It happened in Macusani, where they also reported an injury and attacks on the judicial headquarters and a police station. Since the start of the protests, 52 fatalities have been recorded.
A confrontation between demonstrators and police in Macusani, in southern Peru, caused the death of a woman and left another person injured. Everything happened within the framework of the protests to demand the resignation of the Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte.
The San Martín de Porres Hospital of that Andean city reported, in a statement, that the fatality was a woman of around 35 years of age, identified as Sonia Aguilar Quispe, a resident of the Ayapata district, who “He was admitted to the emergency service with no vital signs.“.
The health center specified, in parallel, that it also received Salomón Valenzuela Chua, a 30-year-old man who was left with guarded prognosis after presenting “an open chest trauma”.
“Currently, health personnel have been guaranteeing timely care for the injured person who remains hospitalized, we call on the population to remain calm and avoid situations that put their lives and physical integrity at risk,” the hospital statement concluded.
This new death in southern Peru brought the total death toll to 52 during anti-government protests that began last December across Peru.
Shortly after confirming the death of that woman, a mob burned a police station and a headquarters of the Judiciary, according to local media. Police officers were rescued by a helicopter to save their lives during the attack on the police force headquarters, N television channel reported.
In this regard, the president of the Judiciary, Javier Arévalo, declared to the Canal N that in the Macusani mixed and criminal court they set fire to “the files”
Arévalo denounced that he sees “a pattern” of attacks on security institutions and the Judiciary during the anti-government protests since they began in December.
“It is a pattern that I see, that the Judiciary, the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police attack, it seems that someone is trying to destroy the actions of the Justice and the investigation to hide something and that is worrying,” he remarked.
The president of the Judiciary remarked that citizens “can claim their rights”, considering that “they are not the ones behind these acts.”
He maintained that similar attacks have occurred in other southern regions such as Cuzco, Apurímac or Ayacucho, and asked the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, “to take action, not repressive, not to take out and shoot people, but rather to seek the right balance and establish order” in the country.
The clashes this Wednesday in Macusani occurred on the eve of a great march in Lima and a national strike.
“The fight will continue,” warned a union leader
Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Confederation of Workers of Peru, Gerónimo López, warned that the marches will continue until achieve the resignation of the president.
“The struggle of the Peruvian people does not end tomorrow, the fight will continue if it is intended that Mrs. Dina Boluarte not listen to the people,” he said at a press conference.
The General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP) called for a national strike and a mobilization on Thursday afternoon in Lima.
“It is a fair, democratic mobilization of citizens who have arrived from the regions and also from here, from Lima, where they are demanding the immediate resignation of Dina Boluarte, the call for new elections this year 2023 and the closure of Congress,” he added.
Peru has been experiencing intense protests since the first week of December, when Congress ousted leftist President Pedro Castillo for a failed coup with which he tried to shut down Parliament, rule by decree and convene a Constituent Assembly.
The epicenter of the protests is Puno, a region of Aymara indigenous people and historically neglected.
Vice President Dina Boluarte replaced Castillo, in accordance with the law, but the high cost in lives of the repression by law enforcement ignited outrage against her.
The protests began in the Andean areas of southern Peru and have spread to Lima.
Boluarte has said he will not resign and has proposed to the right-wing-dominated Congress to advance the elections to April 2024 instead of holding them in 2026, when his term ends.
With information from EFE and AFP.
ES