“Comunismo o libertad”: The far-right in Peru

At a global level democracy is suffering a process of erosion. Democratic backsliding surely has multiple causes. The literature recognizes that one of them can be found in the emergence and success of the far-right. While the far-right is a global phenomenon, in Latin America it was only in the last years that it started to blossom. From the discursive point of view while the far-right in Latin America —with some nuances—articulates the same core ideologies as in other regions of the world, it also adds regional idiosyncratic features. Among these characteristics anti-communism stands out. The “danger of Communism” frame has been proved viable and even successful since the infamous Chavist experiment. In Peru, mainly due to last years’ extreme confrontation between the Executive and the Legislative in the last six years the political right appears heavily fragmentated. This atomization of the right is clearly reflected in the 2021 general elections in which five right-wing forces competed. One of these forces was RLA’s Renovación Nacional. In this paper we analyze RLA ideology and using original survey data we also focus on the determinants of the support towards the far-right in Peru, particularly focusing on three main factors: the level of populist attitudes, anti-communist and support for democracy.