Flavors of Socialism have recently found a home in American politics. However, this phenomenon is not strictly an American one, as the nation of Peru is currently in the midst of a nationwide crisis as a result of the ideology.
Protests have taken the South American country of Peru by storm, which began over a month ago after now-ousted President Castillo set out on an attempted coup of the country. Castillo is a Leftist politician and from the country's southern region, and his supporters claim he was trying to head off a different coup instigated by Congress.
The Peruvian Constitution, which was written in 1993, has been criticized for not definitively defining powers between the executive and legislative branches. The failures of the Peruvian Constitution have been exampled by Castillo's attempt to shut down Congress in response to what the legislature believed to be a legitimate Constitutional action.
As Florida International University Professor Edward Gamarra recently contextualized for The Conversation, there a quite a few reasons for Peru's downward departure into Socialism, but the impeachment and ouster of Castillo on December 7, 2022.
The protestors have been identified as supporters of Castillo, who demand an overhaul and revision of the Constitution that defines the Peruvian government, most likely forking more power over to President Castillo.
The world has witnessed nations like Peru crumble from the inside as a result of political polarization and weakly established governments. Venezuela, another South American nation and ran by a Socialist regime, has also demonstrated the failures of the ideology, with the nation aligning itself with other regimes like Iran.
“For years, the Iranian and Venezuelan regimes have bonded over their hatred for the United States. Iran has recruited Venezuela as its proxy for terror, even supplying their government with advanced drones to use against the U.S., Colombia, and Jewish communities throughout the Western Hemisphere.” Congresswoman Elvira Salazar (R-FL) has previously stated.
Peru has now become another nation within our hemisphere to internally crumble. Between Peru, Venezuela, and Cuba many Americans have grown concerned for how many nations have been killed at the hands of government policies which may manifest themselves in American politics as well.
