Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen
Rural Teacher Elected President in Peru While the Right Claims Fraud.
It’s a rich country full of poor people. With his teaching pencil as a symbol, from the countryside Pedro Castillo is the winner of the very tight but certified free and fair June 6th presidential election. The candidate of the wealthy far right Keiko Fujimori claims fraud. Her father, former president Alberto Fujimori, is accused of crimes against humanity. As with so many other right wingers, Fujimori waged a campaign of fear, calling Castillo a communist. But Castillo is actually a humble teacher from neglected rural Peru, a non-doctrinaire leftist with an accomplished team of policy experts ready to go to work. Why should the majority be so poor and lack access to basic needs in a country so rich with wealth and resources? Our guest Medea Benjamin of CODEPINK just returned from Peru and explains the importance of this election.