Archive for the ‘The International Context’ Category
García Calls for Bloc Opposing Chávez’s Venezuela
During his visit to Chile, Alan García Pérez called for a model of regional integration in opposition to the interventionist policies of Hugo Chávez. “The government of Chile, together with Peru and Brazil, provide an alternative to the model of statism and poor democratic manners that Venezuela wishes to impose.” García also left the door open to a Free Trade Agreement between Chile and Peru.”
The reaction from Venezuela was swift. “García has damaged any possibility of serious relations. There will be no relations with Peru,” said Chávez in a speech in Panamá.
García Meets Bachelet
President elect Alan García met with Chile’s President Michelle Bachelet in La Moneda. In protest, human rights lawyers presented charges against García for human rights abuses during his first term (1985-1990).
Humala calls on García to Reject FTA
Ollanta Humala called upon president-elect Alan García not to ratify the recently negotiated Peru-US Free Trade Agreement.
Garcia’s Visit with Lula a Message to Chavez
According to this story in newsmagazine Caretas, Alan García’s visit with Brazil’s President Lula suggests a close relation between the two leaders could augur well for relations between the two nations, especially since Lula’s prospects for re-election are looking more promising of late. There is a tacit message here to Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, which is seen as having failed in its attempt to influence the Peruvian election. Venezuelan vice president José Vicente Rangel accuses García of being a “professional of anti-Chavismo.” Based on the grudging admiration that seems implicit in this statement, I would conclude that the Venezuelan leadership has belatedly realized how well García has played Chávez for his own electoral purposes.
Interview with Farid Kahhat: Bolivia’s Pragmatism
Bolivia has proven to be more pragmatic in its relations with its Andean neighbours than might have been anticipated by those who presumed that Bolivia would follow Hugo Chavez and leave or disrupt the Andean Community of Nations. Farid Kahhat, an expert on international relations, suggests that Bolivia is taking a pragmatic approach to issues like the negotiation of an agreement with Europe, rather than following Chavez’s obstructionism. Once again, this suggests the shallowness of the rhetoric of “axes” or “ejes.”
Garcia Meets Lula; Andean Leaders Meet in Quito Summit
President-elect Alan Garcia met with the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, in Brazilia. This first foreign meeting may be interpreted as an indication of the policy alignment to be expected from the Aprista leader after he assumes the presidency in July. Garcia has repeatedly expressed admiration for Lula, and he restated this following the meeting—going so far as to say, with respect to Lula’s presidential re-election bid, that his own heart is on the left.
Garcia did not speak about his conflict with President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela in his meeting with Lula, but he did say subsequently that he has no intention of apologizing to the Venezuelan leader. In previous weeks Garcia has directed harsh words at Chavez for pulling out of the Andean Community of Nations (CAN).
While Garcia was in Brazilia, the leaders of Andean nations were meeting in Quito as part of a summit of the CAN. Bolivia’s President Evo Morales assumed, pro tempore, the presidency of the group. The four Andean leaders–Alfredo Palacio of Ecuador, Álvaro Uribe, newly re-elected in Colombia, Peru’s Alejandro Toledo and Evo Morales–agreed to ask for an extension of a preferential trade arrangement with the United States, due to expire in December this year.
The agreement to request an extension of the ATPDEA followed four hours of tough negotiation because two countries in the region, Colombia and Peru, have already negotiated an FTA with the United States and therefore do not need an extension of the preferential trade arrangement. This attitude was criticized by Morales as “blackmail.” In the end, Peru and Colombia agreed to go along with the request for an extension in the interest of group solidarity.
The four leaders also requested the start of trade negotiations as a bloc with the European Union. Chavez was not invited to the summit, because Venezuela has pulled out of the CAN.
OAS Secretary General Seeks to Improve Peru-Venezuela Relations
José Miguel Insulza, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, says that he will wait a few days for the passions excited by the election in Peru to abate before seeking to ameliorate relations between Peru and Venezuela. “Nobody likes to be monitored” he said, but at the same time he recognized the role of the OAS is to ensure that “all countries play by democratic rules.”
