mas obras!

08-10-2010

Everyone wants to be the mayor. Everyone wants to talk about the mayor’s failures. Everyone wants to paint the side of houses with their preferred mayoral candidate. Election time is upon us here in Peru.

October 3 marks the local elections all over the country and the buzz of who will take the throne come the new year is ragging through all areas. Here in Ancash is no exception. For my small district of Mancos we have 11 mayoral candidates. 11. For an estimated population of about 20,000 people. The political system differs from the DNP/GOP dominated US politics. Each candidate or platform (district, provincial, regional, etc.) usually creates their own party with creative slogans. However, the 11 candidates for our small district in the Andes seem to be campaigning on one of my favorite slogans in Peru: MAS OBRAS, or “more works”.

We (my site mate and fellow volunteer Alex) have gotten into the habit of exhibiting the well-perfected cynical smirk/chuckle when we see every sign and banner promising more public works. (That coupled with an outstanding picture of ever candidate giving an awkward “thumbs up”). Nothing speaks success like a big new water reservoir or a cement soccer field. Now I understand that infrastructure is an important topic especially in developing countries like Peru, and I am not saying we shouldn’t focus on necessary public works like latrines, electricity, and potable water systems. I myself would possibly run a campaign promising more essential public infrastructure. I recently had an enlightening talk with my host-dad however about why candidates might want “more works”. **As a disclaimer I am not implying every politician in the zone is corrupt or focuses on the following process….only a few are.**

So why more works? Why does every alcalde (mayor) want to run on the same agenda? Well for one I do feel that here the people get more excited over a big cement project than a talk about hand washing or new text books for the school. [side note: this theory is furthering my rationalization for a giant cement statue in my likeness for the town square.] So the “MAS OBRAS” slogan will theoretically help you win votes. Okay, I feel you Peruvian mayor, votes are definitely a must for winning. Here’s the good part. My host-dad and I were discussing the whole “mayor thing” after we found out our beloved alcalde was being charged with embezzlement charges. Big shocker right? It’s always the politicians. Anywho, I asked my pops what for, and he told me it was about a scandalous “obra”. How can building stuff for the public be scandalous? Isn’t that a generous act of public service? Well apparently here in Peru when an obra is carried out the mayor receives 10% of the total budget for him and his crew. So lets say the mayor builds a new water system under his term for 30,000 USD. That means he gets 3,000 USD for his own good work to share among his regiadores, cabinet type underlings. Aha! So you mean to tell me that the more obras you do the more money you get. So the mayoral position is paid largely on commission. Well that explains it. But then why isn’t my district scattered with shiny new bridges and such? Now, I don’t want to launch into an anti-corruption tangent so I will let you smart folks think out the rest from here. One legitimate reason is that our district is also fairly small and the yearly budget is not enough to support the “shiny new bridge” theory. Anywho, bottom line is that I now understand why everyone – mayor and people – want MAS OBRAS!

So, with the electoral buzz making its way all over the mountain things have been pretty exciting. You can at least turn all the “weather” and “what’s the US like?” conversations into a heated political debate, and just step back and enjoy. Or you can wander around and make small talk with all the crews of people painting the sides of houses with candidates’ names (no yard signs here). Who knows who will win? My only hope is that they care passionately about the environment and want to help me pick up garbage.