Living in Peru : your everyday companion

García is reluctant to speak about the separation from his wife Pilar Nores, but willing to talk about any other subject concerning Peru or his government. (Photo: Gotka Lejarcegi/El País)

Peru’s president Alan García describes himself as “the son of a political prisoner that wants his father’s party to go down in history.” At 62 years of age, he carries on his back being responsible for the most catastrophic government in Peru’s history (1985-1990) and nowadays leading the country with the highest economic growth in the world.

He is proud to sustain that during his administration, poverty has declined, the economy has grown, and the justice system has taken the Sánchez Paredes family to trial. García is also willing to admit his flaws and responsibility in the Bagua killings or the presence of Shining Path allied to the drug barons in the VRAE zone. Self assured and well spoken, Peru’s president doesn’t hesitate to confirm he might run for president, once again, in 2016.

This is an abridged version of an interview with a political and controversial character, but also with a reflexive man for how history will look upon him.


Interview by Milagros Leiva for El Comercio
Translated and edited by Jorge Riveros-Cayo

I imagine that you smiled when you saw the eleven candidates because if you would have been there [in the debate] you would have wiped them all.

I don’t have that arrogance, but I’m satisfied because democracy is steadier in the country. There were coincidences and it seems that the economic and social pathway in education and health is clearer.

García's sympathizers criticize him saying he has changed from being a "lefty revolutionary" in the eighties to a "right-wing neoliberal" during his second term. (Cartoon: Carlín/La República)

Your critics say you’re not the man from Apra that you used to be, that you now rule for the rich.

If I reach the end of my administration without having reduced poverty, I would say I was wrong. To rule for the poor, as Den Xiao Ping would have said, is the objective. Now, the color of the cat is meaningless as long as it hunts down mice.

Was Crousillat’s pardon a message to threaten the media?

Absolutely not. I have granted pardons to six thousand people, because I consider that beyond the sentence that these people have received, the situation in the jails is a double penalty. We are helping some people and when there is people older than 70 years and they argument to be sick, I am a man that believes and have a heart.

So Crousillat swindled you?

I think so. He had a challenging attitude, very provoking.

Bagua is the scar of your government.

The ideal thing would be to make a government were nobody dies. But there are 1,800 days of administration and 30 million people, and there are people resisting to follow the law. What really hurt me in Bagua was the premeditated crime against the police. I admit my fault. Negotiations lasted 55 days. That was a mistake.

Why did you called the Amazon Peruvians second class citizens?

García with his wife Pilar Nores - when they were still together - and five of his six children. From left to right: Alan Raúl, Gabriela, Luciana, Josefina, and Carla. (Photo: Internet)

What I said was, “Peru belongs to all Peruvians and the Amazon belongs to all Peruvians, not only to those that live in it, because then, we would be second class citizens.” What I said was distorted as if I was referring to members of the native communities. I am not an idiot or a ruthless person.

Is Del Castillo the dark side of your administration?

Del Castillo was an excellent prime minister and a good presidential candidate. He would have had a good performance in this campaign, but, as we talked about it, he made a mistake, he screwed it up. Since the first day in the Council of Ministers I warned my cabinet about the people with whom I wouldn’t like to see them. I don’t have any evidence that Jorge [del Castillo] has been in some conspiracy. But you know the saying, “Caesar’s wife must be above suspicion.”

If you believe in that saying, why didn’t you ask Del Castillo to quit when Mercedes Aráoz said she didn’t want congressional candidates stained with accusations?

Quote García: "If I reach the end of my administration without having reduced poverty, I would say I was wrong." "Peru and the Amazon belongs to all Peruvians, not only to those that live in it, because then, we would be second class citizens." "I rather eat rachi soup, which I think is the tastiest dish in the world, instead of canard a l’orange in a top end restaurant." "I don’t need anybody to defend me; I can defend myself. And if a judge tells me I should go to jail, I’ll say, let’s go." "As a human being, I’m afraid of failure; that is the truth. I’m not afraid of death because I am a profound believer in God." "I am the son of a political prisoner that wants his father’s party to go down in history. Despite its members, it will."

My fundamental role is to be president. Unlike what many analysts say, I don’t use Apra as an instrument. The party is autonomous.

And why don’t you accept that Castañeda is your favorite candidate?

I’m Castañeda’s friend, I know him since 1965; we formed a political group in the Catholic University called Independent Generational Movement (Movimiento Generacional Independiente) and defeated the Christian Democrats, that’s how we took over the Liberal Arts Federated Center.

