South American Politics and Vitamin C

are really all I’ve been thinking about lately. I’m pretty sick right now, miserably so, and I can’t figure out if it’s because of the thick haze of smog and pollution that permanently hovers over Santiago or if I actually have the flu. It got so bad that I almost passed out in the Metro on my way home, I was so dizzy. So I took today off. My flat mates keep trying to make me take antibiotics and wrap scarves around my neck and head (even though its like 90 degrees here). I decided instead to just check out for a while and chug the Emergen-C I brought from home and be quiet, giving me more time to sort out some of the things that have been on my mind.

I realize that up until now this blog has been a bit self-centered (I hope not painfully so!). Its been such a sensory overload to be here in so many ways, the easiest things to get a hold of were in my own head but I’ve been taking in a lot, listening, observing and experiencing, just not really knowing exactly how to express or explain it clearly. Culturally and politically, Chile is a fascinating place and I find myself repeatedly asking, “how can that be?” in BOTH positive and negative ways about current events and even daily life. A Chilean’s favorite answer for my question is, more often than not, “It just is.” Hmmm. OK

Last Thursday the Peruvian Congress met and unanimously voted on a law (98-0) to move the ocean border between Chile and Peru further south, thereby “legally” claiming 15,000 square miles of fishing and property rites that have belonged to Chile since the War of the Pacific at the turn of the 20th century. The tensions among the Latin American countries are quite strong and the way the newspapers talk, of course, Chile is always on the verge of being attacked by either Peru or Bolivia with assistance from their arch-rival Argentina. The news last week sent people into a rage… uberpatriotic Chileans were threatening to storm Peru themselves and President Lagos sent armed forces to the land borders to discourage a land attack.

Santiago was buzzing with anti-Peruvian sentiments when, on Sunday, a private jet arrived undetected at the airport and who deplanes but Alberto Fujimori, the ex-Peruvian president who has been living in self-imposed exile in Japan while evading more than 20 charges of human rights violations, torture, “enforced disappearance”, and corruption. Though born in Peru, his parents are Japanese, and facing serious accusations he fled to Japan in 2000 and sent a fax back to the Peruvian government saying he was resigning as President. Japan granted him citizenship because of his ancestry and has been almost protecting him. Japanese law prohibits extradition of citizens and Peru does not allow trials in absentia so he could not be persecuted for his crimes. In August of 2005 the Supreme Court in Peru finally issued an International warrant for the arrest of Fujimori. In October, Fujimori made a public statement from Japan stating he would be returning to Peru in time to run in the April ’06 Presidential elections. And on November 6th he landed in Chile, preparing to launch a campaign from here, apparently.

He got to Santiago on Sunday in what looked like a very organized drama and everyone’s been up in arms – Chileans AND Peruvian refugees living in Chile, both wanting him to get the hell out of here and back to Peru to face his crimes. He was arrested at the Marriot as he was unpacking and apparently was very surprised, as he expected Chile to welcome his arrival. Recent polls say he holds more than 20% percent of support in Peru and some say he might even have a chance to win the election if he makes the right moves. Peru is asking for Chile to hand over Fujimori because the Supreme Court has been preparing a case against him, waiting for him to come out of hiding and face the charges of massacre and corruption. Its unbelievable for me to think that his horrible human rights and political crimes are so well known and he still might have a chance to rise to the country’s most powerful seat again after hiding out for 5 years.

Friends here have been asking me if a situation like this would happen in the US and I usually say and think no. But it probably does, we just don’t use the same vocabulary… Fujimori is responsible for the crimes because he ordered them to be done, not because he actually went into the slums of Lima and shot up a room of “dissidents” and “terrorists” himself.

Chile’s presidential election is coming up in a few weeks and that’s been a very interesting thing to watch, especially because one of the lead runners is a Socialist Pediatrician who was the first Female to hold the post of Secretary of Defense and was exiled from Chile during the Pinochet regime! More next time…