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The Pacification of Peru and the Production of a Neoliberal Populist Order
Abstract
This article analyses the security, governance and economic reforms carried out by Fujimori in the 1990s as strategies of pacification seeking to restore a capitalist social order disturbed by the economic and social turmoil of the 1970s and 1980s. First, I show how different forms of state violence were intrinsically connected to the pacification process. Then, I argue that the social order produced resulted from the articulation of populism and authoritarianism with neoliberalism. Subsequently, I contend that crimes, harms and violence continue within the current democratic configuration precisely because pacification is an ongoing process seeking to maintain an order which is intrinsically exploitative, creates favourable conditions for economic crimes and corruption and resorts to repressive violence when challenged. I conclude by suggesting that the social, political and economic landscapes that provided the impetus for pacification have been transformed through the new social order, further weakening already frail democratic institutions.
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Sendero Luminoso is a Maoist organization founded in the late 1960s by Abimael Guzmán Reynoso. It was considered to be the largest and strongest of the insurgent organizations. The leadership was arrested in 1992 and in 1993 admitted defeat, called for a cease fire and requested peace talks. Although Sendero Luminoso remains active today, by 1994 it had no longer any significant military power or popular support ( CVR 2003).
MRTA (Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement) was born from the merger of a few leftist organizations (mainly of a Guevarist tradition). The leadership was arrested on 9 June 1992. The few remaining active members of the organization were killed in 1997 when the military entered the Japanese embassy to liberate the 72 hostages held by the MRTA for over four months.
Estimates range between 61,007 and 77,552 deaths ( CVR 2003).
The economy shrank 25% between 1988 and 1990 ( Roberts 1995).
1,722% in 1988 and 2,775% in 1989 ( Kenny 2004)
Vargas Llosa's political involvement started as a response to García's nationalization of banking institutions. Centre and centre-right political parties with the support of the economic, social and political elite created an alliance FREDEMO (Democratic Front) in 1988 and put him forth as their candidate.
In 1991, Fujimori decreed 120 new laws targeting the economy and national security ( Mauceri 1996).
Montesinos is an ex-army captain dishonourably discharged for drug trafficking and selling state secrets to the United States. Prior to becoming Fujimori's advisor, Montesinos was a lawyer specialized in defending drug traffickers and police officers charged with corruption and human rights violations ( Jara 2003).
Between 1990 and 2000, a minimum 272,028 women and 22.004 men (mostly poor indigenous and living in rural areas) were forcibly sterilized or sterilized without their knowledge as part of a population growth control policy.
According to Congreso de la República ( 2003), there were 586 registered disappearances between July 1990 and April 1993 compared with 283 during the 5 years of García's administration.
As Neocleous ( 2008) points out emergency powers tend to be turned against oppositional labour movements and radical political organizations.
Montesinos put in place a vast surveillance operation targeting political opponents and government employees (Congreso de la República 2003).
Over 3,000 videos have been found ( Cameron 2006).
Between 1993 and 2000, 1,003 urgent decrees were passed ( Schulte-Bockholt 2013).
Since then, Montesinos, Fujimori and General Hermoza have been found guilty of economic crimes and human rights violations.
Fujimori privatized almost 90% of over 300 state-owned companies from strategic sectors such as mining, oil, electricity and telecommunication ( Duvillier 2016).
Union membership dropped from 20% to between 3% and 4% ( Loayza 2011).
Almost 1.2 million employees in the public and private sector were either fired or forced to quit ( Duvillier 2016).
The sale of state-owned enterprises generated 9.221 billion USD but only 6.993 billion entered the public treasury ( Schulte-Bockholt 2013).
1.8 billion dollars were awarded to an arms contractor for weapons that malfunctioned or didn't work at all.
Of 102 heads of state since 1821, 56 were military ( Krujit and del Pilar Tello 2003)
Following Fujimori's model, political parties or alliances are created or renamed for each new election. Those elected tend not to have any prior political experience: neither Toledo (2001–2006) nor Humala (2011–2016) had held office before being elected President and only 12% of the 2016 Congress were incumbents ( Vergara and Encinas 2016).
Toledo is also symbolic of the neoliberal “self-made man”. He started off as a shoeshine boy and ended up with a PhD in economics from Stanford and professional connections to Harvard and the World Bank.
An arrest warrant has been issued against Toledo for corruption. García and Humala are also being investigated for corruption and economic crimes.
While in 2004 13% of indigenous communities' territory was given in concession to gas and petroleum companies, by the end of 2008, it had been increased to 70% ( Pinto 2009)
Mining investment went from 200 million in 1993 to 1.5 billion in 200 and 5 billion in 2010 ( Gordon and Webber 2016).
Violence, fraud and predation are ongoing, continuous and persistent predatory practices of capital ( Harvey 2004).