January 15, 2023, 7:06 PM
January 15, 2023, 7:06 PM
Demonstrations against President Dina Boluarte and for new elections persisted on Sunday in Peru where she was honored those killed in the protests and the government declared a state of emergency in more regions.
Boluarte’s government extended the state of emergency for 30 days in Lima, Cusco, Callao and Puno to stop the protests, authorizing the military to intervene together with the police to protect public order.
Government It also extended the curfew in Puno, the epicenter of the protests. The measure will be in force for the next ten days, from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m.
The decision occurs when mobilizations were called from the south of Peru to Lima starting Monday; an action that the authorities describe as “riot” against Boluarte.
This Sunday, 99 sections of highways were blocked by protesters in 10 of the 25 Peruvian regions that are calling for the resignation of Boluarte, who assumed the presidency on December 7 after Congress removed Pedro Castillo from office following his failed coup.
The protests, which leave at least 42 dead in five weeks, according to the Ombudsman’s Office, they resumed on January 4 after a lull for the end-of-year holidays.
Among the regions with blocked roads were Puno, Arequipa and Cusco (south), reported the Superintendency of Land Transportation, which added that Never have there been so many cuts in the current crisis.
In Arequipa, dozens of residents blocked the Panamericana Sur highway that reaches the Tacna region, on the border with Chile.
On Saturday night, dozens of protesters arrived in the Miraflores district, in Lima, after starting from the central Plaza San Martín.
In Cusco, the train service to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu resumed on Sunday after two days of paralysis due to protests.
Mass for the deceased
With photographs placed in the atrium of the cathedral of Lima, Sunday morning sA mass was held to remember the victims who died during the protests.
“We want to dedicate this mass to our deceased by human hand in these days. All of them are our deceased, there is no alien death. We are all Peruvians”said the Archbishop of Lima, Carlos Castillo.
The priest named each of the civilian victims and the policeman who was burned alive in the city of Juliaca, on the border with Bolivia.
Dozens of people attended the mass officiated in Spanish and Quechua (original language of the Peruvian Andes) andn the Basilica Cathedral of Lima.
The victims “These are innocent people who died because they demanded equality. There is too much corruption. The big ones do what they want and ignore the poor,” Benito Soto, a glassmaker from Huancavelica, a town in the south of the country, told AFP, one of the regions most affected by the riots.
The president apologized on Friday for the deaths caused by the crisis and urged the Congress to speed up the procedures to hold early elections in April 2024.
According to a poll published on Sunday by the Ipsos company, Boluarte has a 71% disapproval rate.
The survey, with a sample of 1,199 people carried out on January 13, indicates that 63% of those surveyed believe that violent actions in the regions are “organized by political movements”.
More than 100 Peruvian intellectuals, 5 Argentines and 2 Chileans asked the Boluarte government to “cease the killings” produced in the protests.
“The signatory Peruvian writers and artists, Residents in Peru and the world, we demand that President Dina Boluarte immediately cease the killing of citizens who exercise their legitimate right to exist politically,” the statement said.
“We ask Dina Boluarte to listen to the claim of the people and to resign, that he immediately leave office and call immediate elections”he added.
Dialogue spaces
The Deputy Minister of Territorial Governance, José Muro, pointed out that the government’s commitment is to establish this week spaces for dialogue in the regions in conflict in order to meet the postponed social demands.
“Tell our brothers that this week we intend to establish spaces for dialogue to begin to meet the demands. We transmit this to you as a commitment of the Executive’s social management and dialogue team, articulating efforts with regional and local governments,” Muro told the state television channel TV Peru.
