Making sense of corruption prosecutions in Peru: metanarratives as a tool for interpreting elite interviews

The politician belonged to a party that was a front for one of Peru’s biggest criminal organizations—at least according to public prosecutors. That’s why I was surprised when she agreed to an interview, and suggested we meet at a sunny, open-air café in an upscale neighborhood of the capital, Lima. I had come to Peru to study how states end impunity for grand corruption. Little about Peru’s politics or history predicted a strong, independent judiciary. But since 2016, a small, underfunded team of public prosecutors had put dozens of politicians long considered above the law behind bars. Having already interviewed over a dozen prosecutors and judges, I was eager to get through to the other side: Peru’s once-powerful political class, which had failed spectacularly in its attempts to halt the investigations. Now was my chance.