Has APRA distanced itself from the people?
As a self-criticism, the party has not modernized itself organizationally to absorb the new challenges of a world with a digital environment and the impact of artificial intelligence. There are new social segments that demand new challenges in political representation. We have not moved to the extreme left or the extreme right, because we lifted 5 million Peruvians out of poverty.
Is the left democratic?
We are a democratic left party because, in general terms, the economy grew 7.5%. And all of that has had an impact on lower-income people. When Vizcarra promotes a supposed forced renewal, preventing the re-election of parliamentarians and closing Congress, he gives us the JNJ and this Parliament, where unscrupulous people have made Congress a totally delegitimized institution. The current scandals have not been seen in the last 20 years. Furthermore, since we left the government, it seems like a sleepy or frozen country. I’ll put it in a figure for you. We reduced poverty from 55.2% to 27.6%. More than 20 points, a historical record recognized by the World Bank. 15 years have passed, the budget of the Republic has multiplied by five and poverty remains there, immovable. There are 1,870,000 extremely poor people. The moral imperative of APRA in his third government is to end not only monetary poverty, but structural poverty, extreme poverty.
It promises to grow again 7.5%. Is it possible? The terms of trade have improved.
Yes, it is absolutely possible. I put it like this. In 2011, we left the ounce of gold at US$820. Today it costs US$4,050. It is not true that the government operated on autopilot, much less that it was only the benefits of commodity prices. We have left, between the Minsa and Essalud, 35 hospitals. There are the hospitals in sight. Essalud installed 100 basic care units. They have all been closed. The first conclusion on the issue of health is that, in the last 15 years, a command of annihilation has destroyed health in the country. And that annihilation command is headed by the Alliance for Progress (APP). They have taken over the Ministry of Health and Essalud.
It has been a co-government with Dina Boluarte.
Not co-government: a government. Alliance for Progress, Fuerza Popular, Avanza País and Renovación Popular, Somos Perú and Perú Libre have been the governing party of Mrs. Dina Boluarte. All the political responsibility that Mrs. Dina Boluarte has to assume must be assumed by these parties. These parties renounced a fundamental essence of democracy. What are parliaments for? Parliaments are democratic counterweights for oversight and political control. But Mrs. Dina Boluarte handed over the government to them. If they had a sense of responsibility towards the country, these parties should have sat down and said: “Well, we are going to agree in these three years: we are going to strengthen the issue of health and education.” Or any public policy. The only thing we have seen, shamefully and scandalously, is that the parties that govern the country with Dina Boluarte and now with José Jerí rip up their budgets. That is why we have had, in less than 30 months, eight Ministers of the Economy and six Ministers of the Interior. How can we fight insecurity when we have a high level of turnover in the most sensitive and transcendent decisions of the State? I repeat: APP is the command to annihilate the health of Peruvians. And they are going to pay that bill in the elections.
It hasn’t gone very well for César Acuña in La Libertad either. Will the ‘solid north’ return?
Yes. In the north a citizen demand has already been made: the Acuña never again, APP never again. The only thing I am in a position to tell you is that, modesty aside, in Lambayeque APRA is going to win the elections again. And from there the recovery of the game begins.
Many people value experience, but the great voter usually demands new parties and faces.
He APRAwith the experience he has, can contribute to getting the country out of this stagnation and onto the path of shared prosperity. We have to speak to Peruvians with great serenity, but also firmness. Peru cannot have a leader to lead it by treating certain social sectors violently and competing with a Path that threatens to return from the left. APRA is an experience proposal with a lot of commitment, but with serenity. People want new faces because they are very indignant with the political impostors who demand that they all leave. And a few want to see the renewal only with the birth certificate. In APRA this is not the case: renewal is intergenerational. Peruvians are asking for APRA to return because it is no longer a party of leaders or militants. APRA is a party of the country. We are going to raise awareness and do political pedagogy so that Peruvians know that Pedro Castillo’s adventure was the trigger for anti-politics and political impostors. Congress is captured by educational businesses. By lowering the fence with Vizcarra, 40 supposed parties that are memberships have been generated.
Alan García sold experience in 2016, but he had fewer votes than after his terrible first government.
There are two factors that have not occurred again, that are unprecedented. Mrs. Nadine Heredia, who governed, set up a commission from Congress to demolish the image of Alan García that lasted five years. And the second was our mistake: making an agreement with the PPC. In the first round, APRA has to go alone. In the second government only four or five ministers were APRAs. The rest were the best in the country. That is why the country advanced as it has advanced.
If you reach the government, would some ministers, such as Luis Carranza or Mercedes Aráoz, return?
I think that Luis Carranza, for his management in the MEF, until now has been unsurpassed. Like Julio Velarde, who was appointed by Alan to guarantee the autonomy of the BCR. Velarde had been part of the Lourdes Flores formula.
In the last election, Carranza supported Keiko.