OAS Preliminary Report
In a press conference in Lima the chief of the OAS mission in Peru presented his preliminary report on the election of June 4. In his remarks, Lloyd Axworthy recommended that Alan Garcia seek to overcome the social divide between rural and urban voters and to focus on social inclusion. He called on Ollanta Humala to devote his efforts to constructive opposition. Axworthy noted that the Peruvian authorities had taken their objection to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s interference in the Peruvian election to the General Assembly.
Nicolas Maduro, president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, was also an observer in the Peruvian elections and he called Peru’s electoral system “anarchronistic.” He denounced the media campaign against Humala as “brutal” and financed by the United States.
Member of congress and former foreign minister Luis Gonzáles Posada called the OAS useless and compared it to a car with a powerful engine and flat tires.
Peru Takes Dispute with Venezuela to the OAS General Assembly
Chancellor Oscar Maurtua – Speech to OAS General Assembly
Cobertura de la prensa extranjera
Discrepancies on Chavez among Observers
President Chavez prayed to God for Peru during his Speech at Alo President
A dos dias de las elecciones la prensa internacional mira a Perú
A sólo dos días de las elecciones la prensa del mundo vuelve a poner los ojos sobre Perú. Los diarios de diferentes países remarcaron el tono duro que tomo la campaña en estos últimos días, con los fuertes ataques que se arrojaron Humala y García. El diario La Nación (Argentina) menciona que “pasado mañana los peruanos no sólo elegirán a quien rija sus destinos durante los próximos cinco años, sino que también comenzarán a definir una batalla que se está expandiendo por América latina y que podría afectar el actual equilibrio político de la región.” Las citas son en inglés y en castellano.
Comentarios al informe preliminar de la misión observadora de la OEA
Interview with Michael Shifter
Interview with Fernando de la Flor, Peruvian Ambassador at the OAS
“Mision Milagro”: from a Humanitarian Project to a Political Campaign Issue
Last week Jorge Del Castillo denounced that a large number of Venezuelans entered the country in a charter plane via Tacna to generate unrest in localities across the country on Election Day. Local newspapers have been running stories about this allegation in the last few days and generating fear among the public. To shed some light about the incursion of Venezuelans in Peru, Javier Diez Canseco shared with Del Castillo last week a report describing the purpose of “Mision Milagro”, a humanitarian project led by the Venezuelan and Cuban governments to assist individuals with serious eye sight problems across Latin America to clarify matters about the entry of Venezuelans to Peru in April. Today Minister Romulo Pizarro confirmed this version. Javier Diez Canseco has harshly criticized Del Castillo for distorting and falsifying the purpose of “Mision Milagro” for campaign purposes in his La Primera column.
International Coverage of the Election
Financial Times: Bush administration and its Unlikely Ally
Latin America’s leaders have failed to stand up to Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and his allies, to the irritation of the US. But if Alan García wins the presidential elections in Peru on Sunday, the Bush administration may find itself with an unlikely regional ally….Bush administration crosses fingers for García victory, by Hal Weitzman in Lima, Financial Times, June 1 2006 00:07
Venezuela, Peru, the OAS and now…Washington
The Venezuelan minister of foreign affairs, Alí Rodríguez, claims frictions between Venezuela and Peru are a bilateral issue not a multilateral one. Rodriguez argues that Peru’s complaint to the Organization of American States is part of a destabilizing plan designed from Washington.
OAS Electoral Mission: Foreign Interference in the Peruvian Electoral Process
For Lloyd Axworthy, head of the OAS’s observer mission in Peru, the international community and the OAS would better understand the impact of foreign interference with the electoral process taking place, if civil society, academia, all levels of government and political parties jointly take action to stand against what the Peruvian people consider an intervention with their democratic process.
The Peruvian Election, President Chávez & the OAS
On June 5th, a day after the election, Peru will complain to the Organization of American States General Assembly that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has repeatedly violated the principle of non-intervention by making statements against candidate Alan Garcia and in favour of Ollanta Humala. Peruvian authorities, politicians and international affairs analysts have rejected the statements made by Chavez.
A False Dichotomy
By Maxwell A Cameron
Comment is Free… The Guardian, May 30, 2006 – 04:45 PM
On June 4 2006, Peruvian voters will choose their next president in a run-off between the top two contenders from the first-round election, which was held on April 9.
