Propuestas de gobierno - elecciones municipales en el Perú

En el Perú se acercan las elecciones municipales y regionales, que tendrán lugar este domingo 5 de octubre. He tenido la oportunidad de ver el desenvolvimiento de varios de los procesos electorales en Arequipa, específicamente las contiendas por el gobierno de la región de Arequipa, la provincia de Arequipa, la provincia de Caylloma, y el distrito de Cabanaconde. Después de bastante tiempo en el Perú y en Arequipa, tengo mis propias opiniones sobre la problematica economica, social y ambiental a nivel regional y local, y me precoupa que haya temas importantes que no reciben el debido atención de los candidatos.

 Estos temas tienen que ver, sobre todo, con el medio ambiente – que es la base de la prosperidad a largo plazo y la calidad de vida, pero que se está deteriorando poco a poco, sin que se despierte mucha preocupación entre las autoridades o la población. Además, creo que hay un permanente sesgo hacía la inversión en infraestructura (digamos cemento), y no se presta suficiente atención a la inversión en personas, o a la calidada de instituciones y las relaciones sociales.

Por lo tanto, ofrezco mis propias sugerencias – lo que yo plantearía si fuera candidato en estas elecciones. Los lugares donde tengo más conocimiento de su situación son el distrito de Cabanaconde y la provincia (ciudad) de Arequipa. Primero planteo mis propuestas para Cabanaconde y después para Arequipa (próxima edición).

CABANACONDE 

En el distrito de Cabanaconde, he podido observar la presentación de los planes de gobierno de los candidatos, además de algunos mítines que realizaron los candidatos en la Plaza de Armas. En general, las propuestas han enfocado en la expansión y mejoramiento de los sistemas de riego para la agricultura, y la realización de diferentes obras de infraestructura. Sin descartar estas propuestas, hay algunos temas que me parecen importantes que casi no han sido tocados, o se han tratado de una forma vaga y pasadiza. A continuación se presentan mis propuestas. Se reunen bajo los temas de institucionalidad, medio ambiente y turismo, los cuales tienen una estrecha relación entre ellos. Cabe mencionar que estas sugerencias son adicionales a lo que han propuesto los candidatos, no en vez de sus propuestas, teniendo en cuenta que muchas de las cosas que se propone aquí tendrían poco costo y/o posibles fuentes externas de financiamiento. 

Institucionalidad 

• trabajaría en conjunto con la comunidad campesina, comisiones de regantes, y las otras organizaciones de base (asociación productores de maíz, etc) para averiguar cómo la municipalidad puede apoyar sus iniciativas y así avanzar los objetivos de la población
• rendiría cuentas de forma regular con el fin de que la población pueda ver cómo se gasta los recursos de la municipalidad y cómo se están financiando los proyectos 
• respetaría los proyectos iniciados por la anterior administración y seguiría con su implementación, siempre que no hagan daño al interés publico y no representen un gasto inapropiado 
• mantendría vinculos constructivos con el gobierno provincial y regional, Autocolca, los ministerios de Salud, Educación, Agricultura, Transportes, Cultura y Medio Ambiente, además de los ONG y programas como Sierra Sur, para estar pendiente de cómo sus proyectos y propuestas podrían ayudar el distrito 
• mantendría vínculos con las asociaciones de cabanacondinos en Arequipa, Lima y los EEUU para recibir sus sugerencias y aportes constructivos  

Medio ambiente 

• instalaría tachos de basura en todas las calles principales (no solamente la Plaza de Armas)
• trabajaría con las emisoras de radio para promocionar el cuidado del medio ambiente entre la población 
• trabajaría con la comunidad campesina para realizar faenas de limpieza de los caminos y las canales y imponer multas a las personas que botan basura en estas áreas 
• requeriría que los devotos u organizadores de todas las fiestas tengan un plan de manejo de la basura y coordinaría con ellos para asegurar una rápida y efectiva limpeza después de cada fiesta 
• establecería un sistema de separación de la basura, recolección de productos reciclables, y producción de compus para usar como fertilizante 
• trabajaría con la comunidad campesina, comisión de regantes y asociación de productores de maíz para vigilar y prevenir el uso de agroquímicos en la campiña 
• trabajaría con la comunidad campesina para implementar un programa de reforestación a través del distrito

