Peruvian President Dina Boluarte was questioned on Tuesday by the prosecutor investigating the repression of the protests after the imprisonment of President Pedro Castillo, now imprisoned. Dozens of deaths have been reported in three months.
The head of state was with the head of the public ministry, Patricia Benavides, for about an hour and a half. The presidency said that it “provided statements regarding the investigations,” but did not provide further details.
The prosecution pointed out that the president was called for “the deaths of citizens that occurred during the social mobilizations of December 2022 and January 2023.”
His lawyer, Kelly Montenegro, said that he has “every will to want to help find out the truth and the investigation.”
But if there is a specific accusation, Boluarte will not be able to stand trial until the end of her term in 2026, as established by the Constitution.
On January 10, the prosecutor’s office opened an investigation against her for the alleged crimes of genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries.
The authorities are trying to determine their responsibility in the repression of anti-government demonstrations in Apurímac, La Libertad, Puno, Junín, Arequipa and Ayacucho.
In these protests, 54 people have died, including six soldiers who drowned in a river over the weekend when they tried to flee from peasants who attacked them with stones. According to the Ombudsman’s Office, there have also been 1,300 injuries, almost half of them in uniform.
The chief of staff, Alberto Otárola, the former Minister of the Interior, Víctor Rojas, the Minister of Defense, Jorge Chávez, and the former chief of staff, Pedro Angulo, are also being investigated by the prosecution in the framework of the same case.
Boluarte celebrates three months in power this Tuesday after replacing Castillo, he was arrested after being dismissed by Congress on December 7. She is the sixth person to occupy the presidency in five years and the first woman to govern Peru, a country that lives in a permanent political crisis.
