Seen from a distance, the affair in Puno was the beginning of the end of the presidential candidacy of Phillip Butters, the former Avanza País candidate. Considering that this is not the first time that a candidate has received a stone in the head, it is worth analyzing the reason for the resignation. At the start of the second round of 2006, Ollanta Humala was greeted with stones in Trujillo. A politicized reception in times of APRA’s ‘solid north’ and few cell phones with cameras. A look at the newspaper archive confirms that there were incidents in almost all presidential events. Perhaps the first electoral stone was in 1963, when Fernando Belaunde received a stone in the face while on tour in Cusco. According to legend, Belaunde asked not to pursue the attackers. And he exclaimed: “What are a few drops of blood in this square where Túpac Amaru was torn to pieces.” That year Belaunde won the presidency. Why didn’t victimization work for Butters? Beyond the personal qualities, perhaps the difference was that there was no gesture. FBT bled and forgave. A quota of blood to atone for sins (of omission). A Christian sacrifice in an area as forgotten as it is a believer. There are other factors. Butters arrived in Puno without prior coordination and entered the lion’s den, the La Decana radio station, related to the left-handed militant Alberto Quintanilla. After the incident, party sources say that two more interviews were coordinated to even the score. But the then candidate refused and withdrew from Puno. Internal troubles and the financing problem ended up hitting the candidacy. In that sense, the Puno affair was a stone in the eye of a one-eyed man. That is, a timely way out to resign.
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