under the cry “Murderous Dina, the people repudiate you”, Thousands of Peruvians mobilized this Thursday at various points, including Lima, to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, whom they blame for the repression that has left nearly 50 deaths since December 7.
The day claimed one more fatality this Thursday, when In the city of Arequipa, a 30-year-old man died in an attempt to take over the airport.
Since Boluarte took office, 43 days ago, 43 civilians and a policeman died in clashes and about 10 more people as a result of the protests and roadblocks.
But National attention was focused this Thursday on the “taking of Lima”, for which thousands of people from all over the country participated, especially the southern Andes.
#The last | Group of protesters tour the San Isidro district in Lima. pic.twitter.com/hiauQKCumH
– Epicentro.TV (@Epicentro_TV) January 20, 2023
The strongest demonstration of rejection against Boluarte and Congress It passed basically in peace, except for relatively minor clashes in the vicinity of Abancay avenue, where the Bolívar square, seat of the Legislative, is located.
Demonstrators who tried to approach the place were repelled with tear gas by strong police cordons and a rescue group reported some minor injuries until nightfall.
Except for those incidents, everything took place in a tense atmosphere, but without clashes, and The Police allowed the demonstrators to go through the main downtown streets, except for the surroundings of the Government Palace and the interior of the strategic Plaza San Martín.
The people who arrived from the interior, and who stayed to a large extent at the state universities of San Marcos and the National University of Engineering, merged with their Lima hosts and paraded alongside.
“We are artists, we are not terrorists,” shouted the visitors, while they took the opportunity to make exhibitions of their folklore.
The “taking of Lima” generated expectation given the readings that in Peru a Creole, conservative and racist capital coexists between harsh frictions, and an Andean south of rural, Quechua and Aymara ancestry, and that demands political solutions by feeling eternally neglected.
“We have reached the immense town of the lords and we are removing it”a phrase by the prominent indigenous novelist José María Arguedas (1911-1969), was seen printed on several downtown walls, as a description of what was happening.
But, in the end, Lima and provincials marched shoulder to shoulder. Lima districts of the northern, eastern and southern cones, populated to a large extent by people who also say they feel neglected and who have Quechua and Aymara ethnic roots, displayed large banners of support.
“Our brothers from the interior are not alone”, A woman from the populous San Juan de Lurigancho district of Lima shouted with a megaphone, referring to the fact that all those killed in protests lost their lives outside of Lima.
The “taking of Lima”, in addition to the resignation of Boluarte, called for the closure of the Congress controlled by the right, general elections as soon as possiblenew Constitution and freedom for the ousted former president Pedro Castillo.
The current incidents in Peru, where there has been a permanent crisis since 2016, erupted after Congress last December removed the leftist Castillo, who had previously unsuccessfully tried to shut down parliament and rule by decree, and replaced him with the hitherto vice president. Boluarte.
The new president said in principle that she intended to stay until the end of the term, in 2026, thus ignoring the popular clamor of 83% for immediate general elections, according to the polls, and giving Congress more air than in the measurements is rejected by 88%.
He then backed off, but the country was already on fire. Early elections are now potentially scheduled for April 2024, but not only does that date seem too far away for the motley oppositionbut they fear that Boluarte and above all the Legislature try to outwit her.
For government spokesmen, the opposition is led by “professional bullies” with links to terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal mining and former Bolivian President Evo Morales, an interpretation that causes discomfort among opponents.
The protesters assure that they are neglected citizens who demand integration, respect for their rights, better economic possibilities and that they not be repressed with excessive force. of which even the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has already spoken.
This Thursday, in addition, there were clashes in the southern cities of Cusco, Juliaca and Ica and in the northern one of Virú, while more than 100 sections of roads continued to be interrupted by protesters in Andean, coastal and jungle departments.
Civic leaders said that they will remain in their protests until Boluarte resigns and opens the way for an electoral process for this year.
