The specialist warns about the lack of the Rule of Law, the lack of managerial capacity and the impact of populist proposals
What are the potentialities of Arequipa for business development? Arequipa has a geographical location that should be exploited intelligently, in the sense of becoming the capital of the southern cone, Arequipa can expand to Moquegua, Tacna, Iquique (in Chile) and have a presence in the south, as well as in the north take Cusco, to Bolivia and northern Argentina. With the flights that there were from Arequipa to Chile before the pandemic, Arequipa can become the capital of the south.
What are the advantages of Arequipa? First tourism, the second is that it is in the energy triangle of lithium, gold, copper, zinc. That, if one has a coherent policy, we have enormous economic power. So we need the slow recovery of tourism, a return to the world of business, of technified agribusiness, mixed businesses in the southern zone and mining. But we have to do things by ourselves, because we have no support from governments.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office there are 200 social conflicts in Peru, 70% are socio-environmental, what is happening from the private sector and the population? There was an increase due to the demagogic irrationality that we live. We are living in a populist world, where a group of 300 to 400 community members are opposed and ask that they be given 5 billion, if they do not close Las Bambas. The government cannot allow a minister who is going to close the mines. So we have to recover the rule of law, they cannot allow the blocking of roads, let food rot and poor people become poorer, they cannot promote violence with violence.
Is there a bad negotiation between the Government, the company and the population? There is conflict in Las Bambas. The negotiation is very poorly managed, because if you have a gigantic company of the strongest investor that exists in Peru, which is the Chinese, you are fighting with your market… What you have to do is form a team, not a dialogue table , you have to say why you ask for what you ask for, but now there are no solutions, only hollow speeches and that is why this happens.
What is the responsibility of the company? In the conflict zone, an erroneous practice has been established that the State disappears and tells the company, now you are the State, you build the highway, the square, that is the role of the State. The problem is that in Peru there is an absence of the State, of the institutions and when there is money they return it due to lack of managerial capacity.
PROFILE. He studied law at the Catholic University of Peru. He holds a Master of Laws from Harvard University. He is a professor in the Esan master’s program and at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.
