Peru's mining-driven economy posted over 3% growth in 2024 and 2025, fueled by its status as the world's second-largest copper producer. This capital accumulation continues despite the nation facing its ninth president in 10 years and a runoff election between Keiko Fujimori and Roberto Sánchez, scheduled for June 7, upcoming in 23 days.
Fujimori, a conservative and daughter of a former president, secured 17.18% of the vote in the April 12 election, held the same year. Sánchez, a nationalist congressman and former minister, finished second with 12.03%.
Who Profits from Instability?
The country's economic resilience, driven by the extraction of natural resources, stands in stark contrast to the political instability, which has seen three presidents since October alone. Both candidates campaigned on promises to confront surging crime, which was identified as the top priority for Peruvians.
Sánchez has proposed renegotiating contracts with mining companies to ensure the state collects more taxes. He also advocates for rural communities to own a share of the mines operating in their territory and opposes open-pit operations, directly challenging the current structure of surplus extraction.
Fujimori, now in her fourth bid for the presidency, has highlighted her father’s legacy, including his administration's defeat of the Shining Path rebel group and halting hyperinflation in the early 1990s. She pledges to apply similar resolve to modern security issues.
However, Fujimori has also defended laws that experts state make it difficult to prosecute criminals. These laws, backed by her party in recent years, eliminated preliminary detention in certain cases and raised the threshold for seizing criminal assets, effectively protecting accumulated wealth.
The State's Role in Protecting Capital
Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin American Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, noted that Fujimori's party has previously sponsored legislation against organized crime, which prosecutors later used to investigate them in the 2010s. Freeman added that the party has since led efforts to "destroy a lot of those mechanisms in the legislation," demonstrating the state apparatus's role in selectively weakening legal tools that could challenge powerful interests.
Sánchez has called for a “grand democratic coalition” to defeat what he terms a “criminal underworld” aligned with the “political mafia” of Congress, which he explicitly includes Fujimori’s party in. He promises to repeal laws that hinder criminal prosecution and to strengthen police intelligence capabilities to combat extortion, which has increased fivefold in five years.
Liberal Solutions and Their Limits
The election itself was marked by logistical problems that left thousands of people in Peru and abroad unable to vote on Sunday, April 12, the same year. Authorities extended voting to Monday for over 52,000 residents of Lima and Peruvians registered in Orlando, Florida, and Paterson, New Jersey, after vote counting had already begun.
Despite the focus on crime, the proposed solutions from both candidates remain within the framework of managing the system's contradictions rather than addressing the underlying economic structures. Sánchez, despite his proposals for mining reform, does not have a congressional majority, indicating the structural barriers to even moderate changes within the existing political system. The winner of the runoff will be sworn in on July 28, upcoming in 74 days, for a five-year term, continuing the cycle of managing a system that consistently concentrates wealth upward.