:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/NU6HDJ3NQBHT5NLI2LGXXJII5Y.jpg "Alejandro Toledo: US scholars call for former president not to be extradited on humanitarian grounds 1")
As the extradition process continues from the United States to Peru former president Alejandro Toledoinvestigated for crimes of collusion and money laundering by the corruption case of the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht, a group of American academics have asked the US government to cancel their transfer to the country.
In a letter from four political scientists and social scientists to the United States Secretary of State Antony BlinkenThey asked that the decision to extradite the former Peruvian president be suspended for humanitarian reasons and because of the risk that his trial would run in a country in social and political convulsion.
The letter with this petition was signed by Martin Carnoy, William L. Clayton there Francois Fukuyamateachers of the Stanford University; was also endorsed by Steven Levitsky, Professor of Harvard Universitywho writes in local newspapers about the political reality of Peru.
“As political and social analysts with decades of experience studying Peruvian politics, and democracy more broadly, we are writing to urge you to suspend the recent decision of the state department to extradite former President Alejandro Toledo to Peru,” the scholars urged.
They also indicated that, regarding any legal argument in favor of extradition, the humanitarian considerations and of human rightsin accordance with democratic values.
In this sense, political analysts have specified that the former Peruvian president must obtain a fair and rapid trial in Peru. “As you are no doubt aware, the political and judicial systems of Peru are deeply threatened by the unprecedented political instability in Peru,” they added.
“The ace political institutions are very unstable there no public legitimacy, and its legal institutions have been corrupted and dangerously politicized. Politically and socially, the country is deeply polarized. One of the elements of this polarization is the deep racial divide between Peruvians of indigenous origin and those of European origin,” the letter states.
In addition, teachers pointed out that criminal justice system of Peru now ranks among the bottom 20% of countries ranked by the Global Justice Project for 2022. “He judicial system it has often been weaponized politically for short-term gains,” they added.
“Mr. Toledo is 77 years old and in poor health, dependent on various medications. If he were sent back to Peru, he would be sent immediately to preventive prisonpossibly for many years, before she can get a judgment,” the academics said.
Furthermore, they indicated that, if the Peruvian government was stable with the rule of law, they would insist that house arrest be considered for Alejandro Toledo as a condition of his extradition to Peru. “But there is no way of ensuring that the Peruvian government could comply with it today, when it is almost certain that Mr. Toledo would still be awaiting trial in prison.”
“It is necessary to consider the contributions that Mr. Toledo made to maintain democracy during his tenure as President of Peru (and later). Not only did he risk his life to overthrow a dictatorship and return Peru to democracy, but as president he had a strong record of respect for democracy already the human rights. It was a reliable democratic partner at a time when neighboring Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela were sliding towards authoritarianism,” they commented.
They also recalled that as President, he also strongly supported the Inter-American Democratic Charterwhich was adopted in September 2001 at a OAS General Assembly that his government welcomed.
“We believe that coming back to extradite someone with these democratic references in a country that is regressing towards authoritarianism or anarchy is not a good way to demonstrate our commitment to democracy and the human rights“, they pointed out.
Peru 21 reports that, among the people who support the former president, two of them have paid large sums of money so that Alejandro Toledo get your bail in the United States: Martin Carnoy paid 125,000 USD and Larry Diamond paid 50,000 USD.