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Juliaca (Peru) – Thousands of people marched through various Peruvian cities this Thursday in new demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and in commemoration of the deaths of 18 civilians a month ago in Juliaca (south), in a violent protest.
In cities of the Andes and the jungle area near the Amazon, mobilizations were reported demanding a way out of the political crisis, unleashed after the failed self-coup by former president Pedro Castillo and the coming to power of Boluarte, his vice president, last December.
In Juliaca the most nourished and heartfelt demonstrations took place. The protesters demanded justice for those who died on January 9, when a mob of some two thousand people tried to storm the Inca Manco Cápac airport, located 1,300 km south of Lima, in the Puno region.
The march headed towards the airport, where the protesters gathered to continue their claim. There a police contingent guarded the aerodrome, entrenched in an improvised defense post made of sandbags, metal sheets and wooden planks.
In the afternoon, the protesters tried to enter the air terminal again, generating the response of the riot police who fired volleys of tear gas, according to images from local media.
crying and protest
Hours before, hundreds of people, including relatives and close friends of the fatalities, walked through several streets in a mobilization that concentrated tears of pain, anti-government slogans and protest songs, orchestrated with musical instruments such as trumpets and drums.
“The spilled blood will never be forgotten” or “how many dead do you want to give up?” were some of the messages addressed to President Boluarte, while mothers and relatives held up photos and images of those killed by the violence in the protests.
“They have taken my son away from me by murdering him. You cannot pay for that, the life of my son,” Faustina Huanca, a 57-year-old informal vendor, exclaimed with regret.
Huanca, like many of those present, was dressed in black, and participated in a Catholic mass in which a priest said some Eucharistic prayers, and blessed those present with holy water sprinkled with red roses.
“Two police officers passed by and shot me at point-blank range (…) I have more than 70 pellets throughout my body, (the doctors) were only able to extract eight in the first surgery they performed on me. I have the rest in my body,” Diego assured. Quispe, 34 years old and an independent worker.
“Let the whole world know that on a day like today, January 9, our brothers have fallen in this place,” said a woman named Edit, who did not want to give her full name and said she was a relative of a victim.
Lima and other cities
In the white city of Arequipa, the second most important in the country, 765 kilometers south of Lima, there were mobilizations through the historic center to the Plaza de Armas of hundreds of people from unions and social organizations, according to local press reports.
There were also demonstrations in Ayacucho (565 km south of Lima), Pucallpa (730 km northeast) and Puno (1,300 km south), where they demanded the resignation of Boluarte and justice for the victims of the protests.
After two months of social upheaval and protests in Peru, 47 civilians have been reported dead in clashes in the demonstrations, and one police officer died in the context of the conflict, according to the Ombudsman’s Office.
In addition, 62 national highways remain blocked by protesters.
AFP
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