The polls put Alan García Pérez, the former president (1985-1990) and leader of the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA), ahead of Ollanta Humala Tasso, the outsider candidate and leader of the Union for Peru (UPP) who has aligned himself with presidents Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia.
It would be tempting, but wrong, to frame the decision as a choice between social democracy and radical populism. The Peruvian election exposes the fallacy of splitting the Latin American left into two great subspecies.
In a recent commentary in Foreign Affairs magazine, the noted intellectual Jorge Castañeda and former Mexican minister of foreign affairs wrote of “two lefts” – a “right” left and a “wrong” left. The “right” left is “modern, open-minded, reformist and internationalist”, although it springs from the “hard-core left of the past”; the “wrong” left, born of the great tradition of Latin American populism, is “nationalist, strident, and close-minded”.
Castañeda extols the virtues of Chile’s new president, Michelle Bachelet, Uruguay’s president, Tabaré Vásquez, and, with qualifications, Brazil’s President Luis Ignácio “Lula” da Silva; he excoriates the “wrong” left, as personified by Chávez, Morales, and Argentina’s Peronist President Néstor Kirchner. He does not mention APRA’s García but he lumps Humala together with Chávez and Morales.
It is true that there is a big difference between leaders like Chávez and Bachelet, but we should not assume that all leftwing movements in the region can be classified into moderate social democrats and radical populists. Peru illustrates why.
Neither Humala nor García fits comfortably within Castañeda’s dichotomy. García has sought to portray himself as a social democrat and an advocate of “responsible change.” Foreign and local investors embrace him as the best candidate to retain Peru’s pro-market, export-oriented economic model while pursuing reformist social policies. Yet APRA is the very embodiment of populism: it is a multi-class party led by a paternalistic leader who offers redistributive reforms in return for votes.
Humala is nowhere near as radical as Chávez. Nor does he have Morales’s democratic credentials. His programme is unmistakably social democratic. It is called “the great transformation”, in deference to Karl Polanyi, not Karl Marx. It proposes the development of internal markets, greater access to credit, support for agriculture, a renegotiation of the free trade agreement, food self-sufficiency, and the renegotiation of tax holidays or special royalty exemptions for foreign investors.
The programmatic differences between APRA and the UPP are so minimal that each side accuses the other of plagiarism.
The two candidates differ most in the sphere of politics. In the words of journalist Gustavo Gorriti: “Alan García could not be a dictator even if he wanted; Ollanta Humala could not be a democrat even if he tried.” In this view, García is the leader of an organised party and he would, in all likelihood, govern according to the democratic rules of the game. Within these democratic rules, however, García proposes the adoption of faceless judges in Peru’s courts as well as the establishment of the death penalty. He picked a vice-presidential running mate associated with a prison massacre for which he was responsible in 1986, and he refuses to accept the central findings of Peru’s truth and reconciliation commission.
As an outsider, someone who challenges the party system, Humala would have difficulty governing in accordance with democratic rules. In this sense, there are notable similarities between Humala and Chávez. Both started their careers with unsuccessful acts of military rebellion before running for office. Like Chávez, Humala has proposes a constitutional assembly to rewrite the nation’s constitution. In the process, he would almost certainly attempt to centralise executive power.
Evo Morales has also called elections for a constituent assembly in Bolivia, but the similarities between Morales, Chávez, and Humala should not be overstated. Like the Jacques-Louis David paintings of Napoleon crossing the Alps, Chávez, and Humala resemble Bonaparte-like leaders mounted on relatively feeble movements and parties; Evo Morales has risen to power with the backing of combative and well-organised social movements.
For two decades these movements have struggled for water, land and control over resources; in the process, a militant indigenous consciousness has been awakened.
The constitutional underpinnings of democracy are always at risk when a powerful leader proposes radical changes in a country with deep inequalities, especially when political parties are in an advanced state of decay. Even Morales’s detractors agree, however, that his electoral victory represents, for now, a deepening of democracy.
In contrast with Morales, Humala’s leadership reflects popular disorganisation. Confronted by Morales’s bold nationalisation of the oil and gas industry in Bolivia, Humala failed to define what, concretely, nationalisation of natural resources would mean should he win office in Peru. He calls for reparations for victims of human rights crimes but refuses to address allegations that he committed human rights abuses while serving as commander of a military base during the counter-insurgency war in the early 1990s. His electoral strategy oscillates between appeals to a disenfranchised rural supporters and assurances of moderation for urban professionals. A leader of a real movement–or an organised party–would be compelled to define a position on these issues more clearly.
