New clashes in regions in the north and south of Peru were registered this Friday during demonstrations in Lima against President Dina Boluarte, who have not signed a ceasefire despite the 45 dead since the wave of protests began in December.
The clashes centered in the regions of La Libertad (North), Arequipa and Puno (South), with roadblocks and battles between protesters, who threw stones with slingshots, and the police, who responded with tear gas.
In the Puno region, a group set fire to the Zepita district police station and a customs post in Desguadero, on the border with Bolivia, local television reported.
In Arequipa, the country’s second-largest city, dozens of residents tried for the second consecutive day to invade the airport runway, which has been closed off and protected by security forces since Thursday.
In the capital Lima, thousands of demonstrators paraded loud and clear on Friday afternoon: “Dina assassin!” and “This democracy is not a democracy! Dina the people reject it!”
With a Yunguyo flag – people from the shores of Lake Titicaca on the border with Bolivia – on her back and wearing a white straw hat, Olga Mamani, aged 50, said: “We want Dina’s resignation. If she does not resign, the people will not be at peace.”
“The coca leaf gives us strength for this fight, we want Dina to step down and close Congress […] we will stay here until the final consequences,” said Antonio Huamán, a 45-year-old farmer who came from Andahuaylas, the epicenter of the December protests.
The government on Thursday declared a state of emergency in seven of the country’s 25 regions – including the capital and areas in the north and south of the country – until mid-February, allowing military intervention alongside police to maintain public order .
The unrest has already left 45 dead — 44 civilians and a police officer — since Dec. 7 following the removal and arrest of leftist indigenous-born president Pedro Castillo, accused of attempted coup by the Congress-controlled right to disband. was about to remove him from power on suspicion of corruption.
Castillo was replaced by Boluarte, his vice president, but she is seen as a “traitor” by protesters.
Tourists stranded in Machu Picchu
In Cusco, train service to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, the country’s top tourist attraction, remained suspended this Friday due to the protests, while Cusco’s airport resumed operations.
The suspension of trains left at least 300 foreign and local tourists stranded in the town of Aguas Calientes, located at the foot of the mountain where the famous Inca citadel was built.
“We are not sure that a train will come to pick us up. As you can see, all the tourists here are queuing, collecting signatures and registering” so that they can be removed, Chilean Alem López told to AFP.
The fight continues
The organizers guarantee that the demonstrations will not end until President Boluarte resigns.
“The battle will continue in all regions until we get Boluarte’s resignation and the other items on the agenda, such as holding elections this year and the referendum for the [Assembleia] Constituent Assembly,” General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP) secretary general Gerónimo López told AFP.
Boluarte again called for calm in a message on state television on Friday night.
“To the sisters and brothers who do want to work in peace, who want to generate income to support their families, I say, and also to those who provoke these protests, to those who have moved from the provinces to the capital, I will don’t get tired of calling them for a good dialogue,” he said.
But his words fall on deaf ears. “This government does not represent us, it is illegal for the Aymara people, that’s why we came here to raise our voice of protest,” Ricardo Mamani, 47, who took part in the marches in Lima, told AFP.
“We have traveled 42 hours from the Puno region, we demand that this lady once and for all [Dina Boluarte] get out of the way so that the people have peace,” he added.
Mamani, who was dressed in black to mourn the victims of the demonstrations, urged international human rights organizations to intervene. “We don’t feel the presence of international law. There is no one to defend us,” he cried indignantly.
The crisis also reflects the immense gulf that exists between the capital and the poor provinces that support Castillo, whose residents saw his election as a form of revenge against Lima’s power.
Source: DN
