36 The Americas The EconomistNovember 14th 2020
21a valiant battle against graft.
Last year, when Congress resisted en-
acting political reforms proposed by Mr
Vizcarra, he found a pretext to dissolve it
and call new legislative elections. The vote
in January this year did not produce a more
pliant body. The nine parties represented
in the chamber extend from the far left of
the political spectrum to the religious-fun-
damentalist right. Mr Vizcarra had hoped
for support from a reasonable centre, com-
posed of about 70 lawmakers. But from the
beginning the new Congress rowed with
him over how to handle the pandemic and
the economic crisis that came with it.
Congress made an abortive attempt to
impeach him in September, when record-
ings leaked that appeared to show him
meddling in an investigation of contracts
between the government and a folk singer
who had given him political support. This
month’s attempt looked like a long shot at
first. It succeeded after Mr Vizcarra angered
congressmen by pointing out that many of
them, too, are under investigation.
Peruvians now worry that Mr Merino
will seek to postpone the election in order
to continue enjoying the spoils of office.
Others fear an orgy of populism in a previ-
ously well-managed economy, in the ex-
pectation that this might benefit presiden-
tial candidates who are either in Congress
or have allies there. Mr Vizcarra’s finance
minister, María Antonieta Alva, had fought
tenaciously to block populist measures,
such as early withdrawals from the pay-as-
you-go public pension system (with a fiscal
cost of up to 2% of gdp) and a freeze of re-
payments of bank debts. She has now re-
signed, along with the rest of Mr Vizcarra’s
cabinet. The price of Peru’s foreign bonds
slumped after the impeachment vote, and
the sol sank against the dollar.
Mr Merino, a congressman from
Tumbes, the smallest department, has giv-
en few clues as to how he will handle Peru’s
overlapping crises. He has promised to ap-
point an ideologically diverse cabinet and
to work closely with Congress. A former
speaker, Ántero Flores-Aráoz, is to lead it.
His most important pledge in a 13-minute
inauguration speech was that elections
will happen on schedule.
His successor may find it no easier to
govern, even if he or she is free from suspi-
cions of wrongdoing. Twenty-four people
have declared their candidacy for the presi-
dency. None is backed by a strong political
party. Some hope to boost their chances by
echoing popular indignation at Mr Viz-
carra’s removal. George Forsyth, a former
mayor and football goalkeeper who is the
early front-runner, tweeted that it was a
“veiled coup”. The eventual winner is un-
likely to be able to elicit co-operation from
a fragmented Congress. It may eventually
find an excuse to usher Peru’s next presi-
dent out of the door. 7I
n only oneprevious year, 2005, have
meteorologists resorted to the Greek
alphabet to name Atlantic storms. They
had run through the 21 names starting with
the letters of the Roman alphabet (five un-
common letters are not used). With Hurri-
cane Eta this month the storm-namers
have reached further into the Greek-letter
sequence than ever before. The strongest
storm of this year’s season, Eta made land-
fall on November 3rd in Nicaragua as a
category-four hurricane, with gusts of up
to 240km (150 miles) per hour. It proceeded
to cause havoc across Central America and
the Caribbean (see map).
The winds weakened after landfall, but
torrential rain caused floods and land-slides in Honduras, Guatemala and Cuba.
Scores of Central Americans are confirmed
dead and many are missing or injured.
Countries on the edge of the storm’s path,
including Mexico and Panama, suffered
deaths and damage. Flooding disrupted an
election in Belize on November 11th. Across
the region, perhaps 300,000 people left
their homes to seek shelter in community
centres or with family and friends.
The death toll in Guatemala—with 18m
people Central America’s most populous
country—will probably be the highest. So
far, 44 people are confirmed dead and near-
ly 100 are missing. Mudslides engulfed
houses in central Guatemala, which bore
the brunt of the storm in that country. In
Quejá a villager lost 22 members of her
family, Reuters reported. In Honduras 1.7m
of the country’s 10m people have been af-
fected in some way, says the Red Cross.
Hondurans criticised the government for
failing to prepare for the storm. Nicaragua
had just two deaths but lots of damage to
roads and houses. Thirty thousand people
were evacuated and 25,000 households
have no electricity.
Eta is far less devastating than many
past disasters, such as Hurricane Mitch,
which in 1998 killed more than 11,000 peo-
ple in Central America. But it comes at a
worse time. Eta adds to the misery caused
by the pandemic and makes it more dan-
gerous. Central America appears to have
contained the number of cases and deathsAs well as causing destruction, Hurricane Eta could spread covid-19Central AmericaGreek tragedy
Nov12th
00:00EDTUNITED STATESBAHAMASEL SALVADORGUATEMALANICARAGUAHONDURASCOSTA RICA
PANAMAMEXICOBELIZECUBA500 kmSource:NOAAHurricane Eta
Wind strength
Tropicalstorm
Over63kph
Hurricane
Over 119kphQuejá