Andrés Choy on blockades and protests: "More than 2 thousand wineries have just closed"

For Andres Choypresident of the Association of Winemakers of Peru the government of Dina Boluarte and the Ombudsman They must collect their concern about the bankruptcy of the wineries, whose owners are extorted by protesters daily.

“Many of the protesters, after the marches, passed by charging us or asking us for a collaboration for their march, a kind of extortion, and if you didn’t really want to pay you could face the consequences. This has caused us to not have products, distributors do not arrive, products become more expensive; all these conditions have forced us to close. Among our partners, more than 2,000 wineries have just closed, there are more or less 35% that have already gone bankrupt”Choy says with concern.

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He also referred to the large economic losses in the sector.

“The entire southern zone has a drop in sales of more than 70%. 90 thousand wineries are in a very critical stage. Definitely the situation does not allow us to supply ourselves, prices have skyrocketed, the business of the winery is practically a loss, we are putting our own capital, we do not have the security of being able to work “he remarked.

He urged the Ombudsman’s Office to collect and verify what is happening in the south of the country, since the winemakers are just as citizens as those who protest.

“Our rights, for example, to free movement do not exist, our right to be able to have a job does not exist either, our right to be able to attend to any problem that may exist does not exist either because a mob comes and can attack you. So I ask that the Ombudsman rule on the matter, they speak for other sectors, but they do not speak for the sectors that are most affected “he concluded.