How Did Peru React to the Election of Barack Obama?

What do Peruvians think about Barack Obama’s exciting victory? If you are an American, it’s not quite what you might think.

LIMA (EcoWorldly) -  After having successfully negotiated a free trade agreement with the United States, Peru is now strategically positioned to become one of the U.S.’s key allies and trade partners in Latin America. Given the American media’s substantial touting of international interest in the U.S. presidential election, I decided to go out the morning after Obama won and see what I could find out about the reactions among Peru’s newspapers and citizens.

What I found out surprised me. While newspapers wrote articles that I would have expected, the reaction I got from people was different.

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Before I reveal the tasty fruits of my labor, you might be wondering what the environmental connection is between this story and Obama’s election–this is EcoWorldly you know.  It’s therefore appropriate that I give you a little more background about the environmental issues connected to the new trade agreement between Peru and the United States, and how Obama’s election might affect them.

The Environmental Connection

What’s most notable about the free trade agreement is that it is what many people consider the U.S.’s best effort to date to sign a trade agreement that also holds each country to stronger environmental and labor standards. In Peru’s case, this means among other things cracking down on the illegal trade of natural resources, such as the wood of the endangered mahogany tree. Mahogany is used in the United States to make fancy furniture pieces and sometimes car dashboards. Logging of the tree (among others) is thought to be partly responsible for the displacement of various uncontacted tribes who were thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when the first photos of them were taken and released publicly.

Labor standards were also demanded in the trade agreement by the U.S. to protect Peruvian workers from exploitation and wrong doing. Some people argue that these standards, despite their good intentions, are very hard to enforce. So far I would tend to agree with the naysayers from what I’ve seen.

Thinking positively though, Obama said in one of the debates that he voted to ratify the trade agreement with Peru because of the stronger environmental and labor standards articulated in the agreement. He says that for this same reason, he cannot vote to ratify a trade agreement with Colombia, because they are not helping protect workers from violent acts. So perhaps now that Obama has been elected, his administration can play a more active role in making sure that the standards of the Peru free trade agreement are enforced as well as possible.

A Peruvian news agency was also able to ask Obama a quick question after a campaign speech in Colorado last week, on the Saturday prior to the election. Obama said to “reporters that the relationship between the United States and Peru would grow closer and stronger.”

Newspapers Reacted As I Expected They Would– With Excitement

Newspapers were fairly conventional in how they covered Obama’s election as the new president of the United States. The headline of what is generally considered Peru’s chief newspaper, El Comercio, read: “Historic Triumph of Obama Marks Breaking Point in United States.” La Republica, another respected newspaper ran with an extended series of headlines: “Extraordinary edition. Obama destroys [McCain] with promise of change. With all the power.”

While this would make you think that this was heavy duty importance to Peruvians, the majority of coverage beyond the headlines included summaries of the election, Obama’s background, a few thoughts about how this will potentially affect immigration laws, and smatterings of politicians saying that relations between Peru and the U.S. would be strengthened. In other words, it seemed like these articles were written for newcomers, or those people thinking about moving to the United States.

There were a few interesting tidbits though. One interesting quote I found was from Peru’s environment minister, Antonio Brack, who has luckily been one of the few ministers to retain his job after a huge oil bribery scandal shook the foundations of Peru’s presidential cabinet several weeks ago. Brack was quoted as saying the following in La Republica: I don’t believe that there will be problems. It’s going to be positive for our country, if we consider that he [Obama] described the trade agreement with the United States as an example to follow.”

El Comercio also ran a piece that they tucked away toward the end of their coverage with a perhaps more realistic, if not pessimistic headline: “Latin America Will Not Be a Priority of the New Government.”

Perhaps the most interesting piece of print about the election result I saw was a magazine that used its cover dramatically and effectively. To the side of an image of Obama was written: “The American Dream Exists.”

Given the U.S.’s perceived world power, and the recent trade agreement with Peru, I was surprised by the opinions I heard about Barack Obama’s election when I asked around. The opinions contrasted significantly to what I saw in the newspapers.

Most of the People I Spoke to Cautiously Praised Barack Obama, and All Agree His Election is Historic

I went out and conducted a few short interviews with people who work for and own businesses near where I live with my family, in the middle class Lima neighborhood of Pueblo Libre.

