Lima, (EFE).- The Minister of Economy, Alex Contreras, estimated that the losses from the protests in Peru in the last 5 days they have been 200 million soles (50 million dollars) and that some of the most affected sectors are currently agriculture and tourism, according to an interview offered this Sunday to a local station.
Contreras affirmed that “social conflict is delaying the reactivation that is expected to be rapid, since the stoppages and roadblocks are, in addition, blockades of production, employment and agro-exports.”
The head of the Economy told RPP Noticias that “if it is analyzed from a regional point of view, the impact is greater because they are additional costs to those already generated in December,” when protests against the government of Dina Boluarte broke out, demanding the closure of Congress and the call for early general elections.
«More or less in these five days of protests We are estimating a cost of 200 million soles (50 million dollars) for these affected areas, which could be amplified,” Contreras added about the mobilizations that have taken place especially in the south of the country.
Thus, the minister pointed out that the impact on tourism “will take two or three quarters until it can be reestablished”, despite the fact that his ministry has launched an economic reactivation program called Con Punche Peru to support the activity of small and micro companies, mainly.
Contreras explained that the Ministries of the Interior and Defense “will take the measures” to restore normal economic activities, remarking that “the right to protest ends when the rights of other people begin to be affected.”
Regarding the damage of the protests for agriculture, the minister indicated that “the planting campaign was bad and we took measures to provide an additional boost to the economy in January, but this type of stoppage generates an unnecessary cost to economic activity.”
The Peruvian cabinet will go on Tuesday to request a vote of confidence from Congress, in the midst of this climate of protests that have resumed in various parts of the country since last Wednesday.
NEAR 70 HOSPITALIZED
According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, there are 67 injured hospitalized in the country due to the protest demonstrations, the majority (62) in the Puno region, where on Friday and Saturday the mobilizations and the attempted takeover of the airport in the city of Juliaca.
The protesters clashed with the National Police in the vicinity of this air terminal, which has suspended its operations since Friday, and the agents used tear gas to disperse the protesters.
Several highways in the southern Andean region of Puno, a border region with Bolivia, have been blocked since last December, when protests broke out over Boluarte’s assumption of the Presidency, following the dismissal of Pedro Castillo due to a failed coup.
However, protest marches have resumed in Peru since last Wednesday in several regions, with strikes and roadblocks in at least 18 provinces of the country, according to the latest report from the Ombudsman’s Office.
Other hospitalized wounded are in Lima (3), where the most serious patients have been transferred, Arequipa (1) and Apurímac (1).
This Sunday, the blockades have tightened in the Ica region, south of Lima, and next week marches and calls for measures of force have been announced in Lima and Cuzco.
