” Were’re going to [Lima] to make our voice heard,” an Andean leader tells Agence France-Presse of the protests demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and new elections in Peru, shaken by civil unrest that has already claimed 42 lives since December 7.
Thousands of demonstrators converged on the capital on Monday despite the state of emergency declared by the government, hoping for a mass rally in the coming days to give more weight to their demands. It is however impossible, despite the announcements of each other, to know the extent of the mobilization and to know how many people have arrived or are on their way to Lima. The trip, crossing Andean passes, can last up to 24 hours.
“It is sure, it is already discussed, recorded. We’re going to Lima. There are collections of money to be able to go there with all the citizens of the provinces of the south and the north of Puno “, on the border with Bolivia, affirms Jimmy Mamani, president of an association of villages, since Ilave.
” [Les gouvernants] turn a deaf ear, but we’ve had enough. It is not fair that the executive, the state, cannot listen to our demands. We cannot manage to dialogue with them”, he adds, assuring that it “will be a peaceful mobilization”.
State of emergency again
The government, which is unable to stem the protests, declared a state of emergency again on Saturday for 30 days in Lima, Callao (the country’s main port), Puno and Cuzco (near Machu Picchu). ). The state of emergency authorizes the army to intervene to maintain order and, above all, suspends freedom of movement and assembly. It had already been decreed in mid-December throughout Peru, for 30 days.
“We hope that this situation [les protestations] will change radically and the path of dialogue will be restored,” the president’s chief of staff, Alberto Otarola, told the Latina television channel.
Mr. Otarola reaffirmed that the president “will not resign”. “Out of a sense of historical responsibility and because the resignation of Dina Boluarte would open the door to anarchy. “There is a small organized group funded by drug trafficking and illegal mining that wants to take power by force,” he also accused.
Already, Sunday evening in Lima, dozens of demonstrators, surrounded by a large police force, marched peacefully from the city center to the tourist district of Miraflores to cries of “Dina junk, down with the dictatorship” or “Dina, corrupt assassin” . “It will be stronger. […] The regions are already arriving in Lima, we demand that Boluarte resign and that they close the Parliament immediately. We don’t want any more deaths,” says Jasmin Reinoso, 25, a nurse from Ayacucho, who has been in Lima for two months.
At least 3,000 people from Andahuaylas, a city in the south-east of the country which was one of the epicenters of the December demonstrations, left the city on Sunday to reach Lima by car and truck, according to local press.
On Monday, car traffic remained blocked on a hundred sections blocked by demonstrators. New: in addition to the Andean South, roadblocks were erected in the North, in the region of Libertad, where demonstrators blocked the Pan-American highway by burning tires.
The protests erupted after the December 7 impeachment and arrest of hard-left President Pedro Castillo, accused of attempting to stage a coup in an attempt to dissolve parliament that was preparing to oust him from power. . Mme Boluarte, who was Mr. Castillo’s vice-president, succeeded him in accordance with the Constitution. She comes from the same party as him, but the demonstrators see her as a “traitor”.
We demand that Boluarte resign and that they close Parliament immediately. We don’t want any more deaths.
The violence is concentrated in the southern Andes, where the Quechuas and Aymaras live. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights advocates better integration of these indigenous communities into Peruvian society to end the unrest.
The victims “died because they demanded equality. There is too much corruption, ”said Benito Soto Escobar, glazier of Huancavelica, on Sunday in front of the cathedral of Lima.
Dina Boluarte is the sixth person to occupy the Peruvian presidency in five years, in a country which is experiencing a permanent political crisis punctuated by suspicions of corruption.