Turismo

• mejoraría la señalización de los atractivos turísticos y las rutas de caminata en todo el distrito
• trabajaría con Autocolca para mantener los caminos que bajan al cañón y mejorar el camino Cabanaconde-Seccana, buscando la forma de separa este camino de las aguas de riego 
• trabajaría con la poblacion, los emprendedores de turismo, las agencias de viaje para promocionar el agro-turismo, con el fin de genera ingresos adicionales para los agricultores y incentiva el mantenimiento de las costumbres tradicionales 
• investigaría la posibilidad de alquilar un local en el centro de Arequipa como oficina turística para informar sobre el distrito, vender ejemplos de algunos de los productos locales, y promocionar el turismo independiente 
• trabajaría con el gobierno provincial para abrir el museo SIN o CON la momia Juanita, con un enfoque en historia, cultura y territorio: haría concursos en los colegios y entre la población para desarrollar >exposiciones y muestras para el museo 
• invitaria al Ministerio de Cultura a una reunión abierta sobre los restos arqueológicos, para debatir cómo su conservación y uso turístico puede beneficiar a la población y puede ser compatible con el uso del territorio por sus necesidades, como agricultura y vivienda
• haría una investigacion para ver la posibilidad de salvar y recuperar las casas de piedra y paja que están en abandono, haciendo contacto con los dueños que están en Lima o el extranjero 
• desarrollaría una propuesta para establecer un mercado permanente o semi-permanente (quizás en el mercadillo al lado de la comisaría), donde se puede vender artesanía, granos, frutas y otros productos típicos 
• uniría la oficina de información turística con la biblioteca establecida por el Cuerpo de Paz y haría esfuerzos para traer documentos históricos y investigaciones que se han realizado sobre el distrito y su historia y costumbres; esto sería un recurso tanto para la población como para los visitantes 
• convocaría a los emprendedores y otros interesados en turismo a una reunión regular para escuchar sus preoccupaciones y ver cómo la municipalidad les puede apoyar

Patented!

According to Google, nobody or almost nobody else has used the following phrases in the same way that I'm proposing. So I'd better note them down now.

 "Never-industrial" as an adjective. I propose this an alternative to "postindustrial" in the case of an economy and society that is clearly in the post-modern phase (in terms of demography, consumption, employment, technology, media, politics, etc) but has never experienced an "industrial" phase of mass, stable, formal urban employment (whether or not related primarily to manufacturing).  Peru is an obvious example.

One other person seems to have used this in a similar way in 2007, but I thought of it independently. 

"Ethnically male"  - this occurred to me while talking about Martin Amis. What is distinctive about his novels (I'm thinking Money, London Fields and The Information) is that the male viewpoint is not just a default setting for how the world is seen; rather, male identity is acknowledged and explored: the novels are at least in part about maleness.

Athletic and Practical Goals I Still Have Despite the Passage of Time

More or less in order of estimated plausibility:

• Run some more half marathons and/or off-road runs 
• Run at least one marathon
• Be able to tie (and remember) a variety of appropriate knots for different situations
• Successfully complete a basic rock and/or ice climbing course
• Learn to plough accurately with a yunta
• Be able to put up and take down a variety of different tents without guidance or supervision
• Learn to saddle and load a donkey from scratch
• Complete a multiple-day tramp requiring navigation with map and compass
• Complete the Southern Crossing 1-day run from Otaki Forks to Kaitoke
• Run a half marathon in 1:30 or less
• Learn how to saddle and load a mule from scratch
• Climb a mountain that has some technical aspects
• Climb an 8,000-metre peak

El Maíz Cabanita: El Lampeo (Helping the Plants Grow)

Four weeks after planting, the green shoots of the maize plants are already poking through the soil, giving a verdant appearance to the otherwise dry countryside that won't see significant rain until at least December. The next part of the cultivation cycle is the lampeo, whose purpose might be described as giving the maize plants a helping hand to keep growing. The word is derived from lampa (regional Spanish meaning spade or shovel), and it occurs when the maize plants are about one foot tall, around a week after they have been watered as part of the latest irrigation cycle. The main activity involves walking along the rows between the plants and using a spade to scoop earth onto the plants on each side of the row. This has a dual purpose: it surrounds the vulnerable green shoots with a supportive mound of earth; and it also removes any weeds that are beginning to encroach into their space.

