Peru: Humala humbled

A traitor, say Humala’s former supporters

PROTESTS have been something of a way of life in Peru for decades, the lasting product of a collapse in the economy and of trust in the political system in the 1980s. They have continued even as the economy has boomed, with annual average growth of 6.5% since 2003. But the country’s latest demonstrations have an air of modernity about them, a faint whiff of the discontents of an aspirational lower-middle class that have recently shaken Chile and Brazil.The trigger was a decision by Congress to share out among party hacks important jobs at supposedly independent bodies, such as the ombudsman; six justices of the Constitutional Tribunal, the highest court; and three vacant slots on the Central Bank’s board (though in this case the nominees were unobjectionable). Outrage against what many Peruvians see as a corrupt and self-serving political class was swift, dominating both traditional and social media. When several thousand protesters gathered outside Congress on July 22nd, the legislators swiftly backed down, rescinding the appointments.Other groups have more familiar grievances. Doctors and...



via The Economist: The Americas http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21582580-lonelier-president-faces-protests-humala-humbled?fsrc=rss|ame