Peru in Peril: President Vizcarra vs. Fuerza Popular movement

By: Alexandra Lee Page

Peru finds itself in the middle of its worst political crisis in decades. The country has been plagued by corruption for years and has become one of many Latin American countries tangled up in a scandal involving multinational conglomerate Odebrecht. The Brazilian construction company became an international giant over years of using bribery and corruption to secure around 100 projects in 12 different countries, generating roughly $3.3 billion dollars and destroying political regimes in Brazil and the Dominican Republic.[1]

Odebrecht’s heavy influence in the Western Hemisphere also caught the attention of the United States. In 2016, Odebrecht pled guilty, paid a $2.6 billion penalty to resolve charges with the U.S. Justice Department, and entered a plea agreement requiring Odebrecht to disclose all factual information with respect to its activities and those of its subsidiary companies and affiliates.[2] In a September 2019 letter addressed to Attorney General William Barr, United States Senator Marco Rubio called on the Department of Justice to look into whether Odebrecht has lived up to its obligations under the 2016 plea agreement, and if not, “the agreement shall be deemed as breached and the US/Brazilian/Swiss authorities have the absolute discretion to reopen and investigate with the intent of prosecuting the entirety of the operation.”[3]

Most recently, the Brazilian construction company that has admitted to paying millions of dollars in bribes to politicians in Peru to win lucrative public works contracts.[4] Nearly every living former Peruvian President, including the four most recent presidents, have been implicated in the scandal.[5] For example, a judge ordered the arrest of former President Alejandro Toledo after being accused of accepting millions from Odenbrecht[6] and another governor was placed in “preventative prison” for 18 months for accepting $4 million in bribes.[7] Even the main opposition party leader, Keiko Fujimori, is in jail over her alleged involvement.[8]

Peru’s current leader, President Martín Vizcarra, is a professional engineer who came into power last year after Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigned.[9] President Vizcarra has tried to implement anti-corruption reforms to prevent a repeat situation like Odebrecht. But, because of the opposition-controlled Congress, efforts have proved fruitless so far. Recently, lawmakers have tried to rush to replace the judges that serve on the country’s top court, the Constitutional Tribunal.[10] Six of the seven magistrates have terms that expired back in July but continue to serve on the Court.[11] This tactic is one that Vizcarra and several human rights organizations disagreed with, reasoning that legislators were rushing through a process that lacked transparency and the President even warned he would dissolve Congress if they proceeded.[12] Such disagreement also likely stemmed from anti-corruption concerns, since the El Comercio newspaper reported that several of the nominees are facing civil or criminal charges as serious as kidnapping and extortion.[13]

Last Monday, lawmakers went ahead with their plan anyway and voted in a new member of the court. Vizcarra took it as a de facto vote of no-confidence and dissolved Congress. As such, Congress voted to suspend him from office for a year and nominated the Vice President Mercedes Aráoz to take his place.[14] The Vice President was sworn in… and then resigned the next day in a letter via Twitter.[15]

Whether Congress is permitted to do this is up for debate. On one hand, lawmakers are accusing Vizcarra of violating Peru’s Constitution. Fujimori’s Popular Force party holds a majority and accuses Vizcarra of repeatedly overstepping his executive powers and creating a false political crisis to distract from other issues.[16] On the other hand, others argue that Congress was shut down before it suspended the President, therefore making Congress’ vote meaningless in effect. Peru’s Constitution provides that the President can dissolve Congress if lawmakers reject two votes of confidence in his administration.[17] Vizcarra argues that the first “rejected” confidence vote came during Kuczynski’s resignation and that the October 1st vote on the new judges constitutes a second de facto “rejection” confidence vote.[18] However, the opposition lawmakers argue VizCarra’s interpretation is unconstitutional, contending that only clearly rejected votes of confidence should count.[19]

It is possible that the same highest Court at the center of this dispute – the Constitutional Tribunal –  will have to determine what happens between Vizcarra and lawmakers.[20] The Organization of American States called on the tribunal on October 2nd – the day after the controversial vote – to weigh in on the dispute.[21] After Monday’s dissolution of Congress, leaders of Peru’s Fuerza Popular movement gathered for an urgent meeting Thursday to discuss ways to save their party’s once-dominant place in politics.[22] President Vizcarra also swore in a new ministerial team which changed more than half of his previously 19-member cabinet that resigned on September 30th after losing a confidence vote.[23]

With a nation of 32 million people, Vizcarra has broad support in Peru; citizens turned out to rally in support of the President this week and even the military and governors have expressed their support.[24] One poll suggests 75% are in favor of dissolving Congress.[25] However, legislator Juan Carlos González asserts that the news media is spreading a false narrative that the party has lost public support, noting that over 2,000 people showed up to his recent town hall-style meeting.[26]

