However, what do we understand by corruption? As explained by Alfonso Quiroz (2018), corruption constitutes a broad and varied phenomenon that includes public and private activities, understood as the misuse of political-bureaucratic powers by politicians to obtain economic or political advantages contrary to development, through the embezzlement of public resources, together with the distortion of policies and institutions. This also entails the offering and receiving of bribes, the misallocation of funds and public spending, the self-interested misapplication of programs and policies, the political scandals, the electoral fraud, even the illegal financing of political parties.
As we can deduct from the definition at the judicial and social level, justice in Peru has become a merchandise, to which only those who can buy it have the possibility to benefit from. In the structure of the State system, different forms of corruption have been occurring, used by all categories of politicians. Indeed, can be find guilty of corruption political parties, congressmen, low or medium-rank politicians and even at the highest level of the government, to the very President of the Republic.
In this sense, different presidents of the Republic and the political parties they have belonged to, that have assumed the administration of the state, have been participants and protagonists in various cases of corruption that have led to the looting of public money, granting laws, projects and permits to favor internal or external private interests. Therefore, it has occured without caring about the well-being of the population they must serve, leading to not only the disturbance of the political and institutional order of the State but also, consequently, the constant growth of the economic gaps that exist in Peru, which maintain the existence of different social classes.
It is in the present scenario that we address the study of different cases of corruption, such as the premature departure of President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski after his resignation from office in 2018, encouraged by a legal action for alleged acts of corruption, currently in the process of criminal investigation. This led to the takeover of MartÃn Vizcarra, impeached by the Congress following corruption accusations, and then, the fleeting takeover of Manuel Merino and culminated in the assumption of office by Francisco Sagasti. This shows a strong political instability at the height of the health crisis.
Although we are currently witnessing these corruption cases, let’s remember that there were worse cases in the past, such as the ones of former presidents Alberto Fujimori, Alejandro Toledo and Alan GarcÃa. Indeed, historians agree on the existence of corruption since the creation of the Republic of Peru.
Therefore, some people theorize that the only way to end this endemic problem is to get informed in order to elect the best representatives, while others believe that anarchy would be a good option. Thus, this study wants to show in a general way the scenarios of corruption that led to the change of the political scenario at the highest level of government in Peru, which encouraged, for example, the presence of at least 4 government leaders within 4 years, in order to approach conclusions that lead us to understand the process and draw solutions to limit this problem.