Given that it involves continuous bending over and digging with a shovel, the lampeo is hard work, and ideally a team of five to six men will work together to complete a single medium-sized chacra or a couple of small ones (I was the sixth member of the team in the photo above). The aim is usually to start early, before sunrise if possible, and to work for no more than 5 to 6 hours, finishing by mid morning. The lampeo has some similarities to the solay in that the owner of the chacra will usually prepare chicha for the workers and will offer them a bowl of caldo before they head out to work. The women arrive at the chacra around mid-morning with food, more chicha and perhaps some beer or other alcohol, and there is a mini-celebration after the work is finished.

Overall, the lampeo is less ceremonial and social than the solay but less pure hard work than the harvest. It is unique in that it is one of the few activities during the cultivation cycle that is carried out with purely with human labour and does not involve any animals. I guess that's a reminder that although maize cultivation in the area goes back well into the pre-Incan period, even some of its most “traditional” aspects are strongly influenced by Spanish colonisation. There's a saying in the Peruvian sierra that “the bull is the best thing the Spanish ever brought” and I imagine donkeys and mules would follow somewhere behind (llamas can be used as pack animals but are out-performed by mules, and they are generally not suitable for agricultural work). After a few hours of back-stiffening work with a spade during the lampeo you can certainly appreciate the overall contribution that animal power makes to the maize production process.

A Brief Litany of Labour Abuses in Peru

A person I know recently told me about  the case of a friend of hers, who was working as an apprentice employee of a large train operator in a Peruvian tourist centre. While working for the train operator, the friend made a mistake on the, apparently rigid and unforgiving, Amadeus reservation system, and was docked $20 USD (from her monthly part-time pay of $150 USD). Such mistakes apparently need to be corrected through an unwieldy bureaucratic process involving the physical movement of pieces of paper; yet they are fixable.

I'm not sure the practice of 'discounting' worker's wages for mistakes they make that result in losses is ever legal, anywhere, and it's certainly not right. A worker never receives the full positive benefit of transactions that they undertake successfully - so why should they ever have to bear the cost of unsuccessful ones? Although the practice is abusive, it's perhaps understandable that it is common in small and informal businesses where profit margins are very small. But this example comes from a large, formal business, part of a multinational operation that makes millions of dollars in profit.

This has inspired me to document some of the other labour abuses that I hear of from time to time in Peru. I'm not sure which of these result from violation of existing laws and regulations, and which are actually legal under Peru's notoriously 'flexible' labour legislation, but putting them in a list is a start:

• A person has been working for a government ministry for 4 years, doing the same job, on a series of fixed-term contracts. Each year, her contract has been terminated, and then she has been invited to re-apply at the start of the next year. This means she has none of the rights of a formal employee. She is apparently considered a 'consultant', but her pay is not commensurate with this status, she has to keep fixed work hours, and she has little to no liberty in how she does her job.

• Employees of a regional government office are required to 'swipe in' and 'swipe out' with an electronic fingerprint recognition system, every time they leave the building. Bear in mind that these are professionals with positions of responsibility, who are frequently required to attend meetings - yet they are treated like the most lowly production line workers. Someone else I know who worked in a local government office reported that arriving even 10 to 15 minutes late for work can result in being docked (already low) wages.

•  Teachers at a rural technical institute were required to sign a contract saying they will provide remedial classes for a certain number of hours for students who are failing. These are to be provided outside normal working hours. Yet, instead of paying the teachers overtime, the institute has told the teachers that they must negotiate payment directly with the students. Because most of the students come form low-income families, they will not be able to pay much. The teachers will officially be required to provide an additional 50 hours tuition for approximately S/.60, a marginal rate of pay worse than any shoeshine boy or street vendor.

