Roads blocked with giant rocks and broken glass. Whole cities shut down for mass protests. Fifty families in mourning for their dead. Called for a new President, a new Constitution, a whole new system of government. Promises to take the fight to Lima, the capital. Local officials warning that the Country is headed for anarchy.
A protest anthem shouted in the streets: “This democracy is no longer a democracy.”
Protests in rural Peru that began more than a month ago over the removal of the former President have grown in size and in the scope of the protesters’ demands, paralyzing entire sectors of the country and threatening the efforts of the new President, Dina Boluarte, for achieving control.
The anxiety is now much greater than the anger regarding who runs the Country; it represents deep frustration with Peru’s young democracy, which protesters say has failed to address a huge gap between rich and poor and between Lima and rural areas.
Former President Pedro Castillo, a leftist, had promised to tackle longstanding problems of poverty and inequality, but was impeached and arrested in December after trying to dissolve Congress and rule by decree. His supporters, most of them in poor rural regions, protested, sometimes burning government buildings, blocking roads and occupying airports. The Peruvian government soon declared a state of emergency and sent security forces into the streets.
Boluarte has called for unity and, responding to the protesters’ demands, asked legislators to advance the elections.
Congress has been slow to embrace that effort, with Boluarte’s detractors calling her a weak president working at the behest of a self-serving and out-of-touch legislature.
At first, the protesters mainly sought Castillo’s reinstatement or new elections as quickly as possible. Now, they want a new Constitution and even, as one poster said, “refound a new nation.”
Since Castillo’s removal, at least 50 people have been killed, 49 of them civilians, some shot in the chest, back and head, leading human rights groups to accuse the Army and Police of using excessive force and firing indiscriminately at protesters.
In Juliaca, a two-day drive from the capital, 19 people died as a result of a recent demonstration, the deadliest encounter of civilians with armed actors in Peru in at least 20 years. Eighteen of the dead were civilians.
The youngest to die was 15-year-old Brayan Apaza, whose mother, Asunta Jumpiri, called him an “innocent boy” who had gone out to buy food. At his wake, supporters held black flags to their chests and vowed to fight until Boluarte resigned.
Brayan died of a bullet to the head, threw his autopsy. At his funeral, Jumpiri spoke some of the last words before his burial.
“Dina!” she yelled, addressing the President, her hands clutching Brayan’s coffin, her face contorted with pain. “I am willing to die for my son! I am going to fight; I want justice!”
Then he issued a challenge: “Dina! Kill me!”.
Mitra Taj contributed reporting to this article.
By: Julie Turkewitz
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/6535686, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-01-18 21:30:06
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