Many times we hear various interpretations in relation to the protocol and its customs and customs. For the vast majority of men and women it is related to an unappealable set of formalities used in official acts. In other words, there is a tendency to guide their use in government proceedings.
The Spanish expert José Antonio Urbina, asserts: “Protocol is that discipline that with realism, technique and art determines the structures or forms under which an important human activity is carried out. It is all, because it really is the art and the technique of creating the forms in which the action of the state is carried out ”. They are patterns to develop a specific event and differ from legal regulations because their wrong application evades contravening a legal and punishable duty.
In the diplomatic field, it refers to the procedures between state authorities to guarantee and favor relations, negotiations, agreements and exchanges between countries and the people who represent them, giving an image of courtesy, seriousness and respect. It understands the behaviors and social criteria to be known and reflected, in a context of human interaction.
While the business protocol is limited to the corporate tasks that are carried out as part of its daily dynamics. It has to do with the essential processes for the planning, preparation and development of events promoted by private companies. While the social protocol is the fusion of rules that must be observed and paid in the official, social and labor environment, etc.
On the other hand, the president of the republic has the proper guidance and advice from the General Directorate of Protocol and Ceremonial of the State of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which regulates and supervises compliance with the Protocol and Ceremonial of the State and the Regional Ceremonial.
In this sense, every time we pay attention to the various inaccuracies and lapses of our head of state - who by constitutional mandate personifies the nation - they are not produced by a lack of information, but rather by a probable willingness to disregard suggestions tending to enhance his investiture. His omissions show a lack of expertise, added to whimsical determinations.
A current example is perceived by Peruvians in the military parades of National Holidays - presided over by the head of the Executive Power - in which Nadine Heredia de Humala accompanies her spouse on the main stage reserved for high officials and diplomatic corps. As the "first lady" does not hold a government position - and only has that symbolic name - by tradition she presides over another rostrum. Something similar has happened in the swearing-in of all the ministerial cabinets of the present regime. In the official photo, the leader of the Nationalist Party appears next to Ollanta Humala Tasso and the holders of the portfolios, altering the instituted precedence of the ministers.
Our first president, like the other representatives of the public powers, is frequently unaware of what is established by the protocol. However, such a common clumsiness comes from a politician with military training. Hence, I reiterate my assertions contained in my recent article "The ministerial selfies of National Holidays" (2015): "… This event (the self-portraits perpetrated in the Court of Honor of the Government Palace by several ministers while the head of state made use of the floor) it should be observed by the General Directorate of Protocol and Ceremonial of the State of the Foreign Relations portfolio in order to offer a few, precise and necessary guidelines to those who, from the highest sphere of the Executive Power, harm the presidential supremacy. We shouldn't get used to itas it happens in a zarzuela place like ours, to the inopportune follies carried out by our dignitaries ”.
The previous rulers avoided becoming an example of compliance with protocol. Alejandro Toledo Manrique, during his visit to Spain (2004) greeted Queen Sofía with an effusive kiss on both cheeks at the Royal Palace of El Pardo. Coining the term "chorreo", in a dissertation in the Legislative Power, was not opportune coming from the one who exercised such high magistracy in the country.
For his part, Alan García Pérez ordered a national mourning, placing the flag at half mast and a giant photo on the door of the Casa de Pizarro, honors from the “Húsares de Junín” regiment, posthumous imposition of the Order of El Sol del Perú and a homage to his friend the composer Arturo “zambo” Cavero. Let's evoke the folly at the Government Palace when we received Prince Felipe de Borbón and his consort Letizia (2010). In full intonation of the Spanish anthem they made the princess pass behind the journalists' rostrum.
The protocol takes care of the forms that always have an importance that we must avoid going unnoticed. However, his ignorance is revealed in countless celebrations and events. Let us remember what happened at the inauguration of the mayor of Lima, Luis Castañeda Lossio (2015) when the “March of Flags” was sung to receive him at the Municipal Theater. Keep in mind that this is only intended to honor the head of state and foreign dignitaries. Surely some second-level bureaucrat wanted to flatter the burgomaster, who apparently did not even realize what happened.
This aspect makes it possible to comment on another that is linked. I am referring to the professional profile of those responsible for managing the practice of the protocol in state agencies in which recommendations, party identities and a mixture of subjectivities prevail over the qualifications and skills that the person in charge of this performance must possess.
With the intention of achieving an efficient administration of the protocol, it is convenient to design a minimum framework with the qualities and attributions of the subordinate in charge of its management in the public sector; always so sensitive, changing and, moreover, subject to constant political intervention. The circumstances are conducive to deploying training programs aimed at inducing their consistent employment.
What is described shows a reality on which it corresponds to work to strengthen the protocol in the local, regional and national sphere. It is convenient to reiterate the relevance of mastering its different application and understanding its virtue as a tool for communication, observation and integration.
