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I saw it in RPP and its gestures in the zoom – not even appeared in the set – they were more eloquent than their words: ‘Go to the devil that their damn elections have already rotted me’ was the silent subtext.
It was more to challenge him if at least he evaluated with Reniec some project to update the signature verification system – the Comptroller had noticed the deficiencies in a report last September when he was still the head of the JNE – because the judge diverted all the questions to the RENIEC and, to the interviewers, he manage them to the Porra.
“Maybe the fraudist fever would have boiled in 2021; but if Salas Arenas had maneuvered in 2020 not to exclude so much candidate, it would not have fallen so much stick.”
Do not justify it, but we try to understand it. When he had to mediate in the polarizadic elections of 2021, the loser side put the cross, the stone chained to one foot, the jute bag and prepared to anchor it symbolically. But, stubborn as it is, resisted and refused to give up the JNE waiting for his official retirement in November last year. What remained of his management, Pos 2021, is marked by the moody and disdain.
It was already known that he would not touch his command in the 2026 elections; But the revenge of the political loser is a dish that has no expiration date in Peru. In full dispute of votes in 2021 he had to face the resignation of Luis Arce Córdova, former member prosecutor of the JNE, who left him without quorum. And what battle to replace it before the blood reached the river. It was what he had to do; But the same was going to be condemned by the losers.
Salas Arenas had to be in the wrong center at the wrong time and we cannot blame him for that. But His current grumbling against legitimate questions are unfortunate.
The judge had no occasion to seriously put the leg in the contest – the votes and the rules were already made – but did put it a few months ago, when the inscription of plates and lists was closed on December 22, 2020.
More than one party, especially the APRA, was excluded for starting its registration at the last minute. Actually, the Apristas came to register some candidates, but the program was closed. It is very likely that the fence would not have jumped, but that should have been decided by the people; Not a JNE who preferred the ‘preclusive’ rigidity (respect for staggered deadlines) to the constitutional right to political participation.
Days and weeks before the closing of deadlines in 2020, the JEE (special electoral jurors), had labeled many candidates for triggers such as the oblivion of an item in their affidavits.
The second instance, which was the Plenary of the JNE captained by Salas Arenas, validated the tacha of many of them, including acquaintances pepecistas.
The enmity of apristas and pepecistas cost Caro to Salas Arenas when later the ‘fraudism’ was unleashed and called ‘caviar pro terruco and castillista’ who opposed that theory by trade.
The inquina, of course, moved from those defeated to the congressional majority who considered projects to dismiss it, disable it, cancel it and condemn it. Perhaps the same would have boiled fraudist fever in 2021; But if in the 2020 Arenas rooms he maneuvered so as not to exclude so much candidate, he would not have fallen so much stick.
Bad time for the judge of the 2021, which exposed it to so much attack and has left a tendency to the grumble that, this week, became ICT. He could give up a few months after the elections and thus relieve the pressure on the JNE. It would have been the best, but the judge is stubborn and was in his right. His resignation may have facilitated the process of updating the electoral entity and reducing the old practice of falsifying affiliates, just when dozens of new parties collected affiliations by resorting to the illegal signature market.
We had to wait for November at the end of his mandate so that the Plenary of the Supreme Court chose his replacement, Roberto Burneo, a pragmatic, serene, eager judge for pleased everyone, too worried that what is not happening to Salas Arenas. Burneo already agreed with Carmen Velarde, Reniec’s head, to implement -Law by- a verification system not only signature but biometric (fingerprint and facial image), which should reduce falsification to a minimum.
Judge Salas has not yet retired. It will continue to be a supreme judge until it turns 70 next year. The SAC (subcommission of constitutional accusations) has approved a report that accuses it of alleged improper interference in the hiring of a worker. The accusation is born from a complaint filed by the former prosecutor of the nation, Juan Carlos Villena, of the same supposed side of Salas Arenas. The judge in his last active year has neither side or patience.
