Latin America: an example of how Spain disregards its main sphere of influence

A teacher from a poor region of Peru, with absolutely no political experience, has become the shortest-reigning dictator in history. Peru, a singular case within a subcontinent of unrivalled wealth, has been making prime-time headlines for a few days. Our influence in the world is waning, despite possessing the best weapon in peacetime for influencing the world: language. The ignorance of our politicians, coupled with the contempt of Spanish citizens for those across the seas, means that this goldmine is being shamelessly and rapidly colonised by the Chinese, turning it – with the tacit approval of institutionalised corruption – into a factory churning out menial labour. But, unfortunately for them, there is still one branch of government – the judiciary – capable of holding its ground.

12 December 2022 Reading time: 4.10 mins

We are watching the events in Peru with disbelief, but the reality is that this is happening to us because of our ignorance, which stems from the contempt we harbour towards the part of the world where we could have the greatest influence. And we could do so because, despite what ‘madmen’ like the President of Mexico might say, Spaniards – and Europeans in general – are held in high regard by Latin Americans. Perhaps not so much because of our common roots, but rather because they see us as the gateway to an advanced and wealthy world, which they can easily access thanks to the language.

My work has meant that, for many years, I have travelled and spent a great deal of time in Latin America. And not just in the capitals of these countries, but even in towns – if you can call them that – in many different regions across the continent.

“We believe that Latin America is a goldmine we can turn to with a basket whenever we need to fill it”

I’ve learnt that you can’t treat them as a ‘goldmine’ you turn to when you need to fill your basket; rather, to earn their respect, you need to show that your intentions are sincere and that you respect them. And most of the time – if not all the time – that means you have to set up offices, rent premises and visit them regularly. I say ‘I used to’ because, after many years, I’ve stopped renewing it – I now have Colombian residency, with my ID card and everything.

Understanding Latin American politics is a subject in its own right. We are struck by the level of corruption that exists, but we are not struck by the

The separation of powers works well. There, justice is relentless, at least to the extent that

It could happen. And no politician has thought to try to quell it.

“Amidst the constant misfortunes that befall them, the worst has now come upon them: a pack of wolves in sheep’s clothing”

As a result, the far-left wave – which has proved to be just as corrupt, if not more so, than previous right-wing movements – has been ending up in prison one by one for some time now.

Peru is a country that stands out even within this unique region. There are no stable political parties, such as those we see in Europe. There, parties are formed in the wake of a candidate’s popularity. And the party may be national, regional or even local. So just imagine what a hive of activity the Parliament is.

Under the Peruvian electoral system, candidates for elected office are chosen in pairs. In other words, a president and a vice-president. The peculiarity is that the post of vice-president is a figurehead role. But it is a truly symbolic role, with no duties or salary, which is why during their ‘term of office’ the vice-president is usually appointed as an ambassador to a country in the Americas. Incredible, isn’t it?

At the regional level, I got to know a Vice-President who had just been appointed Acting President, because the President-elect had won the election whilst in prison and was unable to take office. The day I found out, I couldn’t believe it.

He stood for election and won whilst in prison!

Interestingly, he was from the Cajamarca region – the very same region that produced this schoolteacher, whom the former regional president of Junín, whom I also had the opportunity to meet, had persuaded to act as his right-hand man, since, despite having founded the party, he was in prison for corruption.

“The VRAEM – a military designation for an area spanning parts of five regions in Peru – is the world’s largest producer of coca leaves”

Most people don’t realise that Peru is the world’s largest producer of coca leaves. And, consequently, the largest exporter of coca paste. Obviously, this is illegal and controlled by drug traffickers. Well, the region is so vast that it spans large parts of five regions, including Junín, and has a military designation, the VRAEM, because either you know your way around it from the inside, you enter with military force, or you’ll be kidnapped. That’s what a defence minister told me when I was invited to visit the area by one of them. Draw your own conclusions.

On one occasion, I was unable to attend a series of lectures due to take place in Cusco (Peru). The regional president asked me to open the event via videoconference. Just imagine the situation: me in the boardroom of my office in Madrid, projected onto a 3×3-metre screen in Cusco, waiting for the regional president to come in – but he wasn’t turning up. When I asked our director in Peru via WhatsApp why he was running late, he told me he was in a room with the President, his chief of staff and ‘a hundred’ other hangers-on. Just then, the public prosecutor and the police arrived and, in front of everyone, arrested the regional president on corruption charges.

I have to admit that I had to stifle a laugh, as it was still being shown on the screen in Cusco.

Meanwhile, it was the First Lady herself who invited me to the Senate to address the Regional Presidents. I didn’t understand any of it, until I realised that Nadine and her entourage of four friends were the real authorities in Peru. Nadine, wife of President Humala, is facing criminal proceedings just like her husband, the President-elect, but, unsurprisingly, the sentence she faces is more severe than her husband’s.

