‘No one in Peru today thinks of breaking pillars of the rule of law’

RFI: Ambassador, July 28 is an important date for all Peruvians because it marks the milestone of separation from Spain and the beginning of the republican and democratic life of the country. How does Peru get to the celebration of these national holidays today in 2022?

Rolando Ruiz Rosas Cateriano: Peru arrives with the expectations of a festive moment. The communities abroad to which I am now closest celebrate this anniversary with various activities. In Paris, we have had a mass convened by the Consulate General and the presence of numerous compatriots with whom we have also shared various moments.

RFI: Apart from the events in the Peruvian community, there are problems that have been dragging on since colonial times: discrimination and racism, for example, towards the figure of the Indian or the cholo are flaws from which it has not been possible to get rid of the country. Without going too far, a few months ago in Europe the news of the wedding of a Peruvian and Spanish couple surprised. The bride was the daughter of a Peruvian presidential candidate, it must be said, and the couple celebrated the marriage with a staging where Peruvians dressed as slaves and tied with a kind of chain were seen. Why are these types of demonstrations still so valid in Peru exactly 201 years after independence from Spain?

Rolando Ruiz Rosas Cateriano: It is not for me to pronounce specifically on that case, which was also aired in the press and by those who carried it out. Classism and discrimination, in the Peruvian case, are attributed a very important influence of the social organization of the colonial period and, according to some, it even worsened in some regions in the republican period. We cannot ignore these facts that you have referred to, but I believe that the Peruvian State has advanced in the recognition of equal rights and in the sanction against these practices. In fact, today we have the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights and Peru is also an adherent of the main human rights instruments in the United Nations system.

RFI : Another problem today is that of corruption. Since 1985, for example Alan García to Martín Vizcarra, presidents have been prosecuted or are in prison or have had some link with corruption. Is corruption an endemic evil in Peru? Are we talking about a republican country or, on the contrary, about a State without law and where the laws are not to be followed?

Rolando Ruiz Rosas Cateriano: Corruption is not a new phenomenon and it is – especially in the case of corruption involving large assets – increasingly transnational. Before entering the national matter, I want to highlight the efforts that Peru has made through its foreign policy to position the fight against corruption on the international agenda.

This leads to the fact that even the highest instances of the State have been touched. These accusations at such a high level, in recent decades, show precisely the strength of the institutionality insofar as only independent and qualified institutions can exercise these capacities.

At an event organized with the Norwegian government regarding corruption in large assets, an international transparency expert pointed out that it was not surprising that in Peru the cases had been so advanced because, for example, in the case of requests for international cooperation that the Brazilian Attorney General’s Office had received, regarding the Lava Jato case, 60% of the requests for international cooperation had come from the Peruvian judicial authorities.

Beyond this, what I do allow myself to do is highlight that Peru has been invited in February 2022 to begin the process of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. It represents an option so that Peru, from its accession to the OECD, also has better references to optimize the standards of its public policies.

RFI: The question that everyone asks, especially seen from the outside, is why is Peru in a permanent political crisis? What happened to have governments that do not finish mandates, requests for censorship and votes of confidence, or ministers that even last only 15 days in office, like the recent Minister of the Interior, Mariano Gonzáles?

Rolando Ruiz Rosas Cateriano: It is a question that political analysts will undoubtedly be able to answer more accurately. It is clear that this phenomenon of exacerbation of political contradictions, this exclusion of political differences is not an exclusively our phenomenon. I believe that the pandemic crisis that devastated the planet also exacerbates our contradictions by opening gaps.

However, what I also want to highlight is the fact that these have always been resolved within the institutional and constitutional framework. In other words, the constitutional and democratic mechanisms that they contemplate have been used. Some may question them about the interpretation of the execution of the same, but nobody thinks in today’s Peru to break those principles and pillars that are in accordance with the rule of law.

We have a Congress in which the political forces are equally divided and an Executive that, consequently, does not have a majority in Congress. But the important thing, I think, is that the institutional framework has been able to absorb these crises within the constitutional framework.

RFI: In that sense, do the voices from Peru request that President Castillo resign have no place?

Rolando Ruiz Rosas Cateriano: I believe that those voices, like any side, have the right to express themselves, but nevertheless they must have some support and above all, respect for the institutions, for the Constitution. The Constitution contemplates the figures that you have referred to as departures in recent years.

RFI: Now, ambassador, another issue that draws attention from abroad is the hardening of the anti-immigrant agenda. There are currently several bills to modify articles of the Migration Law and there is one of them in particular that seeks to prevent migrants in an irregular situation from renting houses, hotel rooms or eventually being accepted in shelters. What is happening in that area? Furthermore, in a context where 85% of the migrant population in Peru is Venezuelan.

Rolando Ruiz Rosas Cateriano: I believe that these Legislative initiatives, which have not yet been adopted, should also not be read outside the context of what has been the great effort assumed by Peru regarding the regional migratory situation, in which we have distinguished ourselves by a spirit reception: promoting the socioeconomic integration of foreign citizens, in particular Venezuelan migration.

Between 2017 and 2020, Peru received more than 1 million Venezuelan migrants, an enormous number. Its inclusion in the offer of opportunities in general has been conceived from the Peruvian society itself. We would have liked to have more cooperation and greater commitment from some other international partners, but due to various circumstances, this has not been the case. This is a process that we have also assumed with a regional perspective, at the South American level, through the South American Conference on Migration such as the Quito Process, in which we have sought to agree on these policies.

RFI: It has been a reception at two different times, at one point, indeed, there was a kind of open doors to Venezuelan migration. And later, rather, there was a change and they began to create a series of requirements, such as the modification of articles of the Migration Law.

Rolando Ruiz Rosas Cateriano: Without going into an expansion of domestic law regarding these initiatives, what we have to distinguish is that these two phases correspond to two moments. The first is that of the migratory wave and the second is the effort to have a regular status for the migrant. Peru has been part of the pact for orderly, regular and safe migration since 2018. That implies attending to the emergency at the time, but it also implies having the migrant in a regular condition.

RFI: Finally, ambassador, relations between Peru and France date back to the beginning of the 19th century. They have been resumed year after year at the COP20 held in Lima or at the COP21 held in Paris, and where the then Peruvian Minister of the Environment played an important role. What projects are there in this sense to continue to strengthen the links between the two countries? I understand that there was an invitation to President Emmanuel Macron to visit Peru as well.

Rolando Ruiz Rosas Cateriano: I had the pleasure of presenting credentials with a set of 25 new ambassadors accredited to the French Republic and of sending an invitation to the president so that he can consider making a state visit to Peru in due course. It will certainly give a huge boost to this relationship whose ties surely go back all of our Republican history.

Although this year we celebrate 170 years of the agreement that established diplomatic relations, this relationship transcends and is nurtured in various aspects: academic, educational, social, political, economic, and cooperation. Today there is a broad spectrum of our relationship and it is also at the multilateral level.

For this reason, I am glad that you have recalled the close collaboration between the two foreign ministries to obtain a historic agreement in the framework of the environmental struggle. The main initiatives have to do with systematizing cooperation efforts and, in general, with developing those poles in which so much work has been done or such a close relationship has been developed, such as education, academic correspondence, the presence of France in Peru. Work has been done so that this is also a support for the multiplication of investments, trade and economic activity between both countries.