New clashes took place this Friday in Peru against President Dina Boluarte. The demonstrations do not give truce to a political crisis that exceeds fifty deaths, according to various international media.
Yesterday’s clashes were concentrated in the La Libertad (north), Arequipa and Puno (south) regions, with roadblocks and pitched battles between protesters, who threw stones with slingshots at the police, who repelled with tear gas.
Puno: a deceased is reported in the town of Acora https://t.co/YUWahtFd2c
– The Trade (@elcomercio_peru) January 21, 2023
According to reports from afpIn the Puno region, a mob burned down the Zepita district police station and set fire to a customs post in Desaguadero, on the border with Bolivia.
In Arequipa, the country’s second city, dozens of residents tried to invade the airport runway, closed and guarded by law enforcement since Thursday.
Meanwhile, thousands of protesters paraded through Lima since the afternoon chanting loudly: “Dina murderess!”, “This democracy is not a democracy! Dina, the people repudiate you!” The mobilization took place peacefully, although late at night there were minor disturbances in the historic center of the capital.
The government declared a state of emergency on Thursday in seven of the 25 regions of the country – including the capital and areas in the north and south of the country – until mid-February, thus enabling military intervention together with the police to control public order.
The riots have claimed more than fifty lives since they began on December 7, after the removal and arrest of the left-wing president of indigenous origin Pedro Castillo. Media like the agency efe they account for a larger sum, closing at 59 fatalities.
Castillo has been accused of having attempted a coup by wanting to dissolve the right-wing-controlled Congress and was about to remove him from power for alleged corruption.
He was replaced by Boluarte, who served as vice president, but is seen as a “traitor” by the protesters.
At 9:00 p.m., the President of the Republic, @DinaErcilia Boluarte, will offer, along with state ministers, a pronouncement on the situation in the country. pic.twitter.com/1X3OYFtDsZ
– Presidency of Peru ?? (@presidenciaperu) January 20, 2023
The organizers assure that the mobilizations will not stop until the resignation of President Boluarte.
Tourists stranded in Machu Picchu
In Cusco, the rail service to the Inca citadel Machu Picchu, a jewel of Peruvian tourism, continued to not resume on Friday in the context of protests, while the Cusco airport restarted operations.
The suspension of trains to Machu Picchu stranded 417 tourists, including 300 foreigners, in the town of Aguas Calientes, which is located at the foot of the mountain where the famous Inca city stands, according to the government.
On Thursday night, Boluarte again called for calm, in a message broadcast on state television.
“To the sisters and brothers who do want to work in peace, who do want to bring their income to their homes to support their families, I say and also to those who are generating these acts of protest, to those who have moved from the provinces to the capital, I am not going to get tired of calling them to good dialogue”, he said.
But his words fall on deaf ears. The crisis, according to specialists, also reflects the huge gap between the capital and the poor provinces that support Castillo and that saw in his election a form of revenge against Lima’s contempt.
? The envoy of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Christian Salazar Volkmann, welcomed the opening of the Peruvian government to discuss these issues, as part of his visit to Peru.https://t.co/kf3sZ8Jw0q
– National (@RadioNacionalFM) January 20, 2023
Also this Friday, the special envoy of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Christian Salazar Volkmann, declared that he has asked the Peruvian government for information on its actions to prevent deaths and injuries in anti-government protests and that these cases be investigated.
Salazar Volkmann held a meeting with the president of the Council of Ministers of Peru, Alberto Otárola, one day after the national day of protests that focused on a massive march in Lima.
With information from Afp and Efe.
