The concept of Third Emancipation as a geopolitical idea of liberation for Peru and the Ibero-American region

1. Introduction: the idea of emancipation in the popular nationalism of Juan Velasco Alvarado

Juan Velasco Alvarado in 1969 gave a message to the nation on 28 July, recalling Peru's national independence. On that occasion he stated that Peru, like the rest of the American continent, was heir to an illustrious past, and that in the process of major transformations of the social, economic and political structures of the Peruvian nation that were taking place under the aegis of the Revolutionary Government of the Armed Forces, He was presiding over a unique experience on the road to the definitive liberation that would lay the foundations for genuine development, bending in the process the power of a selfish and foreign-oriented oligarchy, recovering genuine sovereignty in the face of foreign pressures and beginning the great task of bringing about social justice in Peru. To all this, Velasco added a concept of his own, recalling (for better or for worse) the bank holidays that opened Peru's life as an independent republic, reaffirming his homage to the forgers of what he called the "first emancipation" or "first independence", in clear allusion to the founding fathers of the Peruvian homeland, In the same vein, he mentioned a concept that would resonate throughout the Peruvian revolution project, at least during its first stage where Velasco would have a greater presence, in allusion to a so-called "second independence".

The second independence, in his discourse, was understood in terms of true emancipation, interpreted in the sense that, if the first independence was a formal emancipation (an independence in a certain sense imposed as it was orchestrated by foreign interests allied with the elites of the time who burdened the people with loans as a consequence of that process), the second independence was seen as the real emancipation of the Peruvian people. And this is so because it is not news to Peruvians today that the republican Peru that was founded in 1821 was not established under real equality but under formal equality, recalling the Peruvian sociologist Hugo Neira (2021) who pointed out that what the Republic established in Peru was for nearly two centuries a quasi-feudal system, where the landowners not only obtained land but the condition of the indigenous people was, therefore, that of practical servitude and that all this was very normal from 1821 until, precisely, the Peruvian military revolution of 1969, which prohibited this latifundista and gamonalista system by law.

2. Peruvian political history as judged through the idea of national emancipation

During this period known as the Peruvian Revolution (1968-1980), in reference to the major reforms and restructuring that the Government of the Armed Forces was carrying out in order to exterminate the semi-feudal system that still existed in Peru and which had subjected the great masses of the peasant population to the most shameful servitude, it was during this period, with the necessary nuances, that the end of this system took place, It was within this framework that the concept of the second emancipation became the driving force behind the whole process of change that was taking place in Peru at the end of the 1960s.Without prejudice to all this impetus of great promises and great expectations announced by the Velasquist project, we already know how the long-awaited Peruvian Revolution ended, without detracting from its contributions to the Peruvian liberation process and the understanding of a vernacular ideology of national thought, and this is due to something that is repeated in the majority of popular nationalisms in all Ibero-America, the famous errors in political and economic management that ended up progressively wearing down these projects. As far as the Velasquist experience is concerned, it has been fully identified today that its central error was: the exacerbated statism that stifled the economic freedom of the people. This meant that one of the main objectives of the Peruvian revolution, the longed-for economic independence that would bring with it full political sovereignty for geopolitical relevance in the competition of nations, was not achieved, because it is worth remembering that Velasquezism was also a geopolitical project that sought for Peru to regain a place of importance in the continent together with the Ibero-American brotherhood of the other peoples.

After this experience, and without prejudice to the fact that it was already clear to many that exacerbated statism is detrimental to the economic and social life of a nation, this did not prevent a young Alan García (in his first government) from returning to classic interventionism and leading Peru to one of the worst economic crises our country has ever experienced, equivalent to a post-war economy, reaching a historic level of inflation of 2'178,482% (BCR) at the end of his term of mandate. It is in this context that the idea of a third and definitive emancipation, which was awaited by the entire Peruvian population, emerged for us: emancipation from the yoke of kleptocracy, nepotism, corruption and exacerbated statism.

Alberto Fujimori was initially conceived by the Peruvian population as the president who would bring about this final emancipation, but we know how that turned out. With Fujimori, exacerbated statism was abandoned, and economic recovery took place after the disaster of Alan García's first government, of our currency and of living conditions in general, as well as the sale of the vast majority of state companies, which left us without national industry, and it goes without saying that all these sales were his big petty cash and the origin of great embezzlement of the public treasury. In other words, it went from one extreme to another: from exacerbated statism to neoliberal privatisation and exacerbated deregulation. So too, with the appropriate nuances, have been the processes of several Ibero-American nations that have faced similar extremes in their quest for liberation and the development of their full social, economic and cultural, i.e. civilisational.

3. The third emancipation as a geopolitical idea of liberation for Peru and the Iberian American continent

It is for these reasons that the idea of a third great emancipation of Peru (which we recognise is an ideal shared by the entire Ibero-American continent for its respective national communities) is still a pending national aspiration. And as historical lessons, Peruvians (and Ibero-Americans in general) must learn that the extremes must be overcome in a harmonious unity, only in this way can we build Peru as an emerging power, rejecting the extremes of social justice without economic freedom (represented in the experiences of classical socialist inspiration of dogmatic and uncritical tendency), and of economic freedom without social justice (represented by neoliberalism to this day, which in Peru has in Fujimorism its staunch defender without nuance).The third great emancipation of Peru (and of the whole of Ibero-America) will thus be from the yoke of kleptocracy, nepotism, corruption, exacerbated statism, neo-liberal privatisation and exacerbated deregulation.

The third great emancipation must therefore have as its founding guideline: economic freedom with social justice. The supreme synthesis between Market Freedom with Social Equity promoted by the State, all this in order to obtain cultural and civilisational power and, as a consequence, real geopolitical power. A synthesis that the major contemporary cultural powers (e.g. China and Russia) have been able to combine in their development processes. Hand in hand with a profound social moralisation. For these reasons, and in conclusion, we consider that the objectives of the Peruvian Revolution - which could not be adequately achieved due to the errors already noted - are still valid, but that, guided by this new spirit of historical synthesis, they attain a new meaning so necessary for the national renaissance that is more pressing today than ever, not only for Peru but for the whole of Ibero-America. And these objectives are none other than the following: "1. to transform the structure of the state, making it more dynamic and efficient for better government action; 2. to promote to higher standards of living compatible with the dignity of the human person, the least favoured sectors of the population, carrying out the transformations of the economic, social and cultural structures of the country; 3. to imbue the acts of government with a nationalist and independent sense sustained by the firm defence of national sovereignty and dignity; 4. To moralise the country in all fields of national activity and to fully re-establish the principle of authority, respect for the law and the rule of justice; 5. To promote union, concord and integration among citizens, strengthening the national conscience.