The challenges facing Peru's new president

SOUNDING more like Bernie Sanders than the ex-banker he is, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski began his five-year term as Peru's president on July 28th by promising a 'social revolution'. Peru, he said, would be 'more modern, more just, more equal'. But his chances of keeping these promises may depend on how he handles the fate of an earlier president, Alberto Fujimori, who is serving a 25-year sentence in jail for human-rights crimes.Mr Kuczynski defeated Mr Fujimori's daughter, Keiko Fujimori, by just 50,000 votes of the 18m cast in June's election. But her party, Popular Force, will have the power of veto over much of what he tries to do. It holds 73 of 130 seats in the unicameral legislature. They were not welcoming to Mr Kuczynski when he took the oath of office in Congress this week. They offered almost no applause when the new president entered the chamber, and greeted his speech with silence. Ms Fujimori did not call to congratulate him on his victory (she tweeted instead).The differences between them have to do with family, not philosophy. Popular Force wants the new president to pardon the 78-year-old Mr Fujimori, who is...Continue reading
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