Readers who know nothing about this – and that will be the majority – will be completely baffled right now and may even be doubting what I’m saying.

The man from Cajamarca, now the shortest-serving deposed dictator in history, stood for election on behalf of a Marxist-Leninist party, Perú Libre, founded by Vladimir Cedrón, former president of Junín and a convicted criminal – yes, the very one who invited me to the VRAEM – and it didn’t take him even a day to become corrupt. But why did he do it? Well, because the poor know nothing else: once you come to power, the only thing that matters is stealing. Very few politicians are spared, and those who try fail.

In the last Mexican elections, one of the most honourable politicians I have ever met stood for election – a former finance minister under one of the worst presidents in Mexico’s history, Peña Nieto – alongside another former minister and friend of mine. They stood as candidates for the PRI, the party of institutionalised corruption, which agreed to let them stand because defeat was a foregone conclusion and did not even support them during the campaign. They achieved the worst result in the party’s history. And a far-left madman, López Obrador, won – a man who is tearing apart an economy that, in the hands of honest people, ought to be amongst the top ten in the world.

“When corruption becomes institutionalised, those involved in it no longer care about appearances”

The largest trade union in Latin America is the Mexican teachers’ union. For many, many years, its president was a woman called Elba Esther Gordillo. Her power lay in the votes cast by the union’s members. And such was her control over them that she was able to install and remove presidents of the nation.

Well then, the woman in question, whose ‘speed face’ is the result of the number of cosmetic surgery operations she has undergone, lived a life of luxury on a yacht moored in San Diego (USA). Her power stemmed from her ability to maintain the status quo – that of the teachers. In Mexico, the state teaching post – that is to say, a civil service post – is a position that is inherited, as if it were physical property. Now you will understand the quality of public education there.

Ah! Vladimir Cedrón is a neurosurgeon. If you were to visit the place where I study, I can assure you they wouldn’t even let him stitch up a wound for you.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve lost business – actual business – simply because I refused to pay commissions. I even went so far as to say that I wouldn’t go back to a restaurant I liked if I had to go there with a politician, because I ended up loathing them – not the politician, whom I’d already loathed, but the restaurant.

The vast majority of Latin America is full of honest people, but there is such an institutionalised belief that power is corrupt that it has become second nature.

“That public education system in these countries is the main source of ignorance. And neither side is really doing anything to change it. There must be a reason for that.”

And what we have just seen ends up happening. A teacher from a poor region of Peru, probably lacking the ability to teach and with no political experience whatsoever, becomes President of his country. He does so under the banner of fighting corruption and with the explicit support of the Spanish far left, but the first thing he does is steal.

Peru’s vice-president-elect, alongside Allanta Humala, did not even get as far as being sworn in. In the period between the elections and the inauguration, he was filmed in a private room at the Las Brujas de Iquique restaurant in Lima, dividing up the money he was going to steal once he was in power.

Latin America is a goldmine. It has all the natural resources it needs to be a world power, rather than becoming – as is happening at lightning speed – a colony providing cheap labour for the Chinese.

We Europeans – and Spaniards in particular – ought to, indeed are obliged to, do more. As well as being an ‘aviation hub’ for Latin America, we ought to be the economic and political benchmark, ensuring that our influence there is real and effective.

It is a mistake to allow the Chinese to oust us, but that is what is happening.

“The fact that a Vice-President and a former President of Spain are supporting a woman found guilty of corruption is an insult to Argentina’s judicial system”

But the reality is that our politicians are doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing. We see a vice-president (Yolanda Díaz), accompanied by a former prime minister (Zapatero), travelling – at our expense – to support a woman who has been tried and convicted in Argentina for corruption (Kirchner). This is a clear affront to the separation of powers in a democratic country.

And it seems that, with a touch of sarcasm, they are accompanied by the former Colombian president, Samper. A president who lacked the dignity to resign when it emerged that he had come to power thanks to the Cali cartel.

Of course, this is happening at the same time as, in Spain, the current President is undermining the judiciary by eroding its independence.

It is certainly true that, even if you repeat a lie a hundred times, it does not become the truth. But it is equally true that if you repeat a lie a hundred times, not only will you end up believing it yourself, but many others like you will believe it too.

Our politicians and those over there must not have studied philosophy at school, or perhaps they did so on the day they studied Locke and, above all, Montesquieu – either they were absent or their radical views were already evident at an early age. The separation of powers is the foundation of any state that seeks to defend human rights, as Locke already discussed in the 17th century.

It is a sad state of affairs that, in the 21st century, we have to look back to a figure from the French Enlightenment such as Montesquieu to remind our leaders that without the separation of powers there is no democracy, and without democracy there is no prosperity.

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