By Marc Eliot Stein, World BEYOND War, June 30, 2023
Peru’s ongoing political crisis is urgent and may soon get worse, according to Ricardo Antonio Soberón Garrido who spoke with World BEYOND War’s Gabriel Aguirre and Marc Eliot Stein on the June 2023 episode of World BEYOND War podcast.
Power struggles between branches of Peru’s government have placed authority in the hands of Dina Boularte, deposing the embattled Pedro Castillo who based his support within indigenous communities. But 90% of the population lacks confidence in the current regime, according to Ricardo Garrido, a lawyer and drug policy leader who spoke to World BEYOND War in a three-way virtual conversation with Aguirre in Bogata, Colombia and Stein in Brooklyn USA.
It’s USA’s plans to exploit Peru’s political crisis for its own needs that present the greatest current danger. Instead of expressing concern for the human and environmental tragedies arising from a vacuum of credible, responsive government in Lima, USA has moved quickly to establish a new military relationship with the current regime, epitomized by a new program of joint exercises, Resolute Sentinel 2023, a garish display of USA’s imperial so-called power that will remind everyone of USA’s previous displays of power leading to wars in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Iraq, Vietnam and Korea.
The greatest humanitarian concern in this growing fiasco is not the military exercises with slogans like “Patriot Fury”, though we must wonder who these patriots are when 90% of the country considers the current government illegitimate, and we must wonder why USA thinks it’s a good idea to promote “patriot fury” in a small nation already badly divided by global proxy forces with greedy interests. Which vulnerable Peruvian communities will this “patriot fury” be directed against?
“It’s the same script,” Gabriel Aguirre says when comparing USA’s eager embrace of an authoritarian government for selfish interests. USA is throwing “fuel on the fire” in Peru, according to Garrido. We hope this podcast conversation will help call the world’s attention to this situation before it gets worse.
During this hour-long conversation, we also talked about Brazil, Syria and the all-important Amazon River ecosystem, as well as the interesting challenges we faced conversing in this conversation between different languages. Musical excerpt: “En Favor de la Paz” by Dame Pa’ Matala.
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