This support indicates that Vizcarra will likely continue as President while pushing for a new, early legislative vote in January 2020.[27] But if Congress prevails, legislators will remain in their positions until July 2021.[28]

According to analysists, there is a high risk of social unrest, especially if the Constitutional Tribunal rules in favor of Congress.[29] Peru is one of the strongest economies in Latin America, but the President and Congress’ respective actions to remove each other from power have created the deepest constitutional crisis in nearly three decades.[30] Whether this constitutional chaos will break the political deadlock or damage Peru’s democracy remains to be seen.

#Peru #Constitution #Congress #dissolve #politics #Vizcarra #Fuerza #Odebrecht #LatinAmerica

[1] Linette Lopez, One company has thrown politics in the Western Hemisphere completely off-kilter, Business Insider (May 30, 2017, 2:17 PM), https://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-odebrecht-corruption-scandal-2017-5.

[2] Sasha Chavkin, Bribery Division Sparks Questions Over Odebrecht’s US Plea Deal, International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (Sept. 16, 2019), https://www.icij.org/investigations/bribery-division/bribery-division-sparks-questions-over-odebrechts-us-plea-deal/.

[3] Letter from Marco Rubio, United States Senator, to Hon. William Barr, Attorney General, U.S. Dep’t of Justice (Sept. 12, 2019) (https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/a374a883-93cd-4277-8222-b84d258f69e6/60FEBC639D9D5198D9AA309D737519DB.20190912-letter-to-ag-re-odebrecht.pdf); see also Press Release, Office of U.S. Senator Marco Rubio, English/Español: Rubio Urges DOJ to Ensure Odebrecht is Complying with Plea Agreement (Sept. 12, 2019) (https://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Press-Releases&id=6ED18F98-C13F-43B2-BAEE-119694268A05).

[4] Christine Armario, AP Explains: Peru’s chaotic power struggle in a nutshell, Associated Press (Oct. 1, 2019), https://apnews.com/c26c68ed8a9948f78b246ededfaa7028.

[5] Anatoly Kurmanaev and Andrea Zarate, Peru’s President Dissolves Congress, and Lawmakers Suspend Him, New York Times (Sept. 30, 2019), https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/30/world/americas/peru-vizcarra-congress.html.

[6] Ryan Dube, Judge Orders Arrest of Former Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo in Odebrecht Bribery Case, Wall Street Journal (Feb. 9, 2017, 11:55 PM EST), https://www.wsj.com/articles/judge-orders-arrest-of-former-peruvian-president-alejandro-toledo-in-odebrecht-bribery-case-1486698137?mg=id-wsj.

[7] Ursula Scollo and Luc Cohen, Peru judge orders jail for governor suspected in Odebrecht case, Thomson Reuters (Apr. 9, 2017, 2:43 PM), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-corruption-idUSKBN17B0XJ.

[8] See Armario, supra note 4.

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] Id.

[13] Id.

[14] Id.

[15] Mitra Taj, Peru's VP resigns post and role as 'interim president,' calls for new general elections, Thomson Reuters (Oct. 1, 2019, 11:04 PM), https://www.reuters.com/article/us-peru-politics-araoz/perus-vp-resigns-post-and-role-as-interim-president-calls-for-new-general-elections-idUSKBN1WH06Q.

[16] See Armario, supra note 4.

[17] See Const. (1993), art. 134 (Peru).

[18] See Armario, supra note 4.

[19] Id.

[20] Id.

[21] Id.

[22] Christine Armario, Peru plunges into political crisis, bringing dark days for a dynasty, Associated Press (Oct. 4, 2019, 5:59 PM, EDT), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/peru-plunges-into-political-crisis-bringing-dark-days-for-a-dynasty.

[23] John Quigley, Harvard-Trained Alva Becomes Finance Chief in New Peru Cabinet, Bloomberg (Oct. 3, 2019, 12:49 PM, EDT), https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-03/peru-promotes-budget-chief-to-post-of-finance-minister.

[24] See Armario, supra note 4; see Kurmanaev, supra note 5.

[25] See Armario, supra note 4.

[26] See Armario, supra note 22.

[27] Id.; Peru: Executive Branch calls legislative elections for Jan 26, 2020, Editora Perú (Oct. 1, 2019, 15:01), https://andina.pe/Ingles/noticia-peru-executive-branch-calls-legislative-elections-for-jan-26-2020-768362.aspx.

[28] See Armario, supra note 4.

[29] Id.

[30] Id.