While the country has rejected Castillo, the inequality, political dissatisfaction, societal polarization, and broken party structure which catapulted him into the nation’s highest office persist.
Expanding criminality—in the form of narcotrafficking, illegal mining, logging, and other activities—continues to erode the effectiveness of Peruvian institutions, as well as the faith of the Peruvian people in democratic, market-oriented solutions to their challenges.
The fate of the Castillo experiment also foreshadows what could occur with multiple other governments across the region also undergoing similar political transitions.
Last Monday, at around midnight, President Castillo decreed a state of emergency and total curfew for the province of Lima and the neighboring province of Callao, an area home to nearly 10 million people.
The Castillo government becomes less chaotic when viewed in the context of Peru’s geopolitical needs and constraints.
The collapse of Castillo’s second cabinet is the result of a corruption scandal that involves the National Police and Castillo’s inner circle advisors.
Russia’s posture in Latin America is far more threatening to the U.S. than that of China.
In 2022, the United States will find that after a few initial signs of hope, the hemisphere to which it is intimately bound by ties of geography, commerce, and family is more dangerous, less democratic, less stable, less willing to cooperate, and more engaged than ever with its extra-regional rivals.
Brazilians learned they have a gay governor; LGBTQ acceptance is expanding in some countries; and Chile adopted full marriage equality.
U.S. military role should combine traditional missions in the region with adaptations supporting transparency, rule-of-law, and strengthening partner nation institutions.
