“Our president is now cornered by the politicians of the right, they do not let him govern and all the people are witnesses that this Congress does not allow him to govern,” Areís Alfaro, 56, told AFP.
On the other hand, Ingrid Chung, 30, sees him as “someone else who has come to deceive us.” “I believe that it should not continue and that it is currently tainted with corruption,” she said.
His disapproval in the polls rose to 74%, four points higher than in June, according to a recent Ipsos poll. Congress also looks bad: 79% disapprove.
Castillo unexpectedly won the elections at the head of a small Marxist-Leninist party with 50.12% of the vote, in a close runoff against right-wing Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000).
The result was questioned by right-wingers who alleged fraud, but was endorsed by the OAS and the European Union.
The votes in mining regions helped Castillo’s election, and now they are looking to take their toll, according to analysts.
Communities see “a newly elected government that gives them a platform of support to protest in a way that (they think) there would be no repercussions,” MMG CEO Troy Hey said in a call with analysts this week.
Despite the social upheaval, Peru’s coffers received a record mining tax in 2021 and another is expected in 2022, according to the Economy Ministry, which projects economic growth of 3.6% this year thanks to mining taxes.
Eduardo Jiménez, from Macroconsult, referred that in the last year the country wasted the development of projects, when the prices of minerals were located at historical prices.
Copper hit record prices in March but has so far lost just over 30% on fears that an economic slowdown in China, the top minerals consumer, and a possible global recession will curb global demand for copper.
“Despite everything, the price of copper has been a kind of containment of this political uncertainty,” Jiménez said. Mining in Peru represents 60% of the country’s exports.
With information from AFP and Reuters