US academics ask that Alejandro Toledo not be extradited for "humanitarian" reasons

Four American academics addressed a letter to the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, asking him to back down on the decision to extradite the former president to Peru Alexander Toledo for “humanitarian” reasons.

The people are Martin Carnoy, William L. Clayton and Francis Fukuyama, professors at Stanford University, where Toledo also taught; and Steven Levitsky, a professor at Harvard University, who on several occasions has appeared in the Peruvian media to talk about the political reality of the country.

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“As political and social analysts with decades of experience studying Peruvian politics, and democracy more broadly, we write to you with the urgency of suspending the recent State Department decision to extradite former President Alejandro Toledo to Peru. Regarding any legal argument for extradition, we believe that there are human rights and humanitarian considerations that must, in line with our democratic values, be prioritized this time,” they indicate in the March 2 letter to which he agreed. Peru21.

Along these lines, they indicate that there are no guarantees that the 77-year-old ex-president will have an adequate judicial process in Peru due to the instability that exists in the country.

“Political institutions are highly unstable and without legitimacy, and their justice institutions have been corrupted and severely politicized. Politically and socially the country is deeply polarized. One element of polarization is the deep racial division between Peruvians of indigenous origin and those of European descent,” they argued.

The academics do not mention that the former head of state is accused of receiving US$35 million in bribes from Odebrecht in exchange for granting the Brazilian company the construction of the South Interoceanic highway.

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“It is necessary to consider the contributions of Mr. Toledo to ensure that democracy is maintained in Peru. He not only risked his life to overthrow a dictatorship and return Peru to democracy, but as president he respected democracy and human rights ”, they indicated.

“We believe that extraditing someone with those democratic credentials to a country on the path to authoritarianism or anarchism is not a good way to demonstrate our commitment to democracy and human rights,” they added.

Among the people who support the ex-governor, two of them paid large sums of money for him to be released on bail in the US: Martin Carnoy paid $125,000 and Larry Diamond paid $50,000.