Peru’s president is trying to pull the country out of the ‘quagmire’ by asking parliament to approve a new advance in general elections, while the police and the army have been called in to clear the dozens of roadblocks erected across the country which is beginning to experience serious shortages.
“May the elections be brought forward” and can get the country “out of the quagmire in which we are”, declared Ms. Boluarte on Friday, indicating that her government supports the initiative of the opposition to bring forward the presidential and legislative elections to December 2023. .
“We are submitting this bill for the consideration of ministers in order to advance the elections to December 2023”, she added from Lima airport during an operation to send medicines and medical equipment to the south of the country paralyzed by roadblocks.
The interim president has led Peru since the dismissal on December 7 by parliament of former elected president Pedro Castillo, which led to violent demonstrations that left at least 46 people dead.
She underlined that as soon as the Parliament decides to advance the elections, “we, within the Executive, will immediately demand these elections. No one has an interest in clinging to power […] I have no interest in remaining in the presidency. If I am here it is because I have assumed my constitutional responsibility and we will be here until Parliament […] calls for elections.
When Ms. Boluarte, who was vice-president, took office, the electoral calendar had been set for 2026, that is to say at the end of the mandate that her predecessor should have fulfilled.
But to contain the growing discontent, she had already proposed to Parliament to bring forward the general elections to April 2024. A first vote of the unicameral chamber on December 20 had validated the bill, and a second was to ratify it.
“However, the protests continue, there are more blockages and violence,” Ms. Boluarte acknowledged on Friday.
Demonstrations continue daily and protesters relentlessly demand the immediate resignation of the President and of Parliament, and the establishment of a Constituent Assembly.
Unblock roads
Thursday evening, while the authorities were counting 88 roadblocks in 8 of the 25 regions of Peru, the Ministries of Interior and Defense announced in a press release that “the national police of Peru, with the support of the armed forces, will carry out the unblocking of the roads of the national network”.
These roadblocks lead to shortages of basic products and fuel, drive up prices and, according to the government, complicate access to care and the arrival of medicines in several regions.
The government accused the roadblocks of being the direct cause of ten deaths, including those of three children who, according to it, could not receive the care they needed in time.
The right to protest “does not include blocking of tracks, much less can trump the right to life of people who need to be transported to receive treatment,” the statement added.
The central highway that connects the Andes and is the main route for importing food products to Lima has notably been closed. Hundreds of trucks are blocked. The tourist gem of Machu Picchu has closed its doors.
“There is no gas or gasoline. In shops there are only non-perishable foodstuffs and everything is very expensive, up to three times the normal price,” Guillermo Sandino, a marketing expert based in Ica, 300 km to the south, told AFP on Friday. of Lima.
Thursday in the capital, several hundred people gathered again, first in peace. But clashes between demonstrators and police have once again erupted in the historic center of Lima.
They resumed Friday in the historic center of the capital.
It was in the cities of Juliaca and Puno, more than 1,350 km south of Lima, that the most violent demonstrations took place.
Above all, this crisis reflects the huge gap between the capital and the poor provinces, notably the southern Andean region, which supported Mr. Castillo and saw his election as revenge for what they consider to be Lima’s contempt.