The local media described it as the largest purge for a generation: President Ollanta Humala shunted two-thirds of Peru’s 45 police generals into retirement this week. Humala designated General Raúl Salazar Salazar overall commander of the force, replacingGeneral Raúl Becerra. Salazar’s remit is to root out corruption.
The scale of the changes took the political establishment and the commentariat alike by surprise. Humala, however, promised to take firm action against corruption when he took office in July, and he has demonstrated since then that he has no intention of allowing time to run away from him. He promised to drive through a mining tax reform – and promptly delivered. Now he is moving on other priorities.
Corruption was high on the list and the police force was widely perceived by the public to be one of the country’s most corrupt institutions. Salazar, who had served as the presidential palace’s security head and was an acting police chief in a district of southern Lima, said he would take “drastic” measures to stamp out corruption in the force. He said it would make no difference to him whether the amount in question was “one sol or thousands of soles”.
The changes were announced two months after the interior minister, Oscar Valdés Dancuart, launched an evaluation of the police high command. The list of 30 generals, however, mixes those with clean records who were approaching retirement age with those being investigated for corruption or facing disciplinary processes, in spite of the government’s promise to separate the two. More than one general said he had been dismissed despite having no links to any wrongdoing.
The mayor of Lima, Susana Villarán, a moderate left-winger, offered implicit support for Humala, saying that “a lot of courage” was required to reform the police force. Courage in politics, however, necessarily creates friction. Humala has been accused by the opposition of trying to inject partisan politics into the police barracks by making so many of the senior commanders beholden to him for their sudden promotions.