• At the same institute, there are no text books or resources for preparing class materials and teachers have to spend their own money on printing and photocopying. Further, for their annual evaluation, they are required to present a folder of material including print copies of a couple of standard 100-page policy documents, resulting in a cost of approximately S/. 50 (from a monthly after-tax salary of S/. 1,150)  - i.e. they are paying about 5% of their wage for the privilege of having a performance review.

• A waitress in a restaurant in a provincial centre works on weekdays from 8am to 4pm and is paid S/.300. Although she also gets provided food this is less than one half of the official full time minimum wage of S/. 750, which itself is barely at a subsistence level. This is a popular eating place for workers in the health, education and NGO sectors, because they can eat reasonably well at a low price, suggesting that the value of their own low wages is being subsidised by workers on the next tier down.

• Most of the small travel agencies and tour operators in Arequipa are at least partially staffed by students undertaking their required practical experience. Such interns are legally required to be paid a wage, but this is almost universally ignored, and most do not get lunch or bus money either. (This is one case at least where formal labour legislation is being violated, but as far as I can tell there is no interest in enforcement, and neither do the educational institutions that these students attend seem interested in the situation).

I'm sure there will be many more, and more egregious, examples that I'll be able to list over time. For now, it's worth noting that the above examples do not all come from informal, sweatshop-style businesses but several are from large companies or the public sector - which you would think would set an example for decent working conditions.

La Primavera Chola

A couple of short topical posts coming up.

An interesting development in Peru in the last week is the widespread public disgust, and the protest action led by the young, educated middle classes, at the apparent collusion by parties in Parliament to appoint a series of party hacks to important public positions including the People's Defender (Defensoria del Pueblo), Constitutional Tribunal and Reserve Bank.

The appointments have been described as a repartija ("doling out).  The outgoing People's Defender expressed dismay at the perception that his office was being sold off and would thereby lose credibility and independence.

However, already the outcry and protests have caused President Ollanta Humala and other party leaders to express disappointment and dissatisfaction at Parliament's choices - despite the fact that they were all probably involved in stitching up the deal - and for many of the nominated individuals to indicate they will not accept their posts and suggest that a new nomination process be held.

 Protest action is of course extremely widespread in Peru; what is interesting about this movement is that it's not directly tied to resource or labour conflicts and there are no clear material interests at stake,. Rather, it is driven by a general sense of dissatisfaction with the corruption and manipulation of the political class.

These protests have already been semi-jokingly described as "La Primavera Chola", (the only short translation would be "Andean Spring", but this link provides some, though incomplete and not very well translated, context); and they have been linked with the huge protests in Brazil during the Confederations Cup and the ongoing student-led demands in Chile for improved public education.

What has happened in Peru is of course on a much tinier scale than those movements, but it does have significance. Along with the narrow defeat of the recall movement against social democratic Lima mayor Susana Villarán and the decision not to grant a pardon to imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori, it may be seen as representing the 'green shoots' of a more democratic and accountable politics in Peru.Time will tell.

Maiz Cabanita: El Solay/La Siembra (Planting Season) 2

The day of the solay doesn't start so early, around 7:30-8:00 (perhaps one reason why it was the aspect of the cultivation cycle I participated in most). The workers gather at the house of the person who is doing the planting, and everyone is served a bowl of caldo, thick soup, as well as a large glass of chicha, the first of many during the day.

The men then head off to the chacra. There needs to be enough hands to herd two teams of bulls, carry the pero or plough, lead the horse, mule or donkey that will be used to majonear, and take a porongo or 20-litre plastic container of chicha. I was responsible for all of these tasks on different days. The dense wood of the pero is carried balanced over the shoulder, and doesn't seem to weigh much at first, but after about 15 minutes it starts to become heavier (especially when heading uphill over uneven terrain), and when the chacra is a long way away it can feel like carrying one's own personal cross.