That was because APRA was not there. With the respect that other economists deserve, I believe that there is no one who knows the subject better than Lucho Carranza. And no one who can face the challenges that the economy imposes today like him. And what good luck that you are working with us.
But they say that Carlos Álvarez called him.
No, I just called him. He is going to help us selflessly. He is a qualified Peruvian who gives the guarantee of leading the country to grow again at 5% or 6% in nine months. But it’s not just about growing again. It is another world and another country. Alan’s government was very good, but Javier Velásquez’s government with APRA is going to be better. I have been his student. I do not intend to imitate Alan García. Alan and Haya are undisputed leaders. I have worked with him 15 years. We have to make an infrastructure shock to connect social and economic sectors. In Chancay, resolve the issue of the special economic zone. Our public universities have to be as competitive as private ones. The country’s most important asset is not minerals, but knowledge. May San Marcos be like 50 years ago again.
As? Will they face Sutep again, like Minister José Antonio Chang?
Strengthening universities. It doesn’t seem right to me that with one law this incompetent Congress has created 20 public universities…
There is a political interest. Bridging the gap, APRA promoted the creation of the Villarreal University as the headquarters of the Universidad Comunal del Centro (Huancayo).
That’s how it is. But now it will not be possible to multiply the budget by twenty. What is happening is very serious. And in health I want to reaffirm that APP has been the command to annihilate the health of Peruvians. They are leaving 50 hospitals unbuilt. There are S/44,000 million in paralyzed works. Mr. Jerí is more distracted in his image.
What is the balance of the first month of the government?
He is a transitional president. You don’t have to wait long. It would be an excess to demand more from him. Obviously, she has done something better than Dina Boluarte in the sense of communicating and connecting more with citizens. Basically, you should leave a security and intelligence strategy in place, because we have good human resources.
Will they replicate the GEIN Aprista experience?
You have to make a transformed GEIN. There is no way we cannot defeat organized crime with intelligence and the necessary logistical support. The five-year period of APRA, in addition, has to be that of housing and education. There are almost 1,200,000 Peruvians without housing.
Will he pull his rival Hernán Garrido Lecca?
An APRA government cannot do without Hernán Garrido Lecca and Jorge del Castillo. And a Parliament cannot do without Mauricio Mulder and now also Carla García. Prestige and experience are guaranteed.
What do you think of generation Z?
Unlike some, I agree with the mobilizations of generation Z. It shows the precariousness of these improvised governments that believe that those who are mobilizing are terrorists. For them it is normal to kill a young person every time there is a mobilization. That didn’t happen before. It would be absurd for an APRA leader to question this mobilization when the great changes were achieved in the 20th century, such as the 8-hour day, the uprising against Leguía, who wanted to enthrone the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
“I WANT TO WIN LEGITIMATELY”
Was APRA’s big mistake losing control of the Prosecutor’s Office? From Peláez Bardales.
There was no political control. Peláez Bardales and Gladys Echaíz starred in the best moments of the Public Ministry. Then came the degeneration with an NGO.
Are they going to respect the primaries or are there going to be gunshots and people locked up like before?
That was before. I am not interested in taking the electoral tribunals or the amphorae to twist the will of the electorate. I want to win legitimately.
How do you see Keiko Fujimori’s fourth candidacy?
It has been decapitalized. He has helped dismantle many reforms of the 90s. The country is going to pay the bill. I hope it overcomes the electoral hurdle.
Rafael López Aliaga? Alfonso López Chau?
I don’t believe in people who don’t keep their word. I don’t believe in people who impose things. I also don’t believe in those who speak for APRA with a t-shirt that is not APRA. Just as they use that argument to betray, they can also betray the country’s interests.
Philip Butters?
A Peruvian with a lot of enthusiasm who is going to refresh national politics. We will call it when we are in Government.
“Alan promoted my candidacy. This time they won’t be able to remove me”
Why choose your formula?
We have known how to combine experience with youth. The APRA is a provincial expression that emerged from the sugarcane fields of the north, the center and the south. Our vision of Peru is more holistic. The right of Keiko Fujimori and Renovación Popular are not going to enter the south because they do not have legitimacy. It was seriously irresponsible to kill 50 people. Improvised politicians do not talk, but shoot.
He was a candidate in 2011, before Meche Aráoz.
I took the plunge. There was an agreement. But some colleagues from Lima who are applying opposed it. The senior leadership of the party removed me. I didn’t resent it. But this time, when I’m going to win, they won’t be able to take me out. There will be no rushes.
There will be no Aprista ‘moña’…
I hope some colleagues have matured. These practices, unfortunately, have not been outlawed. It would be irresponsible. Alan encouraged my candidacy. Read page 404 of Metamemories.
And they went down to Meche.
A great professional and friend of the party who was harassed by those who convinced her to be the candidate. I have always said that, when a ship sinks, the faithful of Huamantanga are the ones who try to get it out of that situation.
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