Right Wing In Peru Tries to Tank Incoming Leftist President

What are the prospects for real change now that the left has ascended to the highest office in Peru? It’s hard to say, according to historian of Peru and its political economy, Professor José Ragas.

After the left barely eked by in the recent presidential election, with leftist candidate Pedro Castillo winning by less than 100,000 votes in an election with almost 18 million ballots cast, the right win in Peru has turned to subterfuge in order to sabotage the left’s rise to power. What kind of success they’ll have trying to tie the hands of Castillo is up for debate, but there’s no doubt that this is just the beginning of the struggle.

In Peru, over 80% of the media is owned and operated by the right wing establishment, so for a leftist to even come to power is an odds-defying affair. Unfortunately, getting into power might be the easy part of actually challenging the entrenched forces of neoliberalism and fascism in the South American country. This is pretty similar to the United States, but let’s not be small minded. Peru’s right wing, according to our guest, makes the U.S. right wing (as exemplified by Trump) look positively moderate by comparison. Yikes.

Prof. Ragas is a Peruvian historian working as Assistant Professor at Catholic University of Chile. He holds a Ph.d. in History from UC Davis, with a dissertation on the role of identity cards in the Andes. In Chile, he trains students on global history and the circulation of science and medicine in the Global South. Currently, he is writing a book on how Peruvians experienced the 1990s and the authoritarian technocratic regime of Alberto Fujimori.

The Bitchuation Room was also joined this week by Brett Erlich, Host, Producer, and Director of Programming at The Young Turks Network. In addition to producing TYT’s flagship show, he recently developed and launched TYT’s fastest growing show “Indisputable with Dr Rashad Richey”, as well as his own shows “Common Room”, “Happy Half Hour” and “The Sunday Stream” on TYT’s Twitch channel. Prior to TYT, he helped develop and launch “The Damage Report” with John Iadarola, Ana Kasparian’s limited series “No Filter”, and worked at Al Gore’s Current TV. Follow him on Twitter here

Recorded August 29, 2021

***************************************************************************

Independent creators rely on your support to create the content you want!

Support The Bitchuation Room by becoming a Patron:

Support The Bitchuation Room on:

Venmo: @TBR-LIVE

Cash-App: @TBRLIVE

Check Out The Bitchuation Room Podcast

Google Music

Find Francesca On:

YouTubeThe Bitchuation Room’s channel