If you won with Castañeda at 15, now you could do the same for sure.

No. There was always a bad interpretation of things. There were never insults between us; he has always been an excellent neighbor as Lima’s mayor.

Castañeda didn’t talk very highly about you, at least that’s what the WikLeaks cable says. [Editor's note: Castañeda is quoted in a cable to have said that García is a "snake oil salesman with a tired message whose day has passed."]

Well, he used the expression “snake oil” and he refers to the way of communicating and persuading.

Are you defending him?

But if you ask me about PPK I will defend him too.

Would you defend Toledo too?

I think he has done good things. Alejandro thinks I don’t like him, but I do.

And Keiko?

Don’t forget that I was the person that most suffered under Fujimori’s regime. Nobody had their house assaulted; nobody was persecuted by the police during ten years. I lost ten years of my life, but that’s how it is, I’m not complaining.

Presidnet García at the White House with U.S. president George W. Bush. (Photo: Reuters)

When you returned to Peru you said you will never forgive Fujimori for not letting you come back to bury your father.

It hurt a lot but the saying goes “mortal, don’t make your hatred immortal.” One can’t live permanently with rancor.

Will you run again for president in 2016?

The honor of representing your country… there is no riches in the world that can compare to that. 

Will you stay in Peru?

Where am I going to go? They already threw me out ten years. Believe it or not, I rather eat rachi soup, which I think is the tastiest dish in the world, instead of canard a l’orange in a top end restaurant. I like Peruvian food, such as cuy. Peru has such an opportunity that it is now when we have to do things or we will be idiots for centuries. Otherwise, we will go through the same situation when we had guano [bird droppings] and the war with Chile.

So we better take off now or never...

It is now or in a century.

If Keiko or somebody from her family asks you to grant a pardon for Fujimori, what would you do?

That is a matter that has to be analyzed by a very scrupulous medical commission, especially after what
happened with Crousillat. Only if he had a terrible illness would I consider it; I resist to becoming a cruel jail keeper.

I have interviewed many Fujimori sympathizers and they say tha if Fujimori was taken to trial, Belaunde and García should have been taken too, especially for the Frontón case.

I have never said no to a subpoena; never in democracy. They can strip me, I don’t need anybody to defend me; I can defend myself. And if a judge tells me I should go to jail, I’ll say, let’s go. What’s my problem? I’ll keep talking and defending myself.

There is a phantom that hasn’t disappeared and that is terrorism.

It has. I am not a triumphalist but remember one thing. Now there are 150 armed men in the Huallaga valley and around 200 or 300 armed men in the VRAE.

There shouldn’t be one armed man, mister president.

Sure, but the VRAE is our Vietnam. Unless we want many soldiers to die, that jungle region is very difficult.

Chilean president Senastián Piñera, during his visit to Peru in 2010, which generated a wave of criticism from his political opponents.  (Photo: Andina)

Who is Alan García?

I am the son of a political prisoner that wants his father’s party to go down in history. And I think that despite the problems and scandals, despite th Apra members themselves, the party will go down in history; remember that.

Is it exaggerated to affirm that we are on the road to becoming a narco-state?

A narco-state exists when the basic powers are seized by lobbies. That, thank God, has not happened in our country. We do have coca farmer representatives in Congress – that is the beginning of the chain – but we don’t have representatives as Pablo Escobar had in Colombia, who blocked laws and extraditions.

But the tentacles of drug trafficking are in the political terrain…

They are in society. For a long time nobody dealt with drug trafficking and the worst part is that all the money was laundered and built into companies and buildings. What we did was to pass a law against money laundering and take to court the biggest organization in the country; that has been the way to deal with the problem. But to defend ourselves from becoming a narco-state, we also have the free press that can unmask, sometimes unfairly, but that is a risk that has to be taken. Luckily in Peru we don’t have big capos or cartels.

We have the Sánchez Paredes family…

It is probably the group with the biggest amount of money that presumably comes from drugs. And it is true that incident that happened during the last day of my campaign, when I didn’t have a cent to come back to Lima for the closing campaign meeting. I was in Puno and, during a moment of desperation, they called our fellow comrade Abanto, who already explained that he requested five thousand soles, but with that amount you can’t buy Alan García’s conscience, neither with five million.

But how could that happen knowing about the Sánchez Paredes’s reputation?

