Thursday, April 7, 2016

Disgraced Leader’s Daughter Leads in the Run-Up to Peru’s Presidential Elections

This article discusses the fact that the daughter of former President Albert Fujimori of Peru is leading in the country's current presidential race. The former president is currently serving jail time for kidnapping, directing death squads, and numerous other major human rights violations. Peru's electorate is volatile now after enduring mass corruption, and many Peruvians are worried that another Fujimori in office could spell disaster for their very vulnerable democracy. Many are also worried that Keiko Fujimori will be just as corrupt and commit the same crimes as her father including executions without trial and "misplacing" $600 million once in public coffers. This article is very interesting because I got to witness the exact same thing happen while doing fieldwork in Guatemala. The former "president" (aka dictator) of Guatemala was guilty of mass corruption as well as carrying out a crusade against the Mayans and slaughtering thousands of them with no cause. While I was there, his daughter was running for president and doing really well, which had the Mayans extremely worried. It would be fascinating to see if this is a real trend in Latin America or if it is merely a coincidence.

Emily Alaimo

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/disgraced-leaders-daughter-leads-in-the-runup-to-perus-presidential-elections/2016/04/06/984ca9a2-f6a5-11e5-958d-d038dac6e718_story.html

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