From Lima
repression grows to social protests and the recently launched government of the president weakens In Boluarte. And in Congress the differences do not allow the advancement of the norms for the advancement of general elections, a central demand of the mobilizations that have paralyzed and shaken the country for ten days. To date, the deaths from the repression reach twenty-one. The country has been militarized and is under a state of emergency. The government has hardened his discourse and has supported the armed and police forces accused of shooting against the population, a repression that they have justified by denouncing “hooliganism” in the protests. A position that, however, was not shared by the entire Executive. The Minister of Education, Patricia Correa, and the Minister of Culture, Jair Pérez, resigned this Friday in rejection of government repression against social mobilizations. Resignations that aggravate the crisis in an Executive that is demonstrating both repressive hardness and political weakness.
The demands of the protesters
In the midst of repression and deaths Voices calling for Boluarte’s resignation grow. It is a demand that has been added to the demands of the demonstrations to advance the elections – the government has proposed bringing them forward to December 2023, which must be approved by Congress, but a closer date is demanded – and Constituent Assembly to change the Constitution that comes from the dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori. Some sectors are also calling for the release of former President Pedro Castillo, with preventive detention for 18 months accused of rebellion for trying to close Congress, but it is a demand with less summons than the others. Congressmen from Peru Libre (PL), the party that brought Boluarte to the vice presidency on Castillo’s formula, which he has replaced after his removal from Congress, are demanding Boluarte’s resignation. So do the other left-wing parties and centrist legislators. The right supports it.
After Boluarte assured a few days ago that the military would not take to the streets to face the protests and publicly ordered an end to the repression, the opposite happened. His government decreed a state of emergency throughout the country, imposed a curfew in fifteen provinces, removed the military from their barracks, and the repression intensified. Boluarte had said in statements to the media that he had given the order that weapons not be used against the mobilized population, “not even shotguns with rubber pellets,” but that was not carried out. Not only did these shotguns with rubber pellets continue to be used, but also weapons with lead bullets have been used against the population raised in protest.
the most violent day
Thursday, the first day of the state of emergency throughout the country, has been, so far, the most violent. That day, in the Andean region of Ayacucho, southeast of Lima, the harshest repression took place, with eight deaths. In the midst of a strike demanding early general elections -as there are in other regions-, a peaceful crowd marched through the center of the city of Huamanga, the capital of Ayacucho. A group detached to go to the airport, according to the authorities to take it, and there violence broke out. Police and military fired into the crowd, leaving, In addition to the eight dead, more than fifty wounded. The precarious health services collapsed. After what happened at the airport, outraged protesters set fire to two offices of the prosecutor’s office in Huamanga. It has also been denounced that tear gas bombs were launched from helicopters at demonstrators in the center of the city.
This Friday the protests in Ayacucho continued. A police station and a judicial office were attacked. Security forces once again repressed protesters near the airport. According to the region’s health authorities, 90 percent of the deaths and injuries in Ayacucho are due to bullet wounds, the other 10 percent due to bruises. A piece of information that reveals that the security forces shot with firearms.
Exclusions and unattended demands
Fed up with historical exclusions and unmet demands and a discredited political class, in other regions of the country social mobilizations are also continuing that demand “that they all leave.” The Andean regions are the scene of the most numerous, but not the only ones. Protests are also taking place in Lima and the center of the capital has been taken over by security forces. The repression and deaths exacerbate the outrage that sparked the protests.
After the deaths in Ayacucho, the PL congressman, Alex Florespresented a constitutional complaint against the defense ministers, Alberto Otárolaand of the Interior, Cesar Cervantesfor the repression. The Ombudsman’s Office condemned the repression and the deaths and filed a criminal complaint for these facts to be investigated. “There have been shots at these people. A state of emergency does not fail to protect the right to life,” said the Ombudsman, Eliana Revollar. The Governor of Ayacucho, Carlos Rúacondemned the repression and demanded the resignation of Boluarte.
However, right-wing legislators have supported the two ministers, questioned, and Fujimorism launched against the Ombudsman for having denounced state violence. The Armed Forces, for their part, issued a statement in which they say they have been attacked, but do not mention the dead and wounded residents.
The parliamentary and media right wing says it regrets the deaths, but applauds the repression in the name of “order” And he does not blame the government or the security forces that fired on the population for these deaths, but rather the popular organizations that have mobilized and the left as a whole for supporting the protests. Some legislators have even blamed the imprisoned former president Castillo. From the right they accuse the demonstrators of “vandals” and “terrorists”. An accusation that they extend to everything they see as progressivism. The right, with the support of the main media, demands repression against the entire left, blaming it for what they call “a coup against the country.”
Justifications
Justifying the repression that has already left more than twenty dead, Defense Minister Otárola pointed out that “we are in a context of a state of emergency and public order cannot be affected, unconditional support for our Armed Forces and National Police in this task so sacrificed in defense of internal order”.
“This has to stop,” agreed the president Boluarte in a military ceremony, referring to the deaths during the protests. He pointed out against “acts of vandalism” but omitted to refer to the reports of the use of weapons by the military and police against the population. “I strongly condemn the acts of vandalism by some radicals using the good will of the people in their right to mobilization,” he said, before a uniformed audience. at a graduation ceremony for Army cadets, an institution that he described as “glorious”. He assured that “military and police officers have the instructions to safeguard the integrity and human rights of the protesters.” If that provision really exists, it is clear that it is not being complied with.
He also announced that the government will call “the Catholic, Christian and Evangelical churches” to form dialogue tables “in each of the regions that have mobilized” to dialogue “with the leaders who lead these marches, listen to their demands and channel them” .
In Lima and some other cities There were mobilizations in support of the security forces, organized by the same people who had previously mobilized calling for a coup against former President Castillo. Unlike the popular protests, they had no problems with repression. Legislators and other far-right figures participated. The main media that justify the repression against the popular protests applauded these mobilizations and gave them wide coverage.