Over 100,000 Unemployed as Odebrecht Scandal Continues in Peru

Over 100,000 Peruvians are currently unemployed due to a corruption scandal, which has gripped the country and threatened the presidency of Pedro Pablo Kuczynski. The scandal is just one of several involving Brazilian Construction Company Odebrecht throughout Latin America, these cases have either resulted in the company being banned from doing business or charges being brought against officials.

Faced with moves to seek his impeachment, Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski has taken to national television to apologize to the country for failing to clarify his involvement with the Brazilian construction firm, Odebrecht. However, he continued to deny affording preferential treatment to the scandal-ridden company or doing anything illegal, instead, laying blame on his political opponents for exploiting the case.

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“It is absolutely clear. Here are the contracts which I have not signed, which are completely legal and that have been taxed,” Kuczynski said, adding “if this was a bribe how could it have been done in this way? It can't”

He went on to call attempts to “shake the president, (state) prosecutor and a number of other very important people in Peru's political life” an exaggeration by the opposition, an attempt to wrestle “control of the state without having won the presidential election.”

Kuczynski added that such maneuvering will result in “terrible” consequences for “Peru and for the economy of all Peruvians.”

At present, over 100,000 Peruvians are unemployed, a direct consequence of stonewalled construction projects headed by Odebrecht. That number will double, according to the Peru's Civil Workers' Union, if national construction companies, also accused of corruption, are halted.

“It doesn't matter if businessmen steal if they are in jail. They will always have money,” said Alberto Hidalgo, one of the unemployed workers. “Meanwhile, we, the people must live out of their salaries and don't have a steady job. How are we going to live? We'll have to survive selling candy or anything that we can.”

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Last week, Peru's opposition-led Congress initiated proceedings to impeach Kuczynski on charges of alleged corruption, prompting at least one Cabinet member to offer his resignation. With Congress dominated by the Fuerza Popular, a right-wing opposition group led by Keiko Fujimori, the motion to launch the impeachment process was approved by 27 out of 130 members.

Kuczynski has refused calls to step down, stating that he is "here to face this. I neither run, nor hide, nor do I have any reason to do so."