Peru's Election
wingnut ·
Jun 7, 2011 at 2:13pm
I've half followed this story, but noticed in today's WSJ that leftist Ollanta Humala has won Sunday's Peruvian presidential election over Keiko Fujimori. Peru's stock market fell 14% on the result.
Given what I've read about the past decade's success of market based reforms on the Peruvian economy, I'm puzzled by this election. It seems as though Peruvians are voting against their best interests, but perhaps I'm too far removed and all is not as it seems. Why would they do that? Anyone have additional insight?
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Aug '10
Re: Peru's Election
Keiko's father, Alberto Fujimori, was convicted of Crimes Against Humanity. I would wager that has something to do with it.
Specifically, from Wikipedia:
"In April 2009, [Alberto] Fujimori was convicted of human rights violations and sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in killings and kidnappings by the Grupo Colina death squad during his government's battle against leftist guerrillas in the 1990s. The verdict delivered by a three-judge panel marked the first time that an elected head of state has been extradited back to his home country, tried, and convicted of human rights violations. Fujimori was specifically found guilty of murder, bodily harm, and two cases of kidnapping."
May '10
Re: Peru's Election
Mario Vargas Llosa, Peru's most prominent and revered public intellectual, and normally libertarian-conservative Nobel laureate, endorsed the socialist because Llosa still resented having lost an election to Fujimori. He let personal grudges get in the way of what's best for his country.
This is sort of like those today who hate Reza Pahlavi, no matter what he does, because of the Shah of Iran.
Nov '10
Re: Peru's Election
This is so bad. Humala is really, really obviously an extreme leftist in the style of Hugo Chavez. Fujimori was a centrist in every sense. (Indeed, she was well to the left of what anyone on Ricochet would have liked to see.)
Alberto Fujimori single-handedly saved that country. His only "Crimes Against Humanity" were against the goddamn communists that kept trying to intimidate people with violent acts.
Aug '10
Re: Peru's Election
Be that as it may, he was convicted. That cannot be denied.
As an outsider looking in, you may disagree with the court's ruling, but from the point-of-view of Peru's voters, being convicted is a big hurdle to get over.
Take someone like Conrad Black. He's a convicted felon. One may not agree with the conviction, but the conviction still stands. As a convicted felon, he ain't ever gonna sit in the House of Lords again.
Now, should the daughter be judged for the father's conviction? Since that's up to the voters to decide, the answer is (perhaps unfortunately) "yes".
In a democracy, we get the government we deserve.
May '10
Re: Peru's Election
According to IBD, the "resentidos" voted in favor of Humala because they were disgruntled over the fact that the distribution of wealth as a result of Peru's economic success has been unequal. In a word, envy.
Nov '10
Re: Peru's Election
Misthiocracy
Be that as it may, he was convicted. That cannot be denied.
As an outsider looking in, you may disagree with the court's ruling, but from the point-of-view of Peru's voters, being convicted is a big hurdle to get over.
There's little doubt in my mind that if the US had the same level of government corruption and populist sentiment that Peru has, George W. Bush would have somehow been convicted of crimes against humanity.
Misthiocracy
In a democracy, we get the government we deserve.
I want to agree, but I can't. There are some people in Peru who know better, and who deserve better than what's coming for them.
Apr '11
Re: Peru's Election
Jan-Michael Rives
Misthiocracy
Be that as it may, he was convicted. That cannot be denied.
As an outsider looking in, you may disagree with the court's ruling, but from the point-of-view of Peru's voters, being convicted is a big hurdle to get over.
There's little doubt in my mind that if the US had the same level of government corruption and populist sentiment that Peru has, George W. Bush would have somehow been convicted of crimes against humanity.
That may be, and I don't know enough about Fujimori to say whether the conviction was right or not. But whether it was or not, it still happened, which probably influenced voters. A lot of people view Sarah Palin as intellectually unserious. That may or may not be true, but that is still the perception of a portion of the population, and would probably influence an election.
May '10
Re: Peru's Election
I bet Mary Anastasia O'Grady at the WSJ will write about this in her next column.
It's too bad they couldn't get a candidate to run against the leftist whose last name wasn't Fujimori.
I don't follow Latin American politics enough to understand all the factors here, but it is interesting to note that Chile, arguably the most prosperous and successful Latin American country, is more to the right, more pro-business, etc., (especially with US-educated and right-leaning Sebastian Pinera as president) than any other country down there. And instead of their neighbors following their lead, they go in the opposite direction (except for Honduras, who got rid of their leftist-would-be-dictator, over the objections of the Obama Administration). Go figure.