The work during the morning varies, depending on what kind of preparation there has been prior to the day of planting, and what condition the chacra has been left in after the previous year. If the chacra has not already been ploughed by a tractor, it's necessary to plough and majonear twice to prepare the earth for planting. Sometimes, if a small chacra is to be planted as well as another medium-sized one in the same day, the small one may be planted in the morning, somewhat guiltily, without ceremony. Often there's work to be done in filling in the gaps in the terrace walls where animals have been allowed to wander in and out during fallow season. If the chacra is in stony terrain, rocks and stones need to be gathered up. Usually, there's the tough job of fighting back the grass that has invaded the border of the chacra. If this hasn't been done thoroughly the previous year, and the grass has made its way into the centre of the chacra, this task can continue into the afternoon.   

Every half hour or so, someone will serve all his fellow workers a big glass of chicha. Coca leaves and sometimes jampi (herbal licor) will also be shared around. The chicha and the coca seem to gradually  banish pain and tiredness: there were several days when I barely managed to get out of bed to make it to the solay, but by mid-morning was feeling relaxed and relatively energetic.

Around 11:30-12:00 midday, the women arrive. This will be the owner of the chacra, or the owner's partner, plus her relatives or comadres. They have been cooking back in the village and will bring food for lunch as well as chicha for the rest of the day. Sometimes other friends will arrive around this time as well, bringing gifts, usually alcoholic: beer, wine, pisco, champagne and rum may be added to the chicha and jampi.

Lunch is served, the men and women sitting apart in different groups. Lunch during planting is usually sumptuous: the owner of the chacra will want to make sure that their workers and guests are well fed and happy.

After lunch is the centrepiece of the solay, the mocco tinkay,which could perhaps be translated as "seed blessing ceremony". Mocco is Quechua for seed, while the tinka, which in Cabanaconde has been hispanicized into the verb tinkar, is the act of splashing what one is drinking, generally onto the earth, although cattle or other objects can also receive a tinka.

For the mocco tinkay, the men gather in a semi-circle, always facing towards Hualca Hualca, the apu tutelar, or mountain god, of Cabanaconde. The owner of the chacra and/or those responsible for ploughing take pride of place at the left side of the semi-circle. The women sit or crouch in another loose semi-circle, facing the men, while the seeds that will be planted are placed on a lliclla (blanket) in front of them. One of the women, usually the youngest, will serve each of the men in turn with a glass of everything that has been brought. Obligatory are chicha, jampi and pito: chicha mixed with various cereals including barley, maca and kiwicha. Cigarettes and coca are also passed around. As each person is handed the glass, they will splash a little on the ground, perhaps making an invocation to the pachamama or to Hualca Hualca, and then drink the rest.There will be conversation and jokes, and in larger events, someone may be especially designated to play the clown.

The women then turn to face the seeds, and it's their turn to sample some of every drink. When this is done, the seeds will be organized into bundles and one of the women will deliver these to the men who will be doing the sowing. This is known as to levantar la semilla, literally to lift up the seeds.

Once the ceremony is completed, it's time to work. The two yuntas plough the chacra, while those responsible for sowing the seeds follow behind. In some cases, a further person will add natural fertiliser from sacks of guano de isla, ground up bird droppings from the Peruvian coast. Finally, others may continue to gramear, or clear the grass from the chacra. As described in the previous post, it's expected that both the ploughing and sowing will be done by men, while women and children can participate  in the remaining tasks. The gender division is fairly unique to Cabanaconde: in other parts of Peru, and even elsewhere in the Colca Valley, women scatter the seeds, but as many have commented, a peculiar kind of machismo predominates in Cabanaconde.

 The final act of the day is to serve the alsa. This is kind of a picnic that is spread out on llicllas, as in the photo above. The base ingredient is toasted maize, and to this are added olives, cheese, fried pastry, cold meat, and ideally, small dried fish sourced from the Laguna de Mucurca, a large lagoon in the mountains above Cabanaconde. The alsa is considered a great delicacy, and people who remain in the village will often ask you to bring them back some if you are going to the solay.

By the end of the day, most of the participants will be slightly drunk, especially if the owner has prepared a particularly strong batch of chicha, or if people have brought lots of additional beer and liquor. In the best cases, everyone will be relaxed and happy, and there will be lots of joking and ribaldry. This was the case in the solay of Javier and Angelica (also attended by a group of French tourists as part of the Cabanaconde Turismo project), pictured below in one of my favourite photos.