild the once successful democratic institution that existed within Peru. It can accomplish this largely by acting as mediators between parties and pushing for compromise and cooperation.

The government has not completely ignored the political crisis in Peru. Rather, the country has made a decent amount of progress in the past two decades by strengthening its economy, lowering its poverty rates and decreasing the amount of income inequality present. The strengthening of the political institutions and the laws surrounding them will ultimately help Peru the most. Once Peru’s institutions are able to regain legitimacy and close the loopholes that allow political corruption to thrive, the country will hopefully be able to feel a sense of normalcy. Domestic and international actors’ aid in tackling corruption head-on will combat the political crisis in Peru. In addition, forming a sense of unity should help the country attain stability.

– Hannah Easley
Photo: Flickr