On Wednesday, Peru experienced a new national day of protest against President Dina Boluarte, notably in Lima, the scene on Tuesday of the most violent day of demonstrations in the capital since the start of the unrest.
Significant clashes took place late Tuesday afternoon between demonstrators, some of whom were equipped with iron shields, who were throwing stones, and police firing tear gas and fine buckshot, noted AFP journalists who witnessed arrests.
The authorities did not provide any number of injured or arrested persons.
Several thousand protesters from poor Andean regions must once again march through the center of the capital. New clashes are feared near Parliament.
The demonstrators tirelessly demand the resignation of the President, the dissolution of Parliament, the organization of new elections despite the advancement of these to 2024, and the creation of a Constituent Assembly.
On Tuesday, the leader once again tried to defuse tensions by asking “forgiveness for the dead”, the 46 people killed since the start of the demonstrations in December, promising investigations to determine the perpetrators.
But his promise not to “stay in power”, his call for a “national truce”, to “restore dialogue”, “set an agenda for each region” and “develop” the country, was not heard in the street.
“We listened to Madame Boluarte. His vision is pathetic. The Peruvian people, all of us, we are not going to have a truce. We have nothing to discuss with Madame Boluarte. The only thing the people want is for her to resign and for there to be new elections,” said Carlos Avedano, 35, in the procession in Lima.
“We no longer believe his words,” added Rosa Soncco, 37, from Acomayo, in the Cuzco region. “There are 50 dead. How many mothers cry? »
“No truce! »
According to transport authorities, 85 road blockages were identified on Wednesday in nine of the country’s 25 regions.
The airport in Cuzco, the country’s tourist capital, was closed on Tuesday evening but was able to reopen on Wednesday. Those of Puno and Arequipa remain closed.
The impossibility of exchanges of goods, particularly in the southern regions, the epicenter of the protest, have begun to cause shortages and price increases.
There is no more liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the main vehicle fuel in Peru, in the service stations of Arequipa, Tacna and Puno. “The LPG has run out in Arequipa,” Alexander Cornejo, representing taxi drivers, told RPP radio, expressing alarm at the situation of 7,000 local drivers.
In the region of Puno, 1,350 km south of Lima and the scene of the most violent demonstrations which left 18 people dead, the prices of tomatoes and potatoes, staple foods, have tripled.
On Wednesday in Geneva before the Human Rights Council (HRC), where representatives of several States deplored the “excessive use of force” by public authorities during the demonstrations, the Minister of Justice José Andrés Tello said he was “convinced that we are acting appropriately to defend democracy and human rights” in the face of a “complex situation”.
The Peruvian ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, Luis Chuquihuara Chil, assured that Peru respected “peaceful demonstrations” and that the security forces were working to “restore social peace”.
Ms. Boluarte is due to speak on Wednesday before the Organization of American States (OAS) “to tell the truth”, she promised during her televised address. “Fifty people died, it hurts me.”
The unrest began on December 7 after the dismissal and arrest of Mr. Castillo, accused of having attempted a coup by wanting to dissolve the Parliament which was preparing to oust him from power.
Ms. Boluarte, his former vice-president and running mate in the 2021 elections, of the same modest and Andean origins as him, replaced him in accordance with the Constitution but is considered “a traitor” by the demonstrators.
Above all, this crisis reflects the huge gap between the capital and the poor provinces, which supported Mr. Castillo and saw his election as revenge for what they consider to be Lima’s contempt.