Inequality fuels a rural teacher’s unlikely bid
At a recent rally in Lima, Peru, hundreds jostled to catch a glimpse of Pedro Castillo, the schoolteacher and union organizer who pulled off an upset to make it to the runoff for Peru’s presidency.
Supporters chanted “No more poor people in a rich country,” as they waved an image of Tupac Amaru II, the Indigenous leader who fought against Spanish domination almost 250 years ago and who has inspired revolutionary movements across the region ever since.
Castillo’s jubilant backers can barely believe that the son of illiterate Andean peasants has reached the June 6 secondround vote on a platform that amounts to taking up the historic struggle to liberate the oppressed. Investors are shocked for different reasons, recoiling at the prospect that Castillo and his Free Peru party — founded by a Marxist — seem prepared to tear up decades of marketfriendly consensus.
“He came from nothing and now he’s on the verge of being president,” said Miguel del Castillo, a friend and adviser who’s not related to the candidate. “The Peruvian miracle exists.”
In reality, Castillo’s rise is a consequence of the political upheaval sweeping Latin America as it’s battered by one of the world’s deadliest waves of COVID19 and an economic crisis that has exposed and exacerbated longtime inequalities.
An economic slump of 11% last year focused attention on the fact those gains haven’t been evenly distributed. Perversely, some of the country’s most mineralwealthy provinces — rich with copper, gold, silver and zinc — are also its poorest.
The result has been to accentuate the divide between a wealthier, Spanishspeaking capital and the impoverished countryside, where much of the population speaks the Indigenous Quechua language.
The final polls released over the weekend suggest the race is too close to call, an indication of how polarized the country has become.