Since last December, the streets of Lima, Cuzco and Puno have been full. Indigenous communities are demonstrating against the power in place and making their demands heard, in particular thanks to the visibility provided by social networks.
For months, hundreds of activists have invaded major Peruvian cities, flags and placards in hand. They are demanding the resignation of the president, Dina Boluarte, who succeeded president Pedro Castillo, dismissed and arrested on December 7th. “The Peruvian Constitution does not represent me. My Quechua culture is not included in it”, can we read on some placards, proudly tense. On social networks, many videos show protesters dressed in colorful shawls and straw hats.
From indigenous communities (the Peruvian government lists 55 of them, speaking 48 different languages), they came from all over the country. “The natives who demonstrate come from everywhere, but especially from the Andes”explains Valérie Robin Azevedo, professor at Paris-Descartes University and specialist in Peru and Andean communities. “A lot of them end up in Lima, the cradle of political demands.”
“Enforce our rights”
Peru has been bogged down in recent months in a crisis that has gradually spread throughout the country. “The Andean populations had voted massively for Pedro Castillorecalls Valérie Robin Azevedo. They had a lot of hope, but in the end, like his predecessors, he did nothing at all.” Coming from a peasant background and former teacher, the far-left candidate was nevertheless the promise of a social revolution for all Peruvians, including the indigenous populations.
The coming to power of Dina Boluarte does not offer a better prospect: just as devoted to Congress, she has been the target, since the end of March, of an investigation for money laundering and illegal campaign financing during the 2021 presidential election. January, the prosecution opened an investigation against the president and several ministers and former ministers of her government, for suspicion of genocide, aggravated homicide and serious injuries during law enforcement operations.
Beyond corrupt power and a sense of betrayal, indigenous peoples have paid a heavy price during the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the Journal of Public Health (in English)members of communities in the Amazon were three times more likely to be infected with the virus than the rest of the population. “The natives would like to finally be recognized, listened to and taken into account. Except that each time, they are not considered”, analysis Valérie Robin Azevedo.
Mobilizations in the city have a high cost for these poor and often isolated populations. “We come at our own expense, without anyone’s help”explains an indigenous woman on the Instagram account of the young influencer Solischa, which relays many videos of the protest movements. “We leave our lands and our children to come to Lima and have our rights respected”, she says in the video below. To go to the capital or to Cuzco (south-east of the country), the demonstrators collect funds, rent buses or cars. “We have no place to stay in Cuzco. We will sleep in trucks or in makeshift shelters”, comments a young Quechua on social networks.
Expropriations and heavy metal pollution
The dramatic consequences on the environment and the unfair financial redistribution of the huge mining projects have fueled the resentment of the inhabitants since the beginning of the 2000s. “The money from the mines, the indigenous population does not see the color”explains Valérie Robin Azevedo. Indigenous protest first took the form of blockades of mining operations. Since December, on the site ofAntapaccay, a copper, gold and silver mine located in Espinar, in the south of the country, anger is brewing against expropriations and water pollution with heavy metals. A contamination that has significant health repercussions.
Kelyn Leonela Labra Panocca, originally from Espinar, is president of the University Federation of Cuzco. This student leader and fervent defender of her Quechua roots has become a figure of protest. Activist for the respect of the rights of her community, she explains to the Révélateurs de France Télévisions that “the environmental impact eliminates practically all life and weighs very little against the economic development generated”.
She also denounces “intimidation and forced departures” suffered by the peasants who live in these regions where the basements are worth gold, as well as the excessive repression of the police on the demonstrators participating in this mining blockade. On March 4, “In Puno, the region where the protest persists today and where the demonstrations reject the central government, the police have been unleashed”, says Kelyn Leonela, as evidenced by this video on TikTok.
“Rooted Racism”
Indigenous communities understood that, to be heard, the struggle must become political. For the first time in their history, the Quechua and Aymara communities have joined the processions demanding the dismissal of Dina Boluarte and a new Constitution. ButDespite their efforts, these indigenous communities, still stigmatized in Peru, are not listened to. Valérie Robin Azevedo talks about a “rooted racism in Peruvian society. There are lives that are worth more than others. Those of Indians are worth less and they are considered terrorists.”
This also explains why the native demonstrators are isolated, because they are set aside by the middle classes, who do not give them any civic consideration. Regions with an indigenous majority only account for 13% of the total population of Peru, but account for 80% of the deaths recorded since the start of the crisis. According to a report by the Defender of the People published on 16 April, 60 civilians and 7 members of the security forces have lost their lives since December.
Solischa, spokesperson on social networks
But the new popularity of these communities on social networks is changing the situation. Solischa created his instagram account and his Youtube channel in 2020. The objective of this young Quechua woman is simple: to make known to a wide audience the traditions and the way of life of the community of her grandparents. “I am Quechua. And I decided to show myself. We should not hide our roots”, she proclaimed from her first Instagram post, in October 2020.
Solischa photographs herself in traditional dress or cultivating potatoes. The success is total. His videos on YouTube have accumulated several million views. However, since December, she has moved away from her editorial line lifestyle to show another reality of Quechua life. She films them parading in the streets of Cuzco, translates their testimonies into Spanish and speaks for their demands. “Do our voices have no value? I demand a confederation of native peoples, we want our lands to have rights”she launched on January 19 on her networks.
These influencers with committed content even receive the support of Peruvian celebrities. On TikTok, Sisa Quispe (63,000 subscribers on this network) is, for example, on stage in the streets of New York in Aymara dress – the second largest indigenous community in Peru – to denounce police violence against its people. She also films herself alongside Australian-Peruvian actress Nathalie Kelley. In a TikTok video, they take stock of the dramatic situation in the country. In the video below, published in early March by the Peruvian media La Mula, four Peruvian artists (Kelly Gironda, Miriam Calcina, Paloma Mamani and Edith Ramos) sing in Quechua and Aymara: “Dina, murderer, we don’t want you!” The clip has been viewed nearly 43,000 times.
“A few years ago it was a shame to speak an indigenous language”, explains Valérie Robin Azevedo. A shame still present today for part of the population. According to the specialist in Andean communities, Lima is the most Quechua-speaking city in Peru. However, the majority of the inhabitants do not dare to speak it. “But in recent years, we have seen a new movement appear among young people: that of proudly claiming Andean culture, and in particular the Quechua language.”
Danna Gaviota is of kukama descent. She rose to fame on YouTube in 2013, with his native language song Kumbarikira, which has amassed nearly a million views. Although her mother tongue is Spanish, she learned that of her ancestors from her grandparents. She now works for Ucamara radio, one of the few stations to broadcast content in kukama and urarina. “As young Peruvians, we have a lot, a lot to do”says the one who is engaged in the fight against Dina Boluarte. “We must prepare today for what is to come. And it is our duty to preserve our indigenous culture.”