News delivered from Lima, Peru confirms that the nation’s latest president became the first peasant aka hustler to win the presidential election. He is Pedro Castillo, who will leave his job as a rural teacher after the longest electoral Count in the last 40 years in Peru.
On Monday, July 26, 2021 Pedro Castillo officially won over Keiko Fujimori, the right-wing politician, by only 44K votes. This happened after a long haul of vote-counting after over a month when the election began in this South American country.
“No more poor in a rich country” was used for his campaign wielding a giant pencil, the Peru Libre party’s symbol. Many believe this partly amounts to his success for the country is currently providing the second most copper production to the world while most of the population is still poor and living in rural areas (who highly support Castillo).
The country’s economy has been crippled by the Covid-19 pandemics, making the poverty level surge in the last several months.
According to historians, Pedro Castillo is now the first peasant ever to be a Peru President. Before, indigenous candidates mostly garnered the worst of public services.
Amid mudslinging on both sides, Castillo has been labelled a “terrorist” but responds that the “real terrorists are hunger, misery, neglect, inequality, injustice”.
And although Castillo’s political experience is largely limited to leading a national teachers’ strike in 2017, many Peruvians identify with a life experience that reflects many of the harsh realities they also face.
“People don’t know there are thousands of children living in poverty and now, due to the pandemic, in extreme poverty,” said Castillo, who has taught for more than 25 years in rural schools.
Castillo’s Perú Libre, or Free Peru party, counts on support from the country’s half a million public school teachers, but his appeal extends to rural voters in campesino communities across the poor Andean regions.
A short walk from Castillo’s house, Juan Cabrera, 57, took a break from ploughing a field with a wooden plough pulled by two oxen. “It was an emotional moment for us to have a son of the village leading in the vote,” he said.
Peru is proud to present itself as the star of Latin America over the last 2 decades in terms of economy. However, the hit by the Coronavirus pandemics brought the country down. Pedro Castillo, the first and latest peasant President is hoped to bring back the national pride!