At least 23 people, including an 11-year-old child, were injured this Thursday when a group of protesters attempted to retake the airport in the southern Peruvian city of Juliaca, health sources said.
The Regional Health Directorate (Diresa) for the Puno region, where Juliaca is located, announced today that nine of the injured are still hospitalized by Carlos Monge Medrano, three of them due to “the impact of firearms projectiles”.
According to the same note Among those hospitalized is a minor, also with gunshot wounds to his left leg.
In addition, a 48-year-old woman was injured on her right hand and a 38-year-old man on her right leg, in both cases also by firearm projectiles.
Another 19-year-old remains hospitalized due to tear gas poisoning, while the other five people have fractures, traumas and various types of injuries.
Thursday’s protest in Juliaca started around 4 p.m. (9 p.m. in Lisbon), but security forces prevented protesters from reaching the airport grounds and threw tear gas grenades to disperse them.
Since the protests began in Peru in December, protesters in various parts of the country have attempted to occupy airports, closing some such as Juliaca, a town about 1,300 kilometers from Lima and at an altitude of 3,800 meters. .
Part of Puno, bordering Bolivia, this city has been the epicenter of mobilizations since the resumption after a Christmas truce.
Attempts to take over the airport in that region resulted in the bloodiest day of the protests on January 9, when 17 protesters were killed in clashes with police.
In addition to Juliaca, this Thursday there were also mobilizations in different regions of the country, especially in the south, in Arequipa, Cuzco and Puno, and blockades on 62 roads that affected a total of 13.8% of the national territory.
In Lima, home to a third of Peru’s population, thousands of people attended the demonstration of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP), the country’s main trade union, a protest that took place without major incident, the agency Efe reported.
The protests erupted after the destruction and arrest, on December 7, of President Pedro Castillo, accused of committing a coup, by the dissolution of parliament, which was preparing to remove him.
His vice president, Dina Boluarte, replaced him, aiming to end the presidential term, which ran until 2026, although Peru’s Congress has already brought elections forward to April 2024.
Protests against President Dina Boluarte’s government lasted two months on Tuesday, leaving at least 69 dead.
Dina Boluarte acknowledged during a long press conference at the government palace on Friday that democracy in the Andean country is “the most fragile in Latin America”.
“We live in a fragile democracy, yes. Our democracy in Peru, I think, is the most fragile in Latin America, but it is in the Peruvians, it is up to us to strengthen this democracy,” the head of state underlined.
Protesters are demanding the impeachment of the president ahead of elections for 2023, something made difficult by the parliamentary labyrinth to traverse and the closure of Congress.
This week, until August, the Peruvian Parliament froze any debate that aims to advance elections to the end of 2023, effectively preventing the renewal of the presidency and legislative body, as demanded by the protesters.
The parliamentary committee on the Constitution, citing a procedural error, refused to discuss a bill proposed by the president, Dina Boluarte.
Source: DN
