Peru: Political pressure grows with extended marches to Lima

The calls for the closure of Congress and the departure of President Dina Boluarte extend this Friday in Peru, where the protests covered Lima and the blockades persist in the southern Andesaffecting the tourist city of Cusco and the train to Machu Picchu.

Also read: Peru: President Boluarte calls for dialogue to end the protests

“Closing of Congress Now. New Constitution”, “Dina, assassin, resign enemy”are slogans on the banners that are raised in marches and blockades in various regions of the south of the country, historically marginalized, and that on Thursday were felt in the center of Lima, where some incidents with the forces of order were recorded.

In an intense crisis, with no signs of being resolved for now, in Cusco, a tourism mecca, the authorities had to close the airport for security in the face of an escalation of violent protests since the beginning of this week, which also caused the suspension of train operations to Machu Picchu, an international tourist attraction.

This Friday Peru lives its tenth consecutive day of demonstrationswith new marches in Tacna, 1,224 km southeast of Lima, on the border with Chile, a neighboring country that had to temporarily close its passage on Thursday “due to demonstrations in the vicinity of the Peruvian border complex of Santa Rosa,” the authorities reported. Chileans that have already normalized transit.

The violent protests that began a month ago have so far left 42 dead, including a policeman who was burned alive by a mob, according to the institution. The tragic balance provoked a call from the United States for “restraint” to all parties, while a mission from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) is in Peru assessing the crisis.

The leftist Castillo was dismissed by Congress and arrested on December 7 after a failed self-coup, when trying to close parliament, intervene in justice and rule by decree. he replaced it Dina Boluarte, 60, its vice president.

Castillo, who was being investigated for corruption, He is serving 18 months in pretrial detention ordered by a judge on charges of rebellion. After a truce at the end of December, the protests resumed last week, with a turn in the demands on the streets that in December called for the release of Castillo and the installation of a Constituent Assembly.

However, now there is a forceful call for the closure of Congress, an institution that is blamed for having turned a deaf ear to the popular request for early elections, which they decided to set for April 2024 and discarded the December 2023 date that Boluarte also supported.

Until now, the northern regions of Peru, where a large part of the industries that are pillars of the Peruvian economy, mining and agro-exports, are based, have remained without demonstrations.

AFP.

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