A far-left activist in Peru who promises to seize foreign mines and the daughter of a former authoritarian president will face each other in presidential elections that offer voters two completely different ideological options in a country ravaged by political turmoil and the pandemic.
The election pits Pedro Castillo, a 51-year-old former schoolteacher, who says he would nationalize mining projects and dismantle a business-friendly economic model, against Keiko Fujimori, whose father ruled Peru with an iron fist.
That Mr. Castillo, who leads a Marxist-inspired party that glorifies Fidel Castro, could take office is a blow to a business class that thrived as Peru’s trade-friendly economy boomed for much of the past two decades. Major investors here include subsidiaries of Anglo American PLC, Newmont Mining Corp. from Denver and Aluminum Corporation of China.
“We are often told that only political scientists, constitutionalists, erudite politicians and the highly educated can rule a country,” Castillo told supporters recently. “They’ve had plenty of time.”
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, he said he sees this election as a “contest between the rich and the poor … I see a fight between the boss and the worker, the master and the slave.”