The Peruvian government of Pedro Castillo decreed a curfew for much of Tuesday in Lima and the neighboring port of Callaoafter a partial stoppage of carriers that caused roadblocks and riots on Monday.
“Given the acts of violence that some groups have wanted to create (…) and for the sake of restoring peace and internal order (…), the Council of Ministers has approved declaring citizen immobility (curfew) from from 2:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m. on Tuesday, April 5, to protect citizen security,” Castillo said in a message to the country on television around midnight on Monday.
The measure, which immediately provoked expressions of rejection on social networks, implies leaving the 10 million inhabitants locked up in their homes on Tuesday from Lima and Callao.
Various acts of violence, including the burning of toll booths on routes, looting of some shops and clashes between protesters and the police, occurred this Monday in various areas of Peru in the first stoppage faced by the Castillo government, in power. for eight months.
The protests, triggered by rising fuel and food prices, took place in Lima and the regions of Piura, Chiclayo, La Libertad, Junín, Ica, Arequipa, San Martín, Amazonas and Ucayali, among others, and led to suspend classes in schools due to the restriction of public transport.
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President @PedroCastilloTe: “The Council of Ministers decreed a State of Emergency, suspending constitutional rights related to personal freedom and security, the inviolability of the home, freedom of assembly and transit in the province of Lima and Callao.” pic.twitter.com/xBCFtgdV83
– Presidency of Peru 🇵🇪 (@presidenciaperu) April 5, 2022
It is like putting an end to traffic accidents by prohibiting the circulation of vehicles.
“I call for calm, serenity, social protest is a constitutional right, but it must be done within the law,” Castillo said in his brief message.
The Union of Multimodal Transport Guilds of Peru claims against the rise in fuel prices and tolls and the strike of its members would last until Tuesday.
In the regions of Ica (south) and Junín (east) there was looting in businesses, according to images broadcast by local television stations. In Ica, 300 km south of Lima, some toll booths on the Pan-American highway, one of the country’s main highways, were burned.
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The measure will take effect this Tuesday while the Peruvian economy seeks to leave behind the damage caused by the covid-19 pandemic and in coincidence with the 30th anniversary of the self-coup of the now imprisoned former president Alberto Fujimori, on April 5, 1992.
The restriction of movement, under the protection of a state of emergency in the Peruvian capital, immediately received expressions of repudiation. “Curfew to restore order, authoritarian measure of the Pedro Castillo government that shows ineptitude, inability to govern.”, he told the AFP political analyst Luis Benavente.
During the protest of the transporters, and to which other unions of workers have joined, Four people have died, due to circumstances arising from the blockades.
About twenty people have been arrested due to the disturbances caused in eleven regions of the country that have presented land transport cuts.
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“The measure dictated by President Pedro Castillo is openly unconstitutional, disproportionate and violates people’s right to individual liberty,” tweeted lawyer Carlos Rivera, one of the defenders of the victims of the Fujimori government.
For her part, the influential journalist Rosa María Palacios wrote on Twitter: “At the stroke of midnight there is no way to inform and be informed. Such a radical measure, in violation of all rights and disproportionate, only reveals that the government has lost all control of public order.”
In an attempt to appease the claims, the government had eliminated the fuel tax over the weekend. In addition, Castillo decreed a 10 percent increase in the minimum wage, which will rise to 1,025 soles (USD 277) as of May 1.
The General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP), the main trade union center in the country, rejected the salary increase percentage indicating that it is insufficient and called on its affiliates to march on Thursday. These protests are the first in scope against Castillo, whose disapproval reaches 66%, according to a March Iapsos poll.
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With information from EFE and AFP
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