The provisional government has opted for a repressive solution to a long-standing conflict that does not seem to abate
Lima has been the scene for the second consecutive day of intense clashes between protesters demanding the resignation of the provisional president, Dina Boluarte, and security forces. Boluarte said she was stronger than ever at the head of the Executive, but the political conflict, which broke out in the south and spread to the capital, has only accelerated her wear and tear. The crisis promises to worsen. Thousands of people, mostly peasants, have made their voices heard in the most important urban center of the country. Until now 59 citizens have died, according to local media. What is required is also the closing of the Congress, highly discredited, and the holding of elections this year.
The security cameras of the Municipality of Lima showed that protesters were trying to enter through parallel streets towards the central Abancay avenue, where the headquarters of the Congress and the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office are located. The bulk of the mobilized people were detained by a large police cordon near the University Park. On nearby Nicolás de Piérola avenue, motorized police began chasing men and women on foot. Groups of agents also blocked the streets near the Central Market and the Chinatown of Lima. Tanks and multipurpose armored vehicles from the National Police arrived in the area, as well as vehicles and trucks from the Navy, although they did not intervene directly in the confrontations.
General Víctor Zanabria, head of the Lima Police Region, told Canal N that in Lima “there are about 2,500 people doing violent acts that the Police controls using chemical means.” Boluarte, meanwhile, met this Friday with the head of the National Intelligence Directorate (DINI), Roger Arista, at the Government Palace. The meeting took place after the president tentatively warned that they would be judgedwho “generate acts of violence and destruction of private and State property.”
???? #The mornings | Jennie Giver (@JennieDador): “After these 50 deaths, the government of the day has to ensure impunity. […] Mrs. Dina Boluarte, the Minister of Defense, the Interior are going to face criminal proceedings, many of them are going to end up in jail.” pic.twitter.com/34G9gwuhzO
— Native (@somosnativa) January 20, 2023
Concern of humanitarian agencies
Christian Salazar Volkmann, high commissioner of the Organization of United Nations (UN) for Human Rights, described the existence of more than 50 deaths as “unacceptable” and asked that these deaths be investigated. But he, in turn, he expressed concern about the “stigmatization” of the protest by the authorities, who usually classify the Peruvians who have mobilized as “terrorists”. “We have talked about the need for the State to guarantee the right to demonstrate, even in situations as complex as the country is experiencing now.”
Mar Pérez, lawyer for the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH) assured in this regard that “an institutional structure has been built” in that country that seeks to prosecute social leaders as if they were terrorists”. That policy dates back to the years of the autocrat Alberto Fujimori and has not changed since the turn of the century. Trade unionists, regional leaders or community representatives have run the risk of being branded as “terrucos”, a way of associating them with the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso. According to Pérez, “the regulation of the figure of terrorism is not compatible in Peru with international standards. Terrorism requires that violent acts against life be carried out; on the other hand, the criminal figure in Peru is excessively broad and allows considering activities terrorists the participation in marches or holding public talks”.
Greater tension in the south
The dismissal of President Pedro Castillo, at the beginning of December 2022, lit the fuse for the outbreak, especially in the south of the country. Behind the political dispute lies, according to analysts, a bigger problem: the history of the great asymmetries between a more opulent Lima and beneficiary of the years of sustained economic growth, and an interior where social inequality is more marked. An Oxfam Peru survey from months ago is eloquent in this regard: 72% of Peruvians consider that the inequality between rich and poor is very serious, while 61% believe that the gap is greater between cities and rural areas.
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In this context, the incidents intensified in the regions most committed to the claim. The road closure has such an impact that some 120,000 trucks and 10,000l buses are reportedly stranded on different routes in the interior.
A group of protesters attacked this Friday the police station Township Peruvian by Zepitain the southern department of Puno (border with Bolivia). Puno police stations Desaguadero and Ilave they were also targeted by protesters. The three locations are online and connected to the Binational Border Assistance Center (Cebaf) of Desaguadero, a customs post burned hours before.