The Washington Post - USA (2020-11-22)

A22 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020

Purple Party had not supported

the impeachment of the popular

Vizcarra. The impeached presi-

dent tweeted Wednesday that Sa-

gasti could “count on his support”

and that the young people of Peru

had made their voice heard.

Sagasti also won over many

with his emotional swearing-in

speech, which saw him in tears as

he read a famous poem by Peruvi-

an writer César Vallejo.

In contrast to Merino, whose

brief presidency saw conserva-

tives fill cabinet positions, Sagasti

has pushed for moderates and lib-

erals to join his government. Of

the 18 cabinet positions, eight

have gone to women, including

high-ranking positions such as

prime minister and minister of

defense.

Problems run deep

But the next eight months are

likely to be difficult sailing for

Sagasti’s government, which will

have to balance dealing with

Peru’s notoriously corrupt yet le-

gally protected legislature with

swelling public anger among a

young generation that demands

changes of both politics and polic-

ing.

There’s also the enormous toll

of the pandemic: According to an

analysis by Johns Hopkins Univer-

sity, Peru’s death rate from covid-

19 exceeds 110 per 100,000, behind

only the tiny European state San

Marino and Belgium, which has

been devastated by an enormous

outbreak.

These competing pressures

could overwhelm the new admin-

istration. In one interview Friday,

Bermúdez, a constitutional law-

yer, would not commit to political

reform and suggested that the

time period until the next presi-

dent will not be long enough to

make any ambitious changes.

In another interview, Bermú-

dez praised the actions of most

police officers during recent pro-

tests — sparking an angry re-

sponse on social media from those

who pointed out that two protest-

ers had died and that as many as

40 had reportedly disappeared.

But the new government’s most

pressing task is making sure that

next year’s election proceeds

smoothly. Peru’s democracy has

been troubled since at least the

decade-long reign of Fujimori in

the 1990s, but the failed response

to the coronavirus and the eco-

nomic disarray of 2020 show the

risks of long-term dysfunction.

Sagasti’s aim is to remain inter-

im president until July 28, when

the new president is inaugurated.

After that, Peru will get yet an-

other president. Right now, for-

mer soccer star George Forsyth

leads in polls, though the Purple

Party’s Julio Guzmán is not far

behind. Whoever wins will be the

country’s sixth new president in a

decade.

[email protected]

BY ADAM TAYLOR

Who is the president of Peru?
Within the space of one week, the
answer to that simple question
became a moving target.
On Nov. 9, Martín Vizcarra, a
popular independent who had led
Peru since 2018, was ousted after
an impeachment vote found him
guilty of the archaic charge of
“moral incapacity.” He was suc-
ceeded by Manuel Merino, the
head of Peru’s Congress, who had
clashed with the president over
reforms.
Critics called it a legislative
coup, and masses took to the
streets for the biggest protests in
decades. After two young protest-
ers died, Merino announced that
he would resign. He had been
president only five days. And so
Peru’s Congress quickly put for-
ward a new name for president:
Francisco Sagasti.
Sagasti had been a relatively
obscure politician, arguably bet-
ter known for his academic back-
ground than his politics. But hav-
ing declined to support the im-
peachment proceedings against
Vizcarra, he was a compromise
choice. He pledged to lead the

country as a technocratic interim

president ahead of next year’s vote

on April 11.

However, as he accepted the

nomination to be president Tues-

day, becoming the third Peruvian

leader in barely a week, he ac-

knowledged the grand scale of the

task ahead — not just for him —

but for all of Peru.

“This is not a moment for cel-

ebration; we have too many prob-

lems, tragedies and difficulties. It

is a moment to ask ourselves:

Where did we lose our way?” he

said to Congress.

Peru’s back-and-forth system of

democracy has a deeper history

than just a few weeks. Four recent

Peruvian presidents have been im-

plicated in corruption scandals;

one killed himself ahead of his

arrest.

The right-wing populist Alber-

to Fujimori was pardoned and re-

leased from prison midway

through a 25-year sentence. But

the pardon was annulled less than

a year later and he was ordered

back to prison.

Sagasti must navigate rocky po-

litical waters with Peru’s powerful

Congress while also reckoning

with the coronavirus pandemic,

Peru’s latest new l eader

faces a gargantuan task

which left Peru with one of the

world’s highest per capita death

tolls and damaged its economy.

Gross domestic product is expect-

ed to drop 14 percent this year.

The plan is to restore faith i n the

Peruvian political system before

the vote. “We have little time,” new

Prime Minister Violeta Bermúdez

said in an interview with the El

Comercio newspaper, adding that

the months “will fly by.”

Who is Francisco Sagasti?

Though Sagasti was not well-

known in the country, the selec-

tion of the 76-year-old for the pres-

idency was a relief to many outside

observers.

An academic who studied at

Pennsylvania State University and

the University of Pennsylvania, he

was already well-known in inter-

national development circles. He

spent a chunk of his earlier career

working for the World Bank and

the United Nations.

Sagasti returned to Peru almost

three decades ago after an earlier

constitutional crisis that saw Fuji-

mori seize more powers for the

presidency. Sagasti helped found

the Purple Party, a centrist and

liberal group, in 2016 but was

elected to Peru’s Congress only in

March.

Within Peru, early political re-

action was largely positive. The

ANGELA PONCE/BLOOMBERG NEWS

Francisco Sagasti, s worn in Tuesday, must navigate rocky political

waters with Congress while dealing with the pandemic’s damage.

ny and criticism.

Saudi Arabia had hoped for an

in-person Riyadh summit, but in

September announced it would be

held virtually because of the coro-

navirus.

It was initially unclear whether

Trump would attend, but he an-

nounced Friday he would.

