IRAZOLA, Peru — In his run for governor of a rough Peruvian jungle state, Manuel Gambini has cited his plaudits from the U.S. government for promoting the cultivation of cocoa beans over coca leaves in this cocaine-producing hot spot.
But the man whom the U.S. Agency for International Development touted as recently as 2012 as a “dynamic new partner” is under investigation for money laundering, having amassed a curious-sized fortune despite a small mayoral salary.
Gambini is among hundreds of candidates in Sunday’s local and state elections suspected of being bankrolled by drug trafficking, a phenomena that threatens to hijack democracy in a country that became the world’s top cocaine producer two years ago.
The infiltration of drug money in Peru’s politics has become so brazen and widespread as to draw comparisons with the conditions in Colombia and Mexico that preceded major political bloodletting.
“We are now a despicable reflection of what Colombia was — and what Mexico is today,” said Sonia Medina, Peru’s public prosecutor for drug enforcement.
Peru is far less violent, but drug-related murders have been on the rise since the mid-2000s, when Colombian and Mexican traffickers began arriving in greater numbers.
One of every three Peruvian voters lives in a region with candidates under investigation, on trial or convicted of drug-related crimes. Medina said her office has identified 700 such candidates.
Gambini, 43, a former coca farmer, is among at least seven gubernatorial candidates — in a quarter of Peru’s 24 states — under investigation for drug trafficking or related crimes.
A separate “narco candidate” list compiled by the interior minister names 124 electoral hopefuls, including two current governors.
Of note is an incumbent mayor, Silvia Cloud, whose husband is a fugitive drug boss in Upper Huallaga Valley, cradle of the global cocaine trade.
In Irazola, one of Gambini’s associates, a convicted cocaine trafficker, is running for mayor.
And in the state of Huanuco, Luis Picon is running for re-election even though he faces probes for money laundering, drug trafficking, embezzlement, tax evasion and illegal enrichment.
Critics say Peru’s lawmakers have intentionally made its political system fertile ground for dirty money through inaction or intentional legal loopholes.
Gambini, for example, does not mention his earnings or holdings in the official biography submitted to the National Electoral Commission and posted online. It is not required.
Ricardo Soberon, a former drug czar, said institutions tasked with fighting illicit activity are, at best, indifferent. “Politics has lost all ethical sense,” he said. “Now, it’s just about being a pickpocket.”