A victory for APRA would signal a return to populism. APRA’s populism is not the strident subspecies that Castañeda deplores; nor is it anything like the Chilean-style social democracy he admires. García presided over one of the most corrupt and inept governments in Peruvian history, but he has won over many of the voters who cast their ballots behind more conservative candidates in the first round of the election. The business community and urban professionals back García as a bulwark against Humala – and the influence of Chávez.
Peru, like the rest of the region, no longer shows the enthusiasm it once did for the market-friendly economic recipes of the so-called Washington consensus. It is hard to generalise beyond that observation, except to say that a multiplicity of movements and parties is emerging in search of alternatives to the existing order. The idea of a “right” left and a “wrong” left, so redolent of the rhetoric of axes of good and evil, obscures more than it illuminates.
Vladimiro Montesinos Latest Move: Chess Pawn
Source: AgenciaPeru.com, 29 de mayo del 2006
La guerra asimetrica cubano-venezolana y sus implicancias en las elecciones peruanas: Peon de ajedrez Download file
Read also: ¡Vladimiro al Premio Alfaguara!
Vladiconspiraciones: los planes A y B de Humala
Chronological local coverage below
Joseph Stiglitz Supports Bolivia Energy Policy
Chavez Attacks Garcia & Toledo. This time from Bolivia
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez criticized Alan Garcia and President Alejandro Toledo in his radio show on Sunday. Chavez threatened to break Venezuela’s diplomatic relations with Peru should Garcia be elected, called Toledo a traitor, and asked Peruvians to vote for Ollanta Humala. Today, Toledo called upon the OAS to respond to Chavez interference with the Peruvian electoral process after a meeting with OAS Electoral Observation Mission chief Lloyd Axworthy. Ollanta Humala kept his distance from Chavez’ comments by arguing they will have no impact on the electoral process.
Previous postings:
Nadine Heredia marca distancias con Hugo Chávez
Statement by OAS Mission Chief Follows International Law
Interview with Fabián Novak
La prensa internacional comenta la violencia de ayer
Los hechos violentos ocurridos ayer en Cusco han causado una ola de articulos en la prensa del mundo. Hasta ahora la informacion es confusa, algunos diciendo que Alan Garcia fue atacado, otros que ambos bandos se enfrentaron a los tiros. Aqui se adjunta articulos de varios medios del mundo
Prensa chilena: Fujimori es un huésped incómodo
Source: La República, 26 de mayo del 2006. Foto: EFE.
Los medios internacionales y el debate
Aca estan las primeras reacciones en los medios del mundo sobre el debate entre Garcia y Humala. Las opiniones son dispares: algunos marcaron que Humala se presento lucido y seguro mientras que Alan no gano por knock-out como se esperaba. Para otros el debate no brindo ningun ganador. Muchos hicieron eco de la llegada tarde del candidato nacionalista. La BBC percibio a Humala como un pobre orador con una debil capacidad para entender la politica peruana pero firme con sus planes.
Fujimori on Human Rights Abuses
When it comes to human rights abuses committed during his government, Alberto Fujimori always insisted they were “isolated events.” Freed from prison on bail, Fujimori returned to this refrain in his first statement to the press. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet insists that the judiciary in her country is autonomous and that the release of Fujimori on bail does not send any political signals to Peru.
Michelle Bachelet se pronuncia sobre el tema Fujimori
La presidenta de Chile, Michelle Bachelet, dijo que la liberación del ex mandatario peruano Alberto Fujimori no es una señal política para Perú y consideró que las relaciones entre ambos países deben mantenerse sin complicaciones, que este hecho es una decisión de los tribunales de su país y no de su gobierno.
Diarios del mundo comentan la liberacion de Fujimori
Los medios de Chile informan sobre la liberacion de Fujimori
La liberacion del expresidente peruano Alberto Fujimori es parte de la pagina principal de casi todos lo medios chilenos. Aqui un compendio de los articulos encontrados en las ultimas horas, luego de concerse la decision de la Corte Suprema chilena.
