Lima woke up this Thursday with 14,000 police and soldiers stationed in the main arteries of the city to control the first of the three days of strike announced by the transport union. This is the second major measure of force in the sector after a strike at the end of September due to a wave of attacks and extortion that they have suffered for months. Although on this occasion the formal transportation companies reported that they would not stop their activities, the truth is that the streets of Lima and Callao have notably lacked buses and thousands of citizens have had serious difficulties in going to work. One of the reasons is that it is a highly informal sector, where 86.82% (19,237 vehicles) are owned by third parties and not authorized companies, it has revealed the diary The Commerce.
Classes in public and private schools were suspended, as well as in universities, although more than one opted for virtual teaching. Social Health Security was forced to reschedule medical appointments. “We are able to report that the entire city of Lima is calm, there has been no act of vandalism, nor against heritage. The units that went out to work did so calmly,” said the president of the Council of Ministers, Gustavo Adrianzén, during the morning, in an attempt to minimize the matter.
However, burning tires were reported in several parts of Lima, as well as incidents where strikers prevented the passage of custers (small vans) and buses and forced them to get off. As a result, law enforcement officers detained 13 people until the early hours of the afternoon. Although the Navy enabled buses to reduce the impact, the measure did not end the crowds of people or the mishaps. Yerbateros, one of the main interprovincial terminals, remained closed.
Faced with the wave of extortion that has ended the lives of around twenty drivers and collectors, the main merchant unions went on strike. Gamarra, a textile emporium where 80,000 people work, stopped its activities. Also markets of various kinds, from groceries to textiles, joined the force measure such as Unicachi, Polvos Azules or Las Malvinas. It is true that some also did it out of fear of abuse or reprisals. “I appeal to the merchants of the markets who decided not to open today for fear that there may be a type of citizen disorder that affects their businesses, the city is totally safe. The small incidents that occurred have already been resolved,” said the Minister of Transportation, Raúl Pérez Reyes, to persuade them.
Thousands of people march towards Congress, located in the center of Lima, to demand the repeal of the new organized crime law that excludes extortion and, in addition, has an impact on tax raids, since it demands that the accused and his lawyer now are present before entering a property. Last week the Congressional Spokesperson’s Board refused to debate its repeal. The Government of Dina Boluarte, for its part, has presented a bill that incorporates the crime of “urban terrorism” into the Penal Code and establishes a penalty of no less than 25 years in prison and no more than 35 for those who cause anxiety. in the population through the crimes of extortion and hitmen. For the opposition and various analysts, it is actually a double-edged measure that seeks to criminalize any citizen mobilization.
This is not the only move by President Boluarte that has aroused the rejection of a large part of the population. In the run-up to the transporters’ strike, Pedro Castillo’s successor signed the rule that transfers the power to direct preliminary investigations of crimes to the Police and no longer to the Public Ministry. “The government of Dina Boluarte is also not interested in defending legality, a perfect puppet that responds obediently to its pro-government benches,” said congresswoman Ruth Luque, of the Popular Democratic Bloc.
Added to this is a recent statement by the president, during the commemoration of the Combat of Angamos, where to defend herself from her low approval she has hinted that she could criminalize the work of the press. “We have to fight a new evil, a new threat in the world. The war of lies, fake news, fake news, created with the purpose of image terrorism. An old method that totalitarians applied.”
In the public eye, the State of Emergency for 60 days in thirteen districts of Lima and one of Callao, dictated by the Executive, has not been a solution. The attacks have continued. Twenty-five buses were found burned in a warehouse just the day after the declaration. Last Monday, a hitman posed as a passenger, in Callao, and shot the driver and other people who were in the van, killing four people. Recently, in Villa El Salvador, the owner of a pharmacy died for not paying the quota. His widow, Maritza Velásquez, angrily complained to Boluarte: “If our president herself says ‘he who commits a crime is because he does not have a fixed income,’ then how can I ask for justice for the death of my husband who was taken from me.”
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