Five more protesters died this Monday in the protests in Peru who are demanding the resignation of the new president Dina Boluarte, which brought the total number of deaths since Sunday to seven, despite the president’s proposal to advance elections to April 2024.
Also, The railway service between Cusco and the Inca citadel Machu Picchu, a jewel of tourism in Peru, will be suspended on Tuesday due to protests against the new president Dina Boluarte after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo for his failed coup, the operating company reported on Monday.
One of the deaths on Monday occurred in Arequipa (south), Peru’s second city, during police action to recover the airport runway taken over by some 1,500 protesters.
Four other civilians died during marches repelled by riot police in Chincheros and Andahuaylas, in the department of Apurímac, the birthplace of Boluarte, also in the southern part of the country.
“We have reported seven deaths in the Abancay and Arequipa regions” since Sunday, a source from the Ombudsman’s Office told AFP.
Among the dead are three teenagers who were between 15 and 16 years old. In Chincheros, protesters set fire to the prosecutor’s office and a police station. A pitched battle broke out at the Arequipa airport when police evicted protesters who had blocked the runway with stones, sticks and burning tires, an AFP photographer found at the scene.
(Keep reading: Peru: what’s next for Pedro Castillo after the Prosecutor’s complaint for rebellion?).
Police confronted them with tear gas and retook control of the track after three hours, he added. The protesters, some dressed in traditional hats and costumes, burned security booths and destroyed the lighting on the runway. The airport closed and stranded dozens of passengers.
Also in Arequipa, the Gloria dairy factory, one of the largest in the country, was forcibly occupied by protesters, according to television footage. In Lima, hundreds of protesters were dispersed by police using tear gas as they tried to reach Congress. The government declared a state of emergency for 60 days on Monday in 7 provinces of the Abancay region (south).
The Peruvian Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation closed the Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport in Cusco on Monday night because protesters tried to violently enter its facilities.
(Also read: Peru: Castillo points out that he is still the president and calls Boluarte a ‘usurper’).
Given the difficult situation facing the country, the company PerúRail indicated in a statement: “Given the call for protest demonstrations by different social organizations in Cusco, we are obliged to suspend this Tuesday the operations of our train services in the route to and from Machu Picchu”.
The main access to the stone citadel is by train from Cusco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire, 110 km away.
The company emphasizes that it prioritizes the safety of passengers in the face of possible blockades on the railway.
(Also: Peru: UN fears escalation of tensions and calls for containment from all parties).
Agrarian unions and peasant and indigenous organizations announced an “indefinite strike” in various regions of Peru starting Tuesday, demanding the closure of Congress, early elections and a new Constitution, according to a statement from the Agrarian and Rural Front of Peru.
The group also calls for the “immediate release” of former President Castillo, who was arrested on Wednesday by his own escort when he was on his way to the Mexican embassy to request political asylum. The prosecution accuses him of rebellion and conspiracy, but is also investigating him for corruption.
More news
Crisis in Peru: Protesters enter Arequipa airport: video
Congress of Peru approves the project that lifts the special jurisdiction of Castillo
Peru: Boluarte proposes to Congress to advance general elections
EFE AND AFP
#Peru #protesters #died #trains #Machu #Picchu #suspended