Supporters of the former Peruvian president Pedro Castillo Two airports in the country were briefly seized this Monday and, at the close of this edition, blockades were maintained on various highways in the country to demand the resignation of the president Dina Boluarte, despite his proposal to advance elections to April 2024.
This Monday, some 1,500 protesters blocked the airport runway from Arequipa, Peru’s second city, with stones, sticks and burning tires. But the police confronted them with tear gas and retook control of the track after three hours.
Castillo is detained by order of a judge after his failed self-coup on Wednesday and subsequent removal by Congress. He was replaced as head of state by his vice president, Dina Boluarte.
Protesters, some dressed in traditional hats and costumes, burned security booths and the runway lighting was destroyed.
The authorities also announced that some four people have died during the protests. Also in Arequipa, the Gloria dairy factory, one of the largest in the country, was forcibly occupied by protesters, according to images in the local press.
The president’s announcement that she presented a bill to Congress to advance the elections from April 2026 to April 2024 has not calmed the protesters, who are demanding the release of Castillo, the closure of parliament and new elections now.
“The current context of political and social crisis is no less different than the situations that motivated in the past the formulation of a proposal that implies the advancement of the elections for the reduction of the mandate”, maintains the project in its foundations.
The measure also recalls that an initiative of this type must be approved “by an absolute majority of the legal number” of parliamentarians and ratified by referendum. This can be omitted if it receives the favorable vote in two successive legislatures, a process that can take up to a year, according to Peruvian law.
In addition, also in an attempt to stop the wave of demonstrations, the Boluarte government fired on Monday the 26 regional prefects, appointed by the Castillo government, on the grounds that they “incite protests.”
Meanwhile, the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights declared itself “deeply concerned about the possibility of an escalation of violence.”
“Given the number of protests, including strikes, planned this week, we call on all involved to exercise restraint,” he said in a statement issued in Geneva.
After indicating that he will try to “reach an agreement with Congress” to advance the elections to April 2024, Boluarte declared a state of emergency in areas where violent protests are taking place. The mobilizations are growing since this Sunday in several cities in the north and south Andes.
Attention is focused on the reaction of Congress to the proposal for early general elections, since it also implies that they cut their mandate in two years. “There has to be a political negotiation so that Congress makes the basic political reforms that are needed for new elections,” political analyst Giovanna Peñaflor told AFP.
Meanwhile, Castillo published a letter on Monday from his detention center, to which he was transferred after his failed self-coup. In the letter he claims to be “kidnapped” and called Boluarte a “usurper.”
“I speak to you at the most difficult moment of my government, humiliated, incommunicado, mistreated and kidnapped, but thus clothed in your trust and struggle,” reads the text posted on Twitter.
One of the former president’s defense lawyers resigned from his position on Monday due to disagreements with the litigation team. “I am a technical, legal defense and I will never go into political issues or justify political issues,” Miguel Pérez told Canal N.
For her part, the Attorney General of Peru, Patricia Benavides, filed a constitutional complaint against Castillo and three of his ministers before Congress for the alleged commission of crimes such as rebellion, conspiracy and others.
Finally, the Colombian Foreign Ministry, together with Mexico, Argentina and Bolivia, expressed yesterday “their deep concern over the recent events that resulted in the removal and detention of Castillo”, whom they still consider president and who they see as “victim of a undemocratic harassment”.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
TIME
*With Efe and AFP
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