Martín Vizcarra, the former president who once enjoyed 80% of the vote, will follow the path of almost all the men who have held power in Peru over the last 40 years: prison. The judiciary sentenced him this Wednesday to 14 years in prison for having received bribes of 2.3 million soles (680,000 dollars) from two construction companies (Obrainsa and ICCGSA) in exchange for their favor in the awarding of the Lomas de Ilo projects and in the renovation of the Moquegua hospital when he was governor of that region, located in the south of the country.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the corruption pact was conceived in 2013. The discovery of this case meant that Vizcarra was vacated due to permanent moral incapacity in November 2020, after 32 months in office. Vizcarra took over from economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and reached the pinnacle of popularity in 2019 by dissolving Congress, but then his reputation went into free fall for carrying out the continent’s largest vaccine smuggler during the pandemic. He secretly vaccinated himself and allowed nearly 500 people from the wealthiest spheres to do so as well, while Peru led the highest rate of coronavirus deaths in the world.
Him Get vaccinated It made him falter, but it was the bribes that brought about his downfall. During the five-year investigation, former leaders of the Obrainsa consortium confessed to having paid one million soles (nearly $300,000) to Vizcarra to win the Lomas de Ilo prize, an ambitious irrigation project. In turn, senior officials of the company Ingenieros Civiles y Contratistas Generales SA (ICCGSA) have undertaken a process of active collaboration with the judicial system and have also acknowledged having paid one million three hundred thousand soles (385,000 dollars) to Vizcarra to obtain the tender for the expansion of the Moquegua Hospital.
During the reading of the sentence, in the presence of the former president, the court ascertained the “credibility and coherence” of these testimonies. Furthermore, they stressed that it cannot be demonstrated that there is any trace of hatred or enmity that would detract from their reliability. And that the modus operandi of corruption is part of the investigations carried out by the Police. Obrainsa directors reportedly delivered the bribe in manila envelopes of the highest denomination: 200 soles ($59).
Martín Vizcarra’s defense has repeated from the beginning that these indictments are false and that there are no videos, photographs or audio that prove that his client benefited from illicit money. Monday in an interview with the weekly Hildebrandtthe civil engineer once again denied the accusations, claiming that it is a “mafia pact” aimed at removing him from the political scene. The lizardas his opponents call him, he intended to run as vice president in the 2026 general elections under the aegis of his brother Mario Vizcarra, of the Peru Primero group, but the National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) excluded him from the race due to a disqualification that weighs him down from holding public office.
“They can exclude me from the process, but not from the hearts of Peruvians. They will not break us,” he said that time through his social networks, a terrain he knows well. Vizcarra is recognized for his ability to capitalize on his problems with the law and win the sympathy of young people on digital platforms. His popularity has exploded, thanks to small clips and directs, in which he carries out daily activities. A simple formula that other politicians didn’t know how to execute.
At 62 years old, Martín Vizcarra was convicted in first degree for the crime of passive corruption. His defense has assured that he will appeal. But in the meantime he will serve his sentence in Barbadillo, the unusual prison for former presidents east of Lima, in the Ate district. He will be a cellmate of Alejandro Toledo, Ollanta Humala and Pedro Castillo. He was held there a few months ago, but it’s only been a few weeks. He was placed in protective custody due to flight risk. He was even transferred to a prison for common prisoners, but the sentence was eventually overturned. A prelude to what his life will be like from now on.
Martín Vizcarra is the fifth former president who will spend several seasons in Barbadillo. The first was Alberto Fujimori. He would be released from prison at the age of 76 in 2039. The ‘Lizard’ was the most voted MP in 2021, with more than 165 thousand votes. But, after being disqualified, he had to give up his seat to a thirty-year-old lawyer who was waiting for his place on the substitutes’ bench. José Jerí, the man who rules Peru through a butterfly effect.