That’s what they say, but I also would ask to those that were in the government before me. Who took the family to court? Who passed the law against money laundering? The Sánchez Paredes were innocent until my administration took them to trial.

What do you think of the photo published by Caretas where Toledo and the Sánchez Paredes appear together?

I don’t have any conclusions. Alejandro said the photo came out of Government Palace, how silly, as if I had five hundred paparazzi. That is part of the campaign and it is another political license to say I persecute him.

García has suggested he would run for president again in 2016. Toledo, especially, has criticized his interference in the current presidential campaign. (Cartoon: Carlín/La República)

Toledo also said that Nava – Government Palace’s secretary – is behind the whisky accusation.

That’s nonsense, the old story that comes from 2006. That is why I signed a decree so public entities can’t acquire liquor with state money, with the exception of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and state visits.

Do you buy liquor for the Government Palace?

No.

What if an entrepreneur or a politician comes to visit you?

I’ll buy it with my money.

Then you have lots of money…

No. We don’t drink whisky here, just pisco or wine. Pisco producers know we don’t buy so that is why I publicly ask them to send us.

Do you think that Toledo did lavish spending of liquor?

I’m not going to comment on that because we are 35 days away from election day.

Personally, what are you afraid of?

As a human being, I’m afraid of failure; that is the truth. I’m not afraid of death because I am a profound believer in God, I believe in a life after death. I think I will see my father. I believe in the transcendence of the spirit.


Read the full interview in Spanish at elcomercio.pe.

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5 Comments

# Charlie Payne says :
9 March, 2011 [ 04:10 ]

Peru is very fortunate to have had a president like Alan Garcia during his term of office. Under Mr. Garcia, Peru has become a highly respected member of the international community. He will be missed when he retires from the Presidency.

# Richy Rich says :
10 March, 2011 [ 05:18 ]

Ignorance is bliss..... The young people of Peru do not know or remember what hapened in Peru from 1985 - 1990. Alan Garcia is a joke and one of the biggest thieves who have been Peruvian Presidents. The economy is now great not only due to Peru's richness in natural resources bu to what Alejandro Toledo (yes Alejandro Toledo and PPK) didbefore he left the country. Most Americans and Europeans (and I'm talking about affluent people who invest) want Alejandro Toledo to be President again because he knows how to make Peru grow. Yes, he may sell the entire country but tourism and exploitation of resources will have a ripple-effect and make the entire economy grow. 

# Adela de la Colina says :
10 March, 2011 [ 09:20 ]

According to my personal experience, Alejandro Toledo and Alan García forg to put order in our country. They ruled to become a recognized country all over the world,  but didn't care to educate our people to respect the laws.  Our police officers don't know how to make the people respect them, because they are at the same situation as the population, they ignore them.
Unfortunately, nobody has ever done anything to put order in our Country, since Velazco everything is upside down, and you can see it in our traffic, our Hospitals, our schools. It is simple, as we are obliged to vote, it's better to keep our people ignorant in order to manipulate their vote.
I really hope that somebody as PPK reaches the  Presidency of Perú, because I believe that he could do the necessary corrections to guide us into a new way of living, where we respect our neighbor and follow the laws.

# coc says :
10 March, 2011 [ 04:24 ]

Go od report,but I don't belive nothing a alan all apristas  are equal ,inmorals and lyers ,the jail is waiting to them

# JL says :
11 March, 2011 [ 09:29 ]

Give credit to Garcia. He was horrible his first term and left Peru in shambles. Under his second term things are faring better, but there is still room for more improvement. Remember that Fujimori's administration (despite the not so good things later in his term) brought inflation down and worked hard to get rid of terrorists so no more blood tainted out streets. If you think about it, the latter accomplishment was crucial to putting Peru in a positive light. Would investors be interested in doing business with the Shining Path 's violent attacks all over Peru? Absolutely NOT! By ridding the country of terrorists, Peruvians were given peace and it paved the way for economic growth. As for Toledo's administration, things didn't get exponentially worse. That administration simply tried to continue the growth trend that was sparking investor interests. Toledo did have his probelms as well (selling peruvian resources, helping the upper class get richer, the poor not benefitting from growth, poor distribution from new wealth, family scandals, Zarai, etc.). The economy overall did not get worse, but it was all not because of Toledo (he wants to take all the credit and never gives the previous administration any even though they practically planted the seeds of growth) it was because of a very skilled economist named PPK! Toledo's smartest move in 5 years was hiring PPK. Toledo is running again, but without PPK by his side it looks a bit worrisome.

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