Free Peru ( es, Perú Libre), officially the Free Peru National Political Party ( es, Partido Político Nacional Perú Libre), is a

Marxist Marxism is a Left-wing politics, left-wing to Far-left politics, far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a Materialism, materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand S ...

political party in Peru. Founded in 2008 as the Free Peru Political Regional Movement, the party was officially constituted as a national organization in February 2012 by the name of Libertarian Peru. It was registered as a political party in January 2016 and adopted its current name, Free Peru, in January 2019. Its

presidential President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

candidate Pedro Castillo won the

2021 Peruvian general election General elections were held in Peru on 11 April 2021. The presidential election, which determined the President of Peru, president and the Vice President of Peru, vice presidents, required a run-off between the two top candidates, which was held ...

against Popular Force nominee Keiko Fujimori. Free Peru has the second most seats in the Congress of Peru with 22 out of 130 total representatives, but its opposition continued to rule Congress after forming a larger alliance of seats led by the Popular Action party. Free Peru is a participant in the São Paulo Forum, an annual conference of leftist parties in the Americas.

History

The party was founded in August 2008 by former Junín governor Vladimir Cerrón, who is serving a four-year and five-month prison sentence after being found responsible for crimes of incompatible negotiation and for taking advantage of his regional position to the detriment of the

Peruvian State {{unreferenced, date=January 2014 The Peruvian State, which is conceptually the Peruvian nation legally organized, is the entity that holds the government in the Republic of Peru. The state's structure is defined in the Constitution of Peru approv ...

during the management of sanitation work in La Oroya, from 2011 to 2014. The Superior Court of Junín issued the sentence on 5 August 2019. Cerrón had been elected in 2018 for a second non-consecutive term as governor, but his tenure was cut short due to the sentence. Still, he formally leads the party in his position of Secretary-General. Cerrón ran as a presidential candidate in the

2016 Peruvian general election General elections were held in Peru on 10 April 2016 to determine the president, vice-presidents, composition of the Congress of the Republic of Peru and the Peruvian representatives of the Andean Parliament. In the race for the presidency, in ...

, and registered his candidacy on 11 January 2016 but withdrew from the race two months later due to little support in his candidacy and also to prevent the party from losing its electoral registration. In the 2018 regional and municipal elections, Cerrón took the businessman, journalist, and radio host Ricardo Belmont as a candidate for the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima, obtaining 3.89% of the votes validly cast in Lima. In the

2020 Peruvian parliamentary election Early parliamentary elections were held in Peru on 26 January 2020.Congress of the Republic of Peru, as the party failed to reach the electoral threshold. Months before the election, the party was in talks with the Together for Peru coalition and New Peru in order to run allied in the parliamentary election; however, due to Cerrón's criminal profile and many prominent New Peru members quitting their party as the union materialized, the alliance fell through and the parties ran separately in the election, in which neither achieved representation. Their presidential nominee Pedro Castillo unexpectedly took the lead in the first round of the

after seeing a surprise surge in support starting around one month before the election. After his victory in the first electoral round, Castillo asked to dialogue with other Peruvian political forces in order to achieve political agreement; however, he ruled out making a roadmap as Ollanta Humala did, maintaining ideological discourse. In January 2022, vice president Dina Boluarte was expelled from Free Peru by Vladimir Cerrón after she stated during an interview with '' La República'' that she had never embraced the party's ideology. Cerrón said that Boluarte's comments threatened party unity. Her departure was followed by President Castillo's several months later, in June 2022, when he resigned from the party following a request by Cerrón. The latter accused Castillo of implementing policies out of step with Free Peru.

Ideology

The party describes itself as "a left-wing socialist organization" that supports

anti-imperialism Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...

, democracy, decentralization,

federalism Federalism is a combined or compound mode of government that combines a general government (the central or "federal" government) with regional governments (Province, provincial, State (sub-national), state, Canton (administrative division), can ...

, humanism, internationalism, Latin American integration, and sovereignty. The party claims to uphold the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and José Carlos Mariátegui. Free Peru's political position has been variously described by observers as left-wing, to

far-left Far-left politics, also known as the radical left or the extreme left, are politics further to the left on the left–right political spectrum than the standard political left. The term does not have a single definition. Some scholars consider ...

, and the party's

ideology An ideology is a set of beliefs or philosophies attributed to a person or group of persons, especially those held for reasons that are not purely epistemic, in which "practical elements are as prominent as theoretical ones." Formerly applied pri ...

has been described as

, Marxist–Leninist, and socialist. Both Pedro Castillo and Vladimir Cerrón have taken conservative stances on social issues, as did their

right-wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authorit ...

opponents, including opposing same-sex marriage and abortion. Following his success in the first round of the 2021 presidential election, Castillo said that he opposes '' Chavismo'' and

Nicolás Maduro Nicolás Maduro Moros (; born 23 November 1962) is a Venezuelan politician and president of Venezuela since 2013, with his presidency under dispute since 2019. Beginning his working life as a bus driver, Maduro rose to become a trade unio ...

, distanced himself from those on the far-left in the party, would not nationalize industry, and would honor the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

to placate market alarmism, adding that he would lead the party instead of Cerrón.

Domestic

In domestic affairs, Free Peru is opposed to neoliberalism and states that their party seeks "to rescue the minimized, almost imperceptible and dying State from the subjugation of market dictatorship". Free Peru says that when Peru adopted neoliberalism and markets were deregulated, foreign companies assumed control of the economy, exploitation of labor increased, inequality grew and the country was led "to a neocolony condition". Initially, the

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of mines, gas, oil, hydroelectricity, and telecommunications in order to fund social programs was a goal of Free Peru; however, in an attempt to appease foreign business interests, Castillo promised that his government would not nationalize industry within Peru. At the same time, he reaffirmed his party's position of defending the distribution of wealth. Cerrón said that Free Peru is opposed to Fujimorism. While initially supportive of

decriminalizing Decriminalization or decriminalisation is the reclassification in law relating to certain acts or aspects of such to the effect that they are no longer considered a crime, including the removal of criminal penalties in relation to them. This reform ...

abortion, the party later came out in support of existing restrictions. In December 2019, Cerrón said he changed his mind about discussing gender in school curriculum and accepted it.

International

Internationally, Cerrón has emphasized the party "defends revolutionary processes in the world, especially in Latin America: Cuba, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Venezuela and Bolivia". Free Peru has shared praise for some of the policies of

Fidel Castro Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (; ; 13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 200 ...

and

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

for their foreign policy and regional solidarity. The party also opposes the Lima Group. In an article published on the party’s website, Cerrón praised the rule of Russian president Vladimir Putin. During his candidacy for the 2021 presidential elections, Castillo defended the government of

in Venezuela, describing it as "a democratic government". He would later retract his statements, stating that " ere is no ''Chavismo'' here", and saying of President Maduro, "if there is something he has to say concerning Peru, that he first fix his internal problems". The party described the Venezuelan refugee crisis as a

human trafficking Human trafficking is the trade of humans for the purpose of forced labour, sexual slavery, or commercial sexual exploitation for the trafficker or others. This may encompass providing a spouse in the context of forced marriage, or the extrac ...

issue, with Castillo saying that Venezuelans were in Peru "to commit crimes".

Electoral history

Presidential

Congress of the Republic of Peru

Regional and municipal elections

References

External links

* {{Peruvian political parties 2008 establishments in Peru Foro de São Paulo Left-wing politics in Peru Political parties established in 2008 Political parties in Peru Socialist parties in Peru