Tragi-comic farce

Peru

Jan 6th 2005 LIMA
From The Economist print edition

Small rebellion, big questions

ON NEW YEAR'S DAY in 1994, Sub-Comandante Marcos, the leader of the Zapatista movement, led a surprise uprising in southern Mexico that prompted headlines around the world and shook his country's ruling party. If Antauro Humala, a retired Peruvian army major, hoped to repeat Marcos's feat, he was deluded. On January 1st, with some 150 armed followers, Mr Humala seized the police station in Andahuaylas, a small town deep in Peru's southern Andes, taking 17 hostages. He called on Alejandro Toledo, Peru's democratic president, to resign. The rebellion was all over after three days of tragi-comic farce, in which four policemen and two rebels were killed. Mr Humala was arrested after talks with a government emissary; his followers gave up the next day.

Mr Toledo dismissed the incident as the work of a “terrorist-fascist” movement funded by drug money. Mr Humala will face terrorism charges. Yet his antics invite some questions. He heads an ultra-nationalist movement which calls for state ownership of strategic industries, freedom to grow and sell coca (used to make cocaine), and the death penalty for corrupt officials. Together with his brother, also an army officer before being ordered to retire last month, he staged a brief military rebellion shortly before Alberto Fujimori, Peru's authoritarian president from 1990-2000, fled to Japan. Although they are mestizos (of mixed blood), their movement plays on Peru's Andean Indian cultural heritage. It has fascist overtones: many of their followers are former army conscripts. Mr Humala claims to have organised some 3,000 “reservists” in “battalions”.

How did Mr Humala manage to mobilise 150 people two days before the uprising without the government noticing? The Interior Ministry in May had asked for a judicial probe of the Humala movement, but the attorney-general's office did not act. Officials had received information that the movement was stockpiling arms—but the reorganised and still ineffectual intelligence services failed to follow this up.

The Andahuaylas incident forms part of a broader pattern of lawlessness in parts of Peru. Ironically, the country is doing well in many ways. The economy has grown at a steady 4% for more than three years. Growth is finally starting to reach people's pockets. But Mr Toledo has gained no credit. He is deeply unpopular. Both his sister and his former lawyer face corruption investigations.

With a presidential election due in April 2006, Peru faces a turbulent 15 months, as would-be politicians stage street protests to gain attention. An absurd electoral law inherited from Mr Fujimori means that parties can only take part if they have official registration, for which they must gather 120,000 signatures. That is an obstacle to the democratic political renewal that so many Peruvians crave. Fortunately, most abhor political violence, having suffered much from 1980-92. But Peru urgently needs firm, clean and competent government.

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