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The surprising rise of Pedro Castillo as political leader in Peru raises a fundamental question: which figure of the motley Latin American left do you identify with?
The question gains relevance after in the Peruvian second round ballot, which ended on Tuesday, Castillo won with 50.1% of the vote against 49.9% of right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori.
But it may still take several days to officially define the winner, as a demand by Fujimori to review some 300,000 votes and overturn around 200,000 in areas where Castillo had the most support is resolved.
The 51-year-old rural teacher, nominated by a party that calls itself Marxist-Leninist, was a near unknown in the region until his victory in the first round in April, prompting a search for similarities with other politicians in the country. left.
Some point out that Castillo is influenced by what Evo Morales did when he ruled Bolivia between 2006 and 2019, or Rafael Correa when he ruled Ecuador between 2007 and 2017.
“Pedro Castillo intends to establish a popular economy with markets, inspired precisely by the model of Bolivia and Ecuador”, wrote the Peruvian Nobel laureate of literature, Mario Vargas Llosa, in an April column in which he affirmed that the his country’s democracy would work. risks with a victory for this candidate.
Morales was one of the first politicians in the region to support Castillo, who at the end of his campaign sought to approach another perhaps less controversial leader of the Latin American left who also supported him. : former Uruguayan President José Mujica.
“How good that we are listening to the cause of the people,” Castillo told Mujica in a virtual meeting held every two days before the second round. “I have always been aware of their activities.
The question, then, is what Castillo takes as an example of these and other leaders of the regional left.
One of the reasons Castillo has been compared to Morales, Correa or former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez is his proposal to change his country’s Constitution, as these politicians have done when promoting their plans to “21st century socialism”.
Mujica, on the other hand, avoided amending the Uruguayan constitution while he ruled between 2010 and 2015.
The party Castillo was a candidate for, Peru Libre, “has more radical left positions, more associated with Evo (Morales) than with Mujica in Uruguay,” Farid Kahhat, a Peruvian international relations expert, told BBC Mundo. .
Evo Morales> The former Bolivian president observed similarities between him and Castillo.
A plan of the Castillo government presented before the second electoral round argues that “the current Constitution gives priority to private interests over public interest, profit over life and dignity”.
The stated objective is to convene, by way of referendum, “a Constituent Assembly to draft a new constitution” which expressly recognizes the rights to health, food and housing, among others.
It also provides for a “state overhaul that guarantees transparent decision-making with active citizen participation” and “practices strategic planning, regulates and invests”.
“Welcome private investment, but with clear rules. Don’t exploit our workers,” Castillo said during the latest presidential campaign debate.
It remains to be seen how he achieves this.
While ruling Ecuador, Rafael Correa had a program that some compare to that promoted by Castillo in Peru.
But many remember that the government program presented by Peru Libre for the campaign says that the state must nationalize and has a mission to review, renegotiate or cancel contracts with transnational corporations.
He also proposes that 80% of the profits they generate remain for the state, and the rest for companies.
Castillo offered to renegotiate contracts with mining companies, a sector that accounts for nearly 60% of Peru’s exports, and possibly nationalize various minerals and gases.
All this also evokes what Correa did in Ecuador and Morales in Bolivia during the overhaul of the state, giving it a more regulatory role of the economy, renegotiating contracts with foreign oil companies, and ordering nationalizations in the field of hydrocarbons.
One difference between Correa and Morales is that the latter, a former coca-producing trade unionist, had a higher level of social organization to be elected as Bolivia’s first indigenous president than the Ecuadorian economist.
In this sense, some see more similarities between Morales and Castillo, a teacher leader in Peru and an exrondero (member of the Peasant Rounds, a community defense organization), elected largely by the rural vote.
“Castillo is more like Evo, he has a certain level of social organization behind him,” Kahhat compares. “There is also an ethnic element behind his appeal, although it is not always explicit.
Castillo had the support of Peruvian social organizations for his rapid rise to power.
Morales himself tweeted in April that Castillo had “a similar agenda” to the one he promoted in Bolivia, with a “peaceful democratic and cultural revolution, defending natural resources and promoting a Constituent Assembly, for the benefit of the people for that there be Justice. ”
But others have warned Peruvians that Morales is seeking re-election beyond the constitutionally established term limit he himself promoted in Bolivia.
“Remember that anyone who has the pencil to write the Constitution later believes themselves to be the owner and sole interpreter of the Constitution, and violates it,” former Bolivian President Jorge Quiroga told Peruvian network RPP Noticias before voting.
In his campaign, Castillo avoided commenting on Morales’ re-elections, denied having “role models” of government and vowed to step down after his term ended in July 2026, without seeking re-election.
Some analysts make a distinction between Castillo and Peru Libre, the Marxist party that appointed him but to which he does not belong.
The Peruvian candidate at the time pledged to respect democracy and human rights, in response to fears that he might follow the path of other left-wing leaders in the region accused of authoritarian abuses.
In particular, he sought to differentiate himself from the socialist government of Venezuela. “No Chavismo”, he said and asked the president of this country, Nicolás Maduro, to “settle his internal problems” before referring to Peru.
However, Mujica saw fit to give Castillo some advice during the interview they both had live on Facebook a few days ago.
“Do not fall into authoritarianism, bet on the hearts of your people permanently. And when you are wrong, have the honesty to tell them: I was wrong,” said the former Uruguayan president after warning that “It is not easy to twist the course of reality in favor of the weakest.”
While Uruguay was president, Mujica legalized abortion, same-sex marriage and marijuana, options opposed by Castillo, who defines himself as Catholic and is married to an evangelical.
José Mujica supported Castillo, but there are notable differences between what he did as president of Uruguay and what Castillo proposed for Peru.
After the election, the man who campaigned in a wide-brimmed straw hat and rode a horse again vowed respect for democracy and the current Constitution, as well as economic and financial stability.
Some of his advisers ruled out interventionist measures such as price or import controls and suggested that instead of nationalizations, taxes on mining companies could be renegotiated.
Some distinguish between Castillo and the party that appointed him, whose leader, Vladimir Cerrón, is a radical left-wing doctor who studied in Cuba, expressed affinities with the Venezuelan government and was disqualified in the elections because of a conviction for corruption when he was governor of the region of Junín.
“The party has authoritarian tendencies. Castillo is not a member of this party and is not even a Marxist-Leninist, ”says Kahhat. “But he himself has made statements which also pose a risk of authoritarian regression.”
For example, remember that Castillo mentioned in the campaign the possibility of deactivating the Constitutional Court to elect a new one by popular mandate, another idea that some considered inspired by Evo Morales’ Bolivia.
“Later, in the second round, he changed his speech,” Kahhat said, “but the question today is which Pedro Castillo do you believe in?”
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