In a statement Friday, Euro-

pean Commission President Ur-

sula von der Leyen said she

planned to push members to con-

tinue to provide pandemic-relat-

ed economic support until recov-

ery from the virus is certain.

She also expressed hope that

the United States’ “new president-

elect” will “increase multilateral

cooperation” in areas such as

health and climate change, noting

that until now “the United States

has resisted engaging,” in a rebuke

of Trump’s isolationist policies.

On Friday, U.N. Secretary Gen-

eral António Guterres said that

$28 billion remains needed to

fund the manufacturing and dis-

tribution of coronavirus vaccines.

While G-20 members previously

agreed to suspend debt payments

for the world’s poorest nations

through mid-2021, he also urged

them to extend relief until the

year’s end so that governments

could prioritize tackling the virus

and economic fallouts.

Trump is one of three leaders

attending the summit who have

had confirmed cases of the coro-

navirus, along with British Prime

Minister Boris Johnson and Bra-

zilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

Johnson, who in April required

intensive care after catching the

virus, is in quarantine after recent

exposure to someone who tested

positive.

[email protected]

Kareem Fahim in Istanbul and Josh

Dawsey in Washington contributed to

this report.

BY MIRIAM BERGER

beirut — Leaders from the
Group of 20 nations urged g reater
global cooperation Saturday to
ensure coronavirus vaccines
reach beyond the wealthiest re-
gions as promising U.S. vaccines
appear closer to approval.
The comments draw clear con-
trasts with the Trump administra-
tion’s go-it-alone approach, in-
cluding its break with the World
Health Organization. The appeals
also struck at questions over
whether U.S.-made vaccines
would become widely available
beyond commercial deals once
President-elect Joe Biden takes
office — even as the United States
struggles with the world’s highest
death toll from the coronavirus.
With leaders connecting by vid-
eo link — and Saudi Arabia as the
host — attention quickly turned to
vaccines as promising results
from U.S.-based labs Pfizer and
Moderna raise hopes of additional
weapons soon against the pan-
demic, with China and Russia
planning expansion beyond trials
of their vaccines.
In brief comments to the group,
President Trump said the United
States has “marshaled every re-
source” against the coronavirus
and noted the “record-setting
speed” to develop vaccines and
other therapies, according to a
White House summary of the re-
marks.
He made no pledges, however,
on expanding the availability of
U.S. vaccines.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
said China was “willing to

strengthen cooperation” with oth-

er countries to accelerate vaccine

development and distribution.

“We will fulfill our commit-

ments, offer help and support to

other developing countries, and

work hard to make vaccines a

public good that citizens of all

countries can use and can afford,”

Xi said.

China has opened trials for sev-

eral state-backed vaccines in na-

tions from Southeast Asia to Latin

America. It also has become a

leading backer of international

vaccine collaborations such as Co-

vax, a WHO-linked effort to ex-

pand vaccine distribution in the

developing world. Trump had re-

fused to join Covax as his adminis-

tration pulls away from the Unit-

ed Nation’s public health agency.

Pfizer and Moderna have fo-

cused on eventual domestic distri-

bution under the Trump adminis-

tration’s Operation Warp Speed

program. The European Union

and other wealthy allies have cut

separate deals for supplies of vac-

cines from Moderna and Pfizer,

which has teamed up with Germa-

ny-based BioNTech.

Russian President Vladimir Pu-

tin said his country is ready to

share its vaccines for “humanitar-

ian considerations,” warning that

the pandemic is battering the

global economy and raising risks

of “mass, long-term unemploy-

ment and the accompanying rise

in poverty and social dislocation.”

“And the role of the G-20 is to

ensure this doesn’t happen,” said

Putin, according to the Kremlin

translation of his remarks.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip

G-20 leaders call for

global vaccine access

Erdogan told the meeting that the

G-20 should endorse “affordable

and fair distribution of covid-19

vaccine for everyone.” Similar

messages were shared by Cana-

dian Prime Minister Justin

Trudeau and South African Presi-

dent Cyril Ramaphosa, who said

all nations should have “equitable

and affordable access.”

Expectations remain low that

the two-day summit will produce

significant results in its toned-

down setting for issues such as

global economic crises and cli-

mate change. Members are ex-

pected to finalize a framework for

providing poorer nations with

debt relief and vaccine initiatives

such as Covax.

The gathering brought back-

lash from Saudi and international

human rights groups — as well as

some U.S. and European lawmak-

ers — that called on world leaders

to boycott or downgrade their rep-

resentation over the kingdom’s

abuses, including jailings of fe-

male activists and the killing of

Washington Post contributor Ja-

mal Khashoggi at the Saudi Con-

sulate in Istanbul in 2018.

For Trump, the meetings

marked another closing lap on the

world stage before handing power

to the Biden administration in

January. After attending some of

the virtual summit from the

White House, Trump left to go

golfing.

In his opening remarks, Saudi

Arabia’s King Salman spoke to a

screen of international leaders,

including Trump, and highlighted

the economic support G-20 mem-

bers had contributed to combat-

ing the coronavirus pandemic and

economic fallout. He urged the

G-20 to forge a collective path

forward.

“In the near future, we must

address the vulnerabilities ex-

posed by covid-19 by working to

protect lives and livelihoods,” said

the 84-year-old monarch, who

spoke slowly in a raspy voice.

To the king’s right was Crown

Prince Mohammed bin Salman,

the kingdom’s de facto ruler, who

has sought to reform Saudi’s econ-

omy and society alongside a years-

long crackdown on dissent that

has brought him increased scruti-

SPUTNIK/ALEKSEY NIKOLSKYI/KREMLIN/REUTERS

Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in the virtual G- 20 summit from the s tate residence

outside Moscow. Putin said his nation is ready to share its vaccines for “humanitarian considerations.”

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