Jorge Yamamoto: "You have to work on discrimination"

Jorge Yamamoto makes a diagnosis of the crisis that the country is going through from his specialty: social psychology. When the authorities do not find solutions with political agreements, it is necessary to look further and find factors that play a role but have historically been ignored.

For Yamamoto, the violent demonstrations are sustained by the intervention of criminal organizations, such as illegal mining and drug trafficking, but find a breeding ground in the discrimination that Peruvians suffer on a daily basis.

LOOK: Jorge Yamamoto on protests: “Solving this with dialogue is naive, but it cannot be done with bullets either”

Are the demands of the protests after December 7, 2022 the same today?

There are four groups of protesters. The first has a low interest in progress and civic behavior; they correspond to the group of criminal organizations and gangsters (…). Another group has a very low level of progressivism, it is not interested in the development of Peru or its region, or its immediate environment; They are the ones who attack the ambulances or the ones who block the roads (…). The third group is the one that goes after the destroyers, people who have a moderate-high level of resentment but who do have (as an end) the search for the development of their region and their country (…). And the fourth group is progressive and affluent, they academically endorse the demonstrations and that is how they strengthen the gangsters.

But, specifically, why are people going out to march today?

In the first phase (of the protests), they came up with the narrative of restoring Castillo because the bad guys in the movie are against a humble man ruling the country. In these narratives you have to look for a villain, which in this case is Dina Boluarte (…) but, if Boluarte leaves, they will look for another villain until they manage to entrench themselves in power with a new Constitution, and that is the serious danger: that the destroyers, playing the democratic rules, destroy democracy and no one can get them out.

Why are there more violent protests in the south compared to other areas of Peru?

What should be seen here is where the greatest informal and illegal activity is concentrated, especially smuggling, illegal mining, where there are important drug trafficking interests and where they have networks and logistics, and we are going to see a coincidence in the southern areas of the country, in Andahuaylas, especially in Puno.

And what is the reason for the resentment you refer to?

One of the main factors of resentment is social exclusion, that people feel neglected, marginalized, and it is not only the lack of access to health services and quality education. The exclusion is the basureo, the choleo, the ninguneo; The level of discrimination is terrible and now it is increasing because people with certain characteristics are generalized as violent when not all of them are like that and their demands are classified as illegal when they are legal; there is a charge that exploded with Sendero Luminoso at the time.

And what is another factor in that resentment?

It is the handling of the demonstrations, telling everyone that they are terrorists increases anger, that there are 50 deaths allows the instigators to validate their resentment, show and say ‘they are killing us and they want to end up marginalizing us’. We still have to work on the terrible discrimination that exists in the country.

How do you think the end of this crisis can be reached?

On the basis there are criminal organizations interested in creating disorder. What is going to be discussed with drug traffickers and smugglers? That makes no sense. The destructive activity must be stopped and then comes the phase of dialogue, we must identify the needs, satisfy them, undertake a national plan so that we do not discriminate against each other.

A healing process?

Exactly, but there is a basic and prior point. In the elections we are seeing that the most delinquent and least honest and least competent come out, and if we make a projection, in the next elections we will have a worse Congress and a more woolly president will come, the majority of congressmen, of candidates would not get jobs or bank teller because companies have to evaluate and filter dangerous people for the business; more important should be the filter for candidates for Congress and for president, motivating the few honest and competent Peruvians to feel attracted to sacrifice themselves for Peru.

KEEP IN MIND

– Jorge Yamamoto stressed that the government has had a better management when controlling the protests of the so-called Toma de Lima, since there were no deaths to regret and that the indignation of the protesters did not increase.

– Along these lines, he recalled that now the government’s next step is to unlock the country roads and you must do it strategically.

– “If the blockades are lifted without giving the protesters heroes, then a great step will have been taken for pacification,” he said.