The psychoanalyst Jorge Bruce believes that there is some hope for the country because the new president, Dina Boluarte has a better sense of reality than Pedro Castillo. He argues that Boluarte must appoint a cabinet that gives confidence, but that if he has a good government, the Congress it will probably return to hostility against the Executive.
—You noticed a loss of sense of reality in Castillo. What is it referring to?
—In his speech, he impressed me as someone who did not realize in what reality he moved. He spoke as if he had control of the armed forces, political forces, popular sectors. It seemed obvious to me that all this was unreal, that it did not exist, that neither the armed forces nor the political forces nor the popular masses were supporting it to that extent. I don’t understand how he believed it. That impression he gave me not only because of what he said but also because of how he said them: nervous, the paper trembled, his voice was uncertain… It was clear to me that he was speaking in a parallel universe, that it only existed in the mind of the.
“Does power generate this in some kind of personality?”
-Yes. Power is capable of promoting omnipotent and also desperate responses. Salatiel Marrufo was telling fires, without evidence, but if they were true, they would have terrified him. It was the speech of someone cornered. While Alan García, being cornered, killed himself, Castillo self-destructed.
—Did you feel stripped before Marrufo’s statements?
—I think they were the trigger for something that had been accumulating, the final blow. So, he rushes in and self-destructs because, according to Cerronthere were no votes for the vacancy.
—And gave Congress a valid cause to be vacated.
“He gave Congress a way to get him… liquidated…”
– He self-emptied.
– He self-emptied. That is also what power does: it obscures, confuses, makes one believe invulnerable or drives mad, despairs. And Castillo never had the mettle for the position, it was too big for him. That was seen from day one.
—And if you thought that the votes were already there and Cerrón’s endorsement announcement was a trap?
“He may have thought it was a trap, but he behaved like someone cornered.” Hence the simile with Garcia. The Castillo thing was a symbolic suicide, because from there he planned to go to the Mexican embassy.
“He got stuck in Wilson’s traffic, like a symbol of how crazy his government was.
—And of the Peruvian informality. He came as a representative of popular sectors like no president before, due to his origin, social level… He has maintained a high level of support, but it was representativeness.
—A question of identity.
—Only identity because he did nothing for those people, nor did he get them a subscription. Your degree of corruption it was matched only by his degree of incompetence. And political incompetence, as you can see…
—Aníbal Torres and Betssy Chávez have been with him. Not only he lives in a parallel reality but they too?
“I would wager that they have been part of this plot and have also encouraged him to plunge into this one into the abyss.” That’s why you brought them, right? They were his striking force.
—Is it a collective delusion, of a group? How to interpret that?
—It is difficult to analyze, but she is a 32-year-old girl and he is no longer for these things. Torres has given several signs of inappropriate behavior, plus her impulses, lack of control, her insults. If those two are his advisers… And that doesn’t make him irresponsible. If they tell me: “just send it” and I do it, it is my responsibility. I think that happened.
—They allege that it was just a speech, that there was no coup…
—This has been a constant throughout this sad government: denying reality. Those words were orders, and the orders became acts. Fortunately, his orders were not obeyed by the armed forces, but his orders are lapidarily clear and denying that is like covering the sun with a finger.
—He must have thought or someone told him that some military level would listen to him, that sympathizers would mobilize…
-Can be. If you were lied to or not lied to, that does not take away your responsibility. They could have told him: “don’t worry, when you issue the order, the armed forces will comply with it because you say so.” This supports the sense that reality was not being taken into account, which he thought would cause reality to change.
—Although before there were resignations that makes us think of an attempt that aroused rejection.
He jumped into the void without a parachute. It is the end that corresponds to a government so messed up and incredibly incompetent and corrupt. This combination of incompetence and corruption had not seen. It is very sad because many who saw themselves represented in it must be feeling very bad.
—They said: “they are merciless with him, it was not like that in other governments”.
And he played the victim role well. The outcome of it is the only one likely that there could be for a government that it was not capable of understanding the responsibility that it had assumed. Probably this disconnection from reality was always there. He did not give interviews, he did not read newspapers, he became completely isolated. I hope that Boluarte puts together a solvent government…
“What should you do?”
—A solvent government of capable people. The broad-based thing sounds like a deal to me. It better be wide competition.
—There does not seem to be this problem of being out of the sense of reality.
“No, she has a better sense of reality than her predecessor.
How do you see Congress?
—If Boluarte makes a government that works well, the reflector turns to the Congress and it is dramatically evident. So they will do something to torpedo the government. However, let’s not be so pessimistic, we are better than yesterday.
