Peru, the presidents... To jail!

In Peru it seems that the destiny of the presidents of the Republic is to pass through the courts and end up in jail. The latest to go from the pomp of power to the discomfort of a police cell investigating him is Pedro Castillo, the national master of the ridiculous hat who in the last eighteen months has played a leading role in the instability that has kept the country on the brink of chaos.  He awaits trial for attempting a self-coup d'état, not even with the support of his umpteenth government, and seizing total control of a democracy under permanent threat that has long been bravely facing survival.

Castillo in prison will not be isolated, even with some distance between cells. Not far away will be serving a permanent sentence in a military prison the reviled Alberto Fujimori, who, once democratically elected as constitutional president, was determined, machine gun in hand against the terrorists, to become a dictator, just as his latest successor has now done, albeit peacefully, it must be said. But it is clear that Peruvian prisons are spacious because the same former presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Ollanta Humala and Alejandro Toledo are also serving sentences for corruption or awaiting trial there.

Five former presidents imprisoned or awaiting trial is clearly a lot. The sixth, Alán García, who had served two terms in office, avoided such an ordeal by choosing to commit suicide. As of yesterday, the successor to such a dramatic trajectory of heads of state is a woman, Dina Boluarte, in her sixties, who took office from the vice-presidency she held with Castillo and did so in a constitutional manner and with the promise of reassuring intentions. She is the first woman to assume the presidency and she does so with popular support, including from the opposition, provided by citizens' anguish at the disintegration of the state that was beginning to be felt.