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NYT Gives Former Peruvian Strongman/Human Rights Abuser Feature Op-Ed Space
by Stephen Lendman
Alejandro Toledo served as Peruvian President from 2001 - 2006. He led opposition against former despot Alberto Fujimori (1990 - 2000).
He was elected on populist promises to create more jobs, alleviate dire poverty, deliver social justice, and end years of corrupted hardline rule including serious human rights abuses.
As president, he continued business as usual Washington Consensus policies - same old, same old neoliberal harshness.
They include obeying IMF/World Bank diktats, paying bankers first, privatization of state enterprises, deregulation, ignoring social needs, and cracking down hard on nonbelievers.
He targeted anyone challenging his agenda. Independent journalists were harassed, threatened and attacked. So were human rights worker.
Public protesters faced harsh recrimination. Torture remained official policy. Peruvians suffered hugely during his tenure.
Times editors ignored his ruthlessness. They featured his op-ed criticizing Venezuela's model democracy - polar opposite Peru during his tenure and today.
He blamed President Nicolas Maduro for Obama's political and economic war - including US manipulated street violence and failed February coup d'etat.
He called violent anti-government protesters "peaceful." He ignored clear evidence against coup plotters - and other opposition figures in league with Washington to topple Venezuela's government.
He ludicrously claimed Bolivarian fairness fosters inequality. His solution includes failed policies during his tenure - serving monied interests at the expense of all others, dressed up in populist rhetoric without meaning or follow-through.
He outrageously accused Maduro of "conspiratorial mindset (thinking) and authoritarian instincts...carried over from the regime of his predecessor, Hugo Chavez…"
Venezuela is the region's model democracy - polar opposite America's sham version, what Peruvians got throughout his tenure and conditions today.
Dissent was crushed. In Venezuela it's cherished. Toledo wants criminal opposition figures freed. He wants monied interests alone served.
He wants external and internal pressure maintained against sovereign Venezuelan independence. He wants pro-Western rogue leadership replacing its democracy.
Times editors share his extremism. They waged war on Venezuela throughout Chavez's tenure.
It continues against Marduro. They support wealth, power and privilege. They back every imperial war America wages.
They want monied interests alone served. They support exploiting all others to make them richer.
A Final Comment
Venezuela represents model Bolivarian fairness. Peru is polar opposite. Why the IMF and World Bank selected it for their October 5 - 12, 2015 meeting - their first in Latin America in half a century.
Thousands of neoliberal advocates will meet in Lima - in recognition of Peru following strict IMF/World Bank diktats at the expense of its own people greatly harmed.
Toledo's legacy remains in place. He urges all Latin America to follow his failed agenda - enforced by harsh crackdowns against nonbelievers.
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Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks World War III
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