Sergio Rodríguez Gelfenstein*, employee of Prensa Latina
I do not share this practice. Therefore, in my writings, I have referred to some personalities whom I admired and who, more on their birthday than on the day of their death, served as inspiration and support for my commandments. It’s a way of feeling that they’re alive. This is how I remembered Fidel Castro’s 90th birthday in August 2016, without realizing that just three months later he would be gone forever. Also, also on his 90th birthday in 2008, I created a special memento of Nelson Mandela’s life.
Now I want to remember a great man from Our America who died prematurely in 2013 when he was barely 65 years old. Soon, in May, we will remember the tenth anniversary of Javier Diez-Canceco’s departure, but I prefer to commemorate it today, taking advantage of the fact that if we still had him with us, he was on this Friday, March 24, he would be 75 years old.
Javier excelled as a writer, but his true calling was politics. For several decades he was the main speaker of the Peruvian left, representing the popular sectors three times as congressman, twice as senator and once as deputy. He was also elected a member of the Constituent Assembly from 1978 to 1980.
Early on, as a law student at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, he adhered to socialist and revolutionary ideas, later studied sociology at the Catholic University of Peru and was elected president of the student association of this study house. Since then, he began his “marriage” with the simplest people, whom he never left.
In 1985 he was elected Senator of the Izquierda Unida and re-elected in 1990. However, his mandate was paralyzed when Alberto Fujimori’s dictatorship was enthroned in 1992. Then Javier became one of the fiercest opponents of the autocracy imposed on his country. In 1995 he was re-elected Congressman of the Izquierda Unida and re-elected in 2001. During those years, Javier, who had always been a member of the Unified Mariateguista Party (PUM), founded the Socialist Party of Peru and was its 2006 presidential candidate.
In a letter published in September 1987, Javier explained that the Mariateguismo “was the fruitful encounter of Marxism and the nation, affirming that the proletariat is the ruling class destined to – at the head of a broad popular bloc – the serious to solve national problems that the ruling classes have never been able to solve
In his parliamentary capacity, Diez-Canseco distinguished himself for his inveterate honesty and his unwavering sincerity in defending the interests of the population, particularly minorities and the most marginalized; for his ongoing fight against corruption and drug trafficking, and for his unruly condemnation of those associated with both state institutions and terrorist organizations and perpetrators of human rights abuses.
Javier acknowledged the importance of “direct elections” as a mechanism of democracy, but he did not see it as the most important form of popular participation. He understood that “direct democracy” was the most important democratic mechanism. In this regard, he believed that “the political decision and election of leaders in every street and neighborhood, in every city and major region, in every factory and center of production […] and at higher levels, right down to the national level” … direct suffrage must also carry some weight.
His enemies did not rest until, in 2012, they spread the false accusation of violating the code of parliamentary ethics, a lie denied by the report of the Technical Secretariat of the Congressional Commission prepared to assess it. He was fraudulently suspended from his functions for 90 days, but this measure was annulled by the judiciary, which thus dissolved an amparo filed by Javier in defense of his honor and dignity. At the time of his unfair sanction, he was President of the Foreign Relations Commission of the Peruvian Congress. 
Today, when the right wing and the Empire once again defeat the Peruvian people, the thoughts and actions of Javier Diez-Canseco are fully valid. He seems to be looking to what is happening now, as in January 1992, while analyzing how neoliberalism was degrading Peru, he declared: “The country is facing the most severe and severe application – which I believe has been recorded in Latin America – of the plans of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. The management of the Ministry of Economy corresponds to the management of a consul or ambassador of the Monetary Fund or the World Bank. Even the country’s official figures are adjusted according to the calculations of international organizations and not according to the calculations of the Ministry of Economy and Finance or the Central Bank …” and later added: “The neoliberal program implemented shares the traits of almost all those running in Latin America; it is a program clearly aimed at privatizing the economy and the role of the state in the economy limit.” This was done by Javier more than 30 years ago expressed without unfortunately anything having changed. This is the reason for the current mobilizations of the Peruvian people demanding democracy and the end of the neoliberal constitution.
Throughout his life, Javier was also deeply internationalist, in solidarity with the liberation struggles of the peoples of Our America such as El Salvador and Nicaragua, a staunch enemy of the national security dictatorships that plagued the region in the 1970s. and the 80s of the last century and defender of the Cuban revolution. Diez-Canseco has upheld the struggle against capitalism, imperialism, colonialism and the unity and friendship of peoples like no other, even beyond the region, as witnessed by the Palestinian and Saharawi people who actively championed Javier in his cause have.
Along with Fidel and Lula he was the founder of the Sao Paulo Forum, probably one of his most important and least known legacies, but from their first meeting their agreements and resolutions were informed by the ideas, vision and actions of Javier Diez-tired.
Also in Peru he was an active promoter of solidarity committees with Cuba, Vietnam, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia, Palestine, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR). He also led the parliamentary friendship leagues with Cuba, SADR and Algeria.
In January 2013, Javier became seriously ill and died on May 4 of that year. I visited him for the last time on the 1st of this month at the clinic where he was, not knowing that I would not see him again. He asked me about the recent departure of Commander Chávez and the impact that loss had caused in Venezuela. He continued to follow Latin American reality closely and resented his inability to continue being a contemporary political actor as he had been all his life.
rmh/srg
*Degree in International Studies, Masters in International and Global Relations. PhD in Political Science