Peru’s top presidential candidate insisted on treating COVID-19 with brandy and salt

The center-left candidate for the presidency of Peru Yonhy lescano, of the Popular Action Party, insisted on treating COVID-19 with salt and “sugar cane” (sugar cane brandy), a recipe that has no scientific support.

Lescano, who occupies the first place in the latest polls with a low percentage of voting intention of between 10% and 11%, reaffirmed himself by promoting the use of “cañazo” and natural medicine to fight against the COVID-19.

“I believe in folk medicine, in natural medicine. People heal with the coca leaf, with salt and with a series of herbs and plants that are found in the Amazon.“Assured Lescano in an interview on the Sunday program Panorama.

“I believe in folk medicine, in natural medicine”

The former congressman even claimed that the “cañazo” had a scientific basis because, according to his argument, it works the same way as an alcohol-based mouthwash to remove viruses and bacteria from the body. mouth. The brand’s own page he mentioned ruled out that it could be used against COVID.

“It’s the same principle,” said Lescano, one of the six candidates with the possibility of going to the second round of the ballot scheduled for April 11. “Go to Cusco, Puno or Huancavelica so that people can tell you how they were healed. This is an answer that I have seen in the regions, so that the insect does not lodge in the throat“, He added.

“It works for people … is it forbidden?”

The popular action candidate defended the practice because it “worked for people” in the absence of the COVID-19 vaccine. “Is it forbidden or irresponsible to do this until the vaccine arrives and the Peruvians die? There is nothing wrong with it“, he underlined.

However, Lescano denied that promoting “cañazo” was part of his government plan to appease the pandemic, which he blamed on “malicious people”. “There has been a pure dirty war since I reached number one (in the polls). They say it is part of the government’s plan, but it is pure lies and defamation, ”he concluded.

Lescano was also the protagonist of other striking and controversial proposals such as asking Chile to return to Peru the ship Huáscar, captured by the Chilean navy in 1879 during the Battle of Angamos, one of the main ones in the Pacific (1879 – 1884).

Currently, the Huáscar is a historical relic as it is the second oldest battleship still afloat, after the British HMS Warrior, and it serves as a floating maritime museum in the Chilean port of Talcahuano, in the region of Bío Bío.

TWO WEEKS FROM ELECTIONS

During the elections of April 11, more than 25 million Peruvians are called to the polls to elect a president and his two vice-presidents for the period 2021-2026, in addition to renewing the 130 representatives of the Congress and the five of the Andes. Parliament.

In the event that no presidential candidate obtains 50% of the vote, a second round will be held in June with the two most voted.

The elections will be held at one of the worst times of the pandemic in Peru, where in recent days the record for new infections reported in a single day has been broken, with more than 12,000 cases.

In total, there are already over 1.5 million confirmed symptomatic cases, of which over 50,000 have died, but the death toll rises to over 125,000 if we count the suspects and the rest. to investigate.

(With information from EFE)

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