This year, the percentage of Peruvians who distrust the U.S. government rose to 48%, more than double the rate in 2019, according to a poll by the Institute for Peruvian Studies (IEP).
That puts concerns about the United States 13 points higher than concerns about rival China, whose influence in Latin America Trump is trying to curb.
But Peru’s election is far from a referendum on President Trump, who has not yet endorsed López Arriaga or any other candidate.
In fact, the US president has been largely ignored in campaigns focused on domestic issues.
Trump appeared in only one of Peru’s six presidential debates, in which the candidate criticized tariff increases.
Alberto Rojas, 46, a mechanic from Lima who is devoted to Mr. Fujimori, said he was fine with Mr. Trump’s absence from the debate.
He added that the US president is a “madman” that Peru should most avoid.
“We have enough problems as they are,” Rojas said, citing crime and corruption as his biggest concerns. “Presidents of other countries are not going to save us. They might make things worse.”
Peruvian political analyst Gonzalo Banda said he was surprised that foreign policy, particularly relations with the United States, did not emerge as an election issue at all this year.
After all, under the Trump administration, the United States has become more active in Latin America than at any time in decades. Recent scandals also call into question U.S. influence in Peru.
For example, media reports have questioned why the Peruvian government canceled plans to buy 20 Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets in favor of American-made F-16s, even though each plane costs nearly twice as much.
“A good left-wing candidate would make that a campaign issue,” Banda said.
“Because there’s a very real argument. It’s basically, ‘Hey, why do we have to buy a much more expensive, much worse quality plane from the United States?'”
