Peru continues mired in its usual political chaos despite the formation of the new government led by President Dina Boluarte. In the last few hours, protests against the president and the demand for new elections have left at least two dead in the south of the country. There are also calls for a national strike. In parallel, Congress had to suspend its session this Sunday amid incidents and physical violence between deputies from the leftist Peru Libre party and the opposition.
The blows of the latest political mess in Peru have moved to the streets. The mobilizations against the new president, Dina Boluarte, acquired greater importance this Sunday, on her fourth consecutive day.
Several cities in the north and south of the Andes were the protagonists of protests rejecting Congress and demanding, in addition to the release of former President Pedro Castillo, the calling of early elections to elect a new head of state.
Thousands of people mobilized through the streets of Cajamarca, Arequipa, Tacna, Andahuaylas, Huancayo, Cusco and Puno, according to images broadcast by local television stations. In these acts of protest, at least two people died, as reported by the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH) and confirmed by the Ombudsman.
The first deceased is a 15-year-old teenager and the second an 18-year-old. Both died in Andahuaylas, a southern Andean town where protests already left 16 civilians on Saturday and four police officers injured in sharp clashes between civilians and security agents.
The magnitude of the events in that city in the Apurímac region led the Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation (Corpac) to order the closure of the city’s airport due to the excesses and a fire in part of the facilities.
“Indefinite strike”
In parallel, agrarian unions and peasant and indigenous organizations announced an “indefinite strike” since Tuesday, also adding to the calls for a closure of Congress, an advance of the presidential elections and even the drafting of a new Magna Carta, according to a statement. of the Agrarian and Rural Front of Peru.
The collective, which acts as an umbrella for a dozen organizations, also demands the “immediate freedom” of former president Castillo.
According to the Agrarian Front, Castillo “did not perpetrate any coup d’état” when on Wednesday, December 7, he announced the closure of Congress, the intervention of the public powers and that he would govern by decree, which led to his dismissal by Parliament and the assumption of of the Head of State by Vice President Boluarte.
In Lima, the Peruvian capital, the leftist Peru Libre party called for a mobilization on Sunday afternoon from the historic Plaza San Martín, the epicenter of political demonstrations in Peru. An act that was also marked by clashes between protesters and police.
Nearby, the Congress, dominated by the right, announced that it would meet on Sunday afternoon to analyze the situation. And also to convey a message from the Attorney General, Patricia Benavides, who announced “preliminary proceedings are being carried out” to Castillo, as well as to his former Prime Minister Bettsy Chávez and former Interior Minister Willy Huerta after the acts classified as “self-coup “Last Wednesday. However, the tension also moved to the chamber.
Congressman Pasión Dávila, very close to Pedro Castillo, punched deputy Juan Burgos, from the right-wing Avanza País party.
Minutes before, some of the assembled congressmen began to launch harangues in favor of the protests and swear that the blood of the deceased -until then only one had been reported- “will never be forgotten.”
Then, Dávila crossed the opposition bench and hit Burgos from behind to immediately return to his seat. But the right-winger crossed the chamber and ran against Dávila, but was stopped by another deputy, avoiding a further escalation of violence. Until the session had to be temporarily interrupted.
early elections
Castillo was detained by his own escort while on his way to the Mexican embassy to request political asylum last Wednesday. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses him of rebellion and conspiracy.
Boluarte, until then its vice president, formed a government on Saturday with an independent and technical profile and with former prosecutor Pedro Angulo as prime minister.
“Until now, the president has not been clear about what the big question is: are we in a transition government or are we before an authority that intends to stay until 2026?” political analyst Giovanna Peñaflor told the AFP news agency. .
“She should be clear that her role is to facilitate the new general elections and that this is the path that will augur her to have some stability that will allow this cabinet not to be like the past and end up being relegated,” he added.
The demand for new elections is associated with an overwhelming rejection of Congress: according to November polls, 86% of Peruvians disapprove of Parliament.
Boluarte did not rule out calling for early elections on Friday in search of a peaceful solution to the political crisis, and urged the population to calm down.
Drugged?
Meanwhile, the controversy grew around the version of a former chief of staff and Castillo’s lawyer that the former president was doped when he read the message in which he announced his failed coup attempt.
In an alleged letter that he would have written in prison, Castillo maintains that a “camouflaged” doctor and nurses and a “faceless” (hooded) prosecutor “forced” him to take blood samples on Friday and Saturday.
According to the letter, he refused to cooperate because he feared for his safety.
The president of the Institute of Legal Medicine, Francisco Brizuela, confirmed that the former president “refuses to take a blood sample and a urine sample. Therefore, the expertise (to find out if he was drugged) could not have been carried out “.
Castillo also rejected “a psychological and psychiatric expertise,” added Brizuela.
With AFP, EFE and local media
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