Latin Revolution Leaves Sour Taste in Vienna
Vladimir Torres
Embassy
May 17, 2006
Ollanta Humala: “Alan es el candidato de Chile”
En una reciente conferencia de prensa, el candidato nacionalista Ollanta Humala declaró que Alan García es el candidato de los chilenos en referencia a una encuesta en Chile en la cual la mayoría de los chilenos prefería al aprista como presidente.
57% de chilenos prefieren a Alan García de presidente del Perú
Según los resultados de la encuesta “Percepciones sobre las elecciones en Perú y el caso Fujimori” realizada por la Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (Flacso) en Santiago de Chile, el 57% de los ciudadanos del país sureño cree que al Perú le conviene que eligan a Alan García, por sobre Ollanta Humala, como nuevo presidente de la República.
Humala buscará un “arreglo con Chile” sobre límites
El diario El Mercurio de Chile informa la intencion de Humala de desarrollar una estrategia para obtener los fines politicos en la demarcacion de la frontera maritima con Chile.
Mariano Grondona opina sobre Humala y Garcia
Mariano Grondona (periodista, sociólogo y ensayista argentino) da una vision pesismista del futuro de Peru, Bolivia y Argentina. Segun el autor, la izquierda de estos paises, a diferencia de las de Brasil, Chile y Uruguay, no han aprendido las lecciones del pasado. Segun Grondona “Los peruanos deberán escoger hoy, por lo visto, entre un viejo y un nuevo demagogo.”
Andrés Oppenheimer sobre Alan García
García está cabalgando sobre la mala imagen de Humala para ganar estas elecciones
Newspaper Pagina 12 (from Argentina) reports on the increasing support for Alan Garcia because of the ‘fear factor’ against Humala. It is a fear constantly fueled by the media, insisting in portraying Ollanta Humala as an ‘authoritarian risk.’ According to political analysts, Humala is not being skillful in presenting himself as a secure choice. His recent visit to Evo Morales and Chavez public support for him (two political figures with low acceptance levels in Peru), have asserted in the electorate the image that Humala is a risky choice.
Interview with Fernando Sánchez Albavera
Fernando Sánchez Albavera is a progressive economist, currently at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Lloyd Axworthy: “The Media Should Not Aggravate Division”
“The Media Should Not Aggravate Division.”
Interview with Lloyd Axworthy, La República, 12 May 2006, p. 8.
María Elena Castillo
Photo: Yanina Patricio
Byline: “The president of the Mission of Observers of the OAS called upon all actors in the second round to respect the rules of the game. He stated that while there is no law that regulates the news media, the media should assume their responsibility and be impartial.”
Civil society organizations and political parties have complained about the lack of impartiality of the mass media in the first round. What might happen if this is repeated in the current process?
When the OAS created the dialogue round tables in 2000, a fundamental issue was that the mass media was controlled by the government, which had a negative effect on the election at that time, and which was considered seriously manipulated. Now the situation is totally different. The media are in the hands of private sector, but the same principle of respect for the candidates, regardless of their political affiliation, should be applied.
But this does not happen…
There is enough evidence to suggest that the media were not as balanced as they should be. And perhaps it would be appropriate to return to a new dialogue round table to speak about the role of the mass media. In a situation as polarized as the Peruvian case, the media should not contribute to increase the division. This cannot be changed from one day to the next, but nor should the same error be repeated, because if the media are under the power of the government, or they are overly dominated by the private sector, it is the voters who suffer.
According to a survey by Calandria people think the media, especially television, focuses more on scandals than on the platforms of the parties for government. Do you think this information should be regulated?
This phenomenon is not only in Peru. The media, above all electronic, are influenced by what they can sell. But an election is a special moment in the democratic process, and the freedom of the press, which is a fundamental right, also implies responsibilities. After the discussion of the year 2000, a consensus developed and things were reformed. It would be good review this history.
Were these accords enforced during the first round?
I am not an analyst of the mass media, but I have received complaints from different sources, both in civil society and the political parties. From my experience in Canada, of over 30 years, I know that when this type of lack of impartiality is too obvious, you cannot have a fair election. There is no law that says what can be put in the news, and there should be no such law, but one must call on the media to be responsible.
How can attacks candidate be avoided, such as the ones we saw this past April?
