The protest movement against power in Peru knows no respite. In the aftermath of a day of violence that left one protester dead and more than 50 injured – including 19 police officers – according to the ombudsman’s office, rallies and roadblocks continued on Thursday, January 12, in ten of the twenty-five regions of the country.
Since the start of the crisis, a month ago, clashes between demonstrators and police have left at least 42 dead, including a police officer who was burned alive by the crowd, and hundreds injured.
Spared until now, the capital Lima was at the end of the afternoon the scene of yet another demonstration demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and early elections. “Not one more death, down with the civil-military dictatorship”demanded the demonstrators on social networks by calling for this rally.
An attempt to break into the airport contained
In Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire and a hotspot for tourism in Peru with the citadel of Machu Picchu, many police and military personnel are stationed around the airport, which handles the second largest air traffic in the country with nearly 100 weekly flights linking Cusco to Lima. An attempted intrusion was contained Wednesday with tear gas.
But, fearing a repeat, the transport ministry on Thursday suspended ” preventively “ et ” for an indefinite period “ air operations. A Marriott hotel was the target of stone throwing during a night march during the night from Wednesday to Thursday.
This is the second time that the airport has been closed since the beginning of the protest movement in early December against the new president, after the dismissal of former left-wing president Pedro Castillo by Parliament. In December, Cusco airport suspended operations for five days.
“Corrupt Assassin Dina”
In the Puno region, on the Bolivian border, the epicenter of the protest movement on the shores of Lake Titicaca, seventeen victims of the clashes with the police in Juliaca were buried. Gathered in a circle around a red coffin, relatives of one of the victims held posters on which was written: “Corrupt Assassin Dina” or “we are not terrorists but citizens who demand justice”.
“It’s a pain to lose a family member for fighting for their rights”, testifies to Agence France-Presse Fidel Huancollo. The 48-year-old mourns a cousin who died in the clashes.
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A 16-year-old protester, hospitalized since Monday, died Thursday in Juliaca, bringing the total number of civilians killed in the city to eighteen, where a three-day night curfew was declared on Tuesday.
The demonstrators are also demanding the dissolution of Parliament and the convening of a Constituent Assembly. The prosecution opened an investigation on Tuesday for “genocide” alleged against Dina Boluarte. It concerns facts of “genocide, aggravated homicide and serious injuries, committed during the demonstrations” of December and January.
On Wednesday, a delegation from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) arrived in Lima to assess “the situation of human rights in the context of social protests”.
Dina Boluarte is the sixth person to occupy the Peruvian presidency in five years, in a country which is experiencing a permanent political crisis punctuated by suspicions of corruption.