Could the AMPE presidency fall into the hands of Peru Libre today?

Today, February 9, the elections are held to elect the next president of the Association of Municipalities of Peru (AMPE) for the period 2023-2026. Five mayors from different regions of the country are participating as candidates, among them the provincial mayor of Huancayo, Dennys Cuba Rivera, who at the beginning of this year was harshly questioned for appointing officials to positions of trust who until December 30, 2022 worked in the government of Peru Libre with Fernando Orihuela Rojas and Vladimir Cerron Rojas.

Supporters of Perú Libre such as Silvia Carmen Ticze Huamán, who worked in the regional office of Legal Advice of the Regional Government of Junín (GRJ) and who is currently head of the Human Resources sub-management of the municipality of Huancayo, and Noemí Esther León Vivas, at the head of the Legal Advice office in the same municipality, they clearly demonstrate the rapprochement that the government of Cuba Rivera would have with characters from Vladimir Cerrón’s party.

The mayor of Huancayo has denied on several occasions that there is a rapprochement between the Junín Sierra y Selva regional movement –which he resigned– and Perú Libre, but the permanence of such officials in positions of trust belies his version.

LOOK: New sentence prevents Vladimir Cerrón from running

“We have several officials who have worked in positions of trust with Peru Libre and are now in the municipality. That is why we have requested all the CVs to see if they meet the requirements or not. There is a commission that is evaluating all this and very soon we are going to make it known because that is our job,” Fiorella Fabián Gonzales, councilor of the Provincial Municipality of Huancayo (MPH), told Peru 21.

Fabián, who is from the Junín Renace regional movement, has also lamented the little progress of the municipality and has criticized the carelessness of Dennys Cuba. “Unfortunately the municipality of Huancayo has been working automatically. Only 0.2% of the budget has been invested in works and the mayor’s commitment is to work 100% for Huancayo starting Monday, that is, when his campaign towards AMPE ends. The little progress is also due to the liabilities that we are carrying from the previous government”, he pointed out.

Fiorella Fabián Gonzales, councilor of the Provincial Municipality of Huancayo (MPH)

WHAT DOES CUBA WANT?

In interviews with local media, Cuba Rivera has indicated that if he reaches AMPE he will seek to decentralize the budget in an equitable manner for the most remote municipalities in the country and that a project of the same central government is also executed in each district and province.

Cuba assures that local governments are only assigned 11% of the national budget while the central government keeps 71% and 18% goes to regional governments. “We are going to promote the decentralization of the national budget towards local governments in the area of investments”, he explains.

It also maintains that if it achieves its objective, it will ask Congress for the active participation of the mayors in the Budget Commission in the stage of approval of the national budget. “Currently, only the Budget Commission of Congress and the representative of the regional governments are the basis. We as mayors have to base, comment on and prioritize the budget because we know our reality”, he indicates.

For the political consultant Robert Villalba Fraga, the candidacy of Cuba Rivera does not meet the expectations in these elections among his colleagues. He considers that before thinking about a candidacy in the AMPE, the mayor of Huancayo had to reach consensus to have legitimacy in the population because his victory as mayor was only 27.4% “which means that only three out of ten people have supported his candidacy.”

“Good players are known in the first touches. The unpopularity of Dennys Cuba is going to take its toll on him because from day one he had to attend to the basic needs of the population and not think about his personal concerns. As a personal and political image, he is beneficial and I do not think he will help Huancayo much if he is elected, ”he told this newspaper.

Councilor Fiorella Fabián warned that the burgomaster began his campaign for AMPE since last year by visiting different regions and provinces of the country.