This Monday, October 14, the Supreme Court will analyze the illegality of the ANTAURO party with the presence of the Attorney General and the defendants. “The party is in a complicated situation due to the behavior of a member,” explains Marco Vizcarra ‘El Paiche’, alluding to Antauro Humala. “Throughout these months, he has been making antidemocratic statements, according to the Prosecutor’s Office,” he details. Vizcarra responds by showing his face. “I am taking on the role that falls to me as president of the party: to protect it against any eventuality of cancellation that may arise.” And along those lines, last Saturday, October 5, “we made a document where the founders and militants declared the party to be reorganized,” he explains. “We have tried to remake the CEN and put in place that militant who is acting against the party, the rules of the JNE and the law on political parties,” he says.
THE ROLE OF THE JNE
But not only ‘El Paiche’ has sanctioned and expelled Antauro. Antauro Humala has also done the same with ‘El Paiche’. “He did it in a previous congress that I suspended because the internal elections had not been held,” says ‘Captain Paiche’. “In the JNE I continue as president, we have both brought documents; We will see who is right in the JNE.”
The JNE has not made any expulsion official. “I consulted with them, but they tell me that they don’t interfere with the parties because they are private organizations,” Vizcarra recalls. “However, they should be a third instance. It is total hypocrisy, because when it suits them they get involved and when it doesn’t they say it is not their concern. Previously, the members of the provincial committee of Cajamarca wanted to expel Mr. Antauro in April, because he wanted to disown them by leading a parallel group. That led to an administrative process where he was declared innocent, and when we wanted to take him to the third instance they said that they do not get involved in private matters.”
THE POST-ANDAHUAYLAZO
“I feel very sorry for all the sacrifice that has been made for the party,” recalls Augusto Peña Carvajal, one of the oldest actors and promoters of the party. “Antauro Humala never assumed responsibility for the Andahuaylazo,” says Peña, a veteran of the revolt who spent 16 years in prison. “He practically takes over once it is finished,” explains the militant, a native of Huancavelica. “163 brothers, sometimes they did not even know the problem, have served their sentence, one might say unfairly… A leader by nature has to assume responsibilities. But many families have been lost.”
“Antauro is crazy,” Peña concludes. “The traitor is him, who arrived at Andahuaylazo at 3 am and on the second day he made his deal. He says he made a barrage, but I can’t find when he did it. ‘Locumbazo’, ‘Andahuaylazo’, at what point did you make a big deal? He boasts, but it is not so. It should say ‘we have done’. He has even benefited from that name.”
Upon leaving prison in 2021, Peña dedicated himself fully to creating a party, despite the opposition. “Antauro has never allowed an organization.” They started from scratch with ‘Paiche’. “There were practically five of us,” he says. They put money and time. “Coming out with nothing and starting from scratch… it is a game that has cost us a lot of sacrifice, hunger and cold,” he recalls. “It’s not like you have $400,000 in your pocket.” “The first traitor was Ollanta,” he says. “We went to collect signatures even in the prisons and we put our families aside. When Ollanta comes to power he tells us to roll and takes over the game. On this topic it is the same. Antauro has not put a single thing into the game. The game was difficult for us. “We have made contributions and we have sacrificed our families.”
ETHNONATIONALISM
Neither Vizcarra nor Peña agree on the alliance with Together for Peru. “Neither with the left nor with the right,” says Peña, vindicating ethnonationalism. “The Judiciary must sanction the anti-democratic militant, but not the party,” he concludes. “Let us be, first, sovereign,” adds the ‘Paiche’. “I hope Antauro reflects and abides by the rules,” says Vizcarra. “We must respect the bases, the citizens.” According to the electoral schedule, the ANTAURO pre-candidates will debate on December 4. We’ll see if Antauro will still be there. Or if the game will continue.
PLEASE NOTE
“We have lived together for 40 years,” says Vizcarra. “It is very superb. “He accuses me of betrayal, he calls me ‘former friend.'” In a March 23 incident reported by Perú21 last August, Vizcarra and Humala clashed at a promotion meeting at the Peruvian Military Circle. “He choked me, insulted me, and lied to me about my mother,” the captain recalls. “They expelled him, he left shouting; “It was impossible for me to react with women and wives present.”
RECOMMENDED VIDEO
