June 4, 2023, 9:15 PM
June 4, 2023, 9:15 PM
The Government of Dina Boluarte extended the state of emergency in the southern Puno region for 60 days so that the Armed Forces direct the control of internal order in that jurisdiction, with the support of the Peruvian National Police (PNP), in accordance with a decree published this Sunday (04.06.2023).
Puno is a southern Andean region, bordering Bolivia, where there were violent clashes with law enforcement in the anti-government protests at the beginning of 2023 and which maintained the blockade of roads and highways for longer.
Last week, Puno’s social organizations called a 24-hour strike to resume protest mobilizations against Boluarte, but compliance with the measure was low.
The extension of the state of emergency in Puno responds to the application of article 137 of the Political Constitution, paragraph 1, which establishes the restriction or suspension of the exercise of constitutional rights related to the inviolability of domicile, freedom of transit through the national territory, freedom of assembly; and personal liberty and security.
The Peruvian Executive ordered that the Joint Command of the Armed Forces (CCFFAA) continue to assume the Unified Command of the Army and the PNP in Puno, in accordance with current legal regulations that define the scope of a military command in a similar situation.
During this emergency period, the Armed Forces have the task of protecting critical national assets -with the intervention and support of the PNP- and the protection of public and private institutions and strategic facilities linked to the exploitation or transportation of natural resources and roads that determined by the police.
In a recent assembly of social organizations in Puno, it was also agreed to hold a new protest march to Lima in the coming weeks, similar to the one they did at the beginning of 2023 and which was one of the last acts of mobilization after the removal of the former president. Pedro Castillo in December 2022.
The protests broke out in Peru after the failed coup d’état by Castillo and continued since January with mobilizations and clashes with the forces of order in rejection of the Government of Boluarte, who assumed the Executive because she is the vice president.
According to various sources, at least 49 civilians died during these clashes, while the protests left a total of 77 deaths, since other people, including several Haitians, also died due to actions such as road blockades.