The first person I spoke to was the woman who operates a news stand where I buy newspapers. By the end of the day, she had sold out almost every paper she started with. I asked if her if this was normal, and she said no. On this day, she had sold many many more papers. She said people were very interested. I asked her what she thought the significance of Obama’s election would be. She said: “Less wars.” Unfortunately she was then unable to continue conversing with me because of her work.

I entered a nearby market and spoke to two more people who I did not know, but who were recommended by my mother-in-law as people “who like to talk about politics.” The first was Americo Sucno. He owns a store that sells and repairs watches. He told me that he actually didn’t know much about Obama, but had been listening on the radio to hear more about him. “Obama seems calm,” he said. “I’m impressed that he said the victory was for the people and not for him… He is young though, and sometimes young people make mistakes.”

Americo’s praise of Obama was cautious, and so I asked him if he saw any resemblance between Peru’s President Alan Garcia and Obama. He said yes, and that they both were intelligent and charismatic. Garcia is currently serving his second term as Peru’s president. His first was in the late 1980s, when he was also a young star– although that shine wore off quickly during his first administration, when Garcia’s ambitious moves wrecked the economy and helped spurn the growth of the violent Shining Path terrorist movement.

Next I went and spoke to Pedro Cedron Ruez, who sells fruit (pictured right). He also said that he really wasn’t following the U.S. elections until he had heard that Obama won earlier in the day. He wasn’t highly engaged with what was going on in the United States.

He spoke about Obama with long thoughtful pauses: “You can talk with him. He has a good personality– intelligent.. It’s a historical thing… It’s something new… Something good. It reminds me of Fujimori. People want a change.”

Pedro was referring to another Peruvian president, Alberto Fujimori, who also had a roller coaster ride of a presidency in the 1990s. Fujimori fled the country after claims of humans rights violations, corruption, and bribery surfaced in 2000. He was finally extradited back to Peru last year and is now on trial. Moving back to Pedro, he also said that he thought relations between Peru and the U.S. would improve. But when I asked him if he thought the Free Trade Agreement or the election of Obama would affect his life personally, he said succinctly: “No.”

One of my friends who is younger also said that she hadn’t been following the election very closely, and said that “It’s all the same. Obama was only elected because he’s black. He’s a politician, and they’re all the same.” Her name is Silvia Castro, and she is largely unimpressed by Obama’s election. She says that she feels that politicians are by nature corrupt and do little to back up their promises.

It’s perhaps not as surprising to me in retrospect that some of the Peruvians I talked to are skeptical of Barack Obama and politics in general. As another friend recently told me as a joke, “Peru is the world leader in only one thing: corruption.” It’s definitely been on the minds of Peruvians recently, especially with the aforementioned oil scandal which led to the ouster of Peru’s prime minister. This being said, I did speak to one stranger who was more optimistic and excited about the election of Barack Obama.

Hector Barrientos Avila owns an internet cafe and told me these things about Obama’s election: “Yes. It’s good. Now there will be less wars, more of a peace process. With the current world financial crisis, it’s going to be better for alleviating poverty, and better for nature. And other countries will be better treated. There’s not going to be racism in this administration. Racism is a world oppression. We are a third world country and prejudice hurts the people who are at the bottom the most. Obama is a symbol that the world has changed. This is my opinion.”

A Few Concluding Thoughts

After discussing the election with people in Peru in the months leading up to its conclusion, I was surprised to learn after Obama won that people were actually less engaged than I thought. Maybe in those prior conversations, people had shown interest just because they viewed me as a source of information. Perhaps this just goes to show us Americans that perhaps we continue thinking of ourselves and our importance to the world too highly. Maybe it means that the American media to some extent has also represented world interest in the elections through rose-colored glasses.

As a final note, Peru’s government has responded quickly to Obama’s election. In the later part of this month, Peru will host an important summit among leaders of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. President Bush plans on attending, and an invitation has now been extended to President-Elect Obama as well. Obama has never visited a Latin American country, so why shouldn’t Peru be the first?

* Update: A Peruvian organization has now made news by offering the Obama family a unique variety of dog, known as the Peruvian hairless. They are hypoallergenic, which is necessary for the Obama family because one of Obama’s daughters is allergic to many kinds of dogs. Obama has made his family’s search for a dog a highlight of his post-election conversations.

Photo Credits: © Levi T. Novey

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