We have recommended improvements in security in the voting stations, as well as deterrent security so that these sorts of uprisings do not occur. We have met with the electoral authorities and I know that they are working on measures to overcome these situations.
But there are things that escape one’s hands…
The political parties themselves can avoid polarization, and their leaders have a great responsibility. First, they themselves should obey the rules, since if they use a language of accusations or begin extreme personal attacks, their supporters will obviously follow them.
Will the report that you [the Mission] issue at the end of the process include the statements of the president of Venezuela, supporting one of the candidates?
Our work does not take positions on disputes between countries with respect to the Free Trade Agreement or other themes, but if these statements might influence in a clear way the vote by the Peruvian people this would go against the democratic charter of the OAS. What happened, happened, but we will be vigilant and will be asking that the rules be respected in the next weeks of the campaign.
But will you pronounced on the matter if someone, here or outside, does not obey?
Yes. The right of the Peruvian people to choose their government is sacred. To put it in personal terms, if the president of the United States made statements about who should be elected (in my country, Canada), I as a Canadian, would feel that the president had infringed on my rights.
Box: “Every election should be better than the last.”
What are political campaigns like in Canada? Are there as many complaints about dirty wars, as here?
Yes, sometimes. In 1988 I was a member of parliament for an opposition party and the FTA with the US was being negotiated. We opposed this because we felt it was a bad deal for us. As a result, 8 days before the election, in which we were ahead, we were confronted by a huge amount of information with very personal attacks. If a camera could have captured this I would show the scars I have from this period. So when I speak of the behavior of the media, I know what I am talking about from personal experience. In that case we lost the election but we won the next one.
So there is not much difference with us then?
We learned from the election and now have stronger rules. In Canadian politics there are strong restrictions with respect to contributions by private firms and unions, only natural persons can give money, but with limits very clearly established; what is more there is free access to the electronic media and a commission of telecommunications that monitors the elections to verify if there is a fair assignment of time for all the candidates. Because one learns from ones errors; Peru is passing through the same, it is step by step, and every election should be better than the one before.
In your country are there debates?
Many. In the last election where were three debates between the leaders. In general, all have been very healthy, although some complete with hockey games, which have their finals in April or May. For this reasons we never have elections in those months.
Translation: M.A. Cameron
Humala’s Visa Revoked under US Patriot Act
May 12th: From Vienna, President Alejandro Toledo has called on US government to review the Humala case and to rectify a mistake, if that is the case.
Arthur Ituassu: Recycled Politics in Latin America
Boston Globe: Anger toward US boosts Latin America’s leftist leaders
Internationalization of the Peruvian Election
Nadine Heredia marca distancias con Hugo Chávez
Preocupa a inversionistas una posible ola estatista en el Perú
Analistas advierten que las promesas de los dos candidatos de incrementar el rol del Estado perjudicara al Peru. Los planes de ambos candidatos estan provocando una gran preocupacion entre actuales y potenciales inversores en el Peru. Esta preocupacion se ve confirmada por la decision de Morales el pasado 1 de mayo de nacionalizar los hidrocarburos y la reciente visita de Ollanta Humala al presidente boliviano en Copacabana. Mas aun, la aceptacion por parte de Venezuela, Argentina y Brazil de la decision de Morales no ha ayudado a calmar los animos de los inversionistas.
Statement by OAS Mission Chief Follows International Law
The recent statements by OAS Electoral Observation Mission chief Lloyd Axworthy were reported by most of the printed press today. El Comercio called the message clear and well directed. It said Axworthy was cautious when asked about Hugo Chavez, but mentioned article 3 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter which calls for non-intervention among members states of the OAS. This is an error, it is the OAS Charter not the Democratic Charter that concerns non-intervention.
Peru.21 emphasized that Axworthy not only rejected the gross interference of Chavez, but also implied criticism of the recent commentaries made by Alejandro Toledo. Toledo denied that he has interfered in the election with the following non-sequitur: “I am respectful because I am the one who calls the election.”
El Peruano quotes ambassador Gonzalo Fernandez Puyo, President of the Peruvian society for International Law, who says that the declaration of the mission chief follows international law. Intervention means more than territorial incursion. No foreign leader should take sides until the people have decided. “After the results are in, they can applaud all they want for whoever they want,” he said.