Lima (AFP) – After the call for a “national ceasefire” made by Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Tuesday, the “great national march” to Lima took place in parallel, during which violent clashes again broke out between security forces and some demonstrators. The situation in the Andean country remains critical after five weeks of social unrest that have already claimed at least 56 lives.
This Tuesday, the so-called “great national march”, which is supposed to demand the resignation of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte and the call for new elections, ended again with clashes between demonstrators and the national police in the center of the capital Lima.
Tuesday’s mobilization brought together hundreds of people who came from different regions of the country after the President called for a “national ceasefire” hours earlier. And while it wasn’t as massive as last week, it also recorded episodes of violence.
As reported by the EFE agency, the most violent clashes erupted after the march crossed the streets of the capital’s historic center.
The protesters, who have been gathered by several social, peasant, trade union and political organizations, continue their struggle to force Boluarte to resign, close Congress and call for early elections. This social outburst came after ex-President Pedro Castillo’s self-coup on December 7th.
At the same time, the country’s third airport, in the city of Cuzco, has stopped its operations preventively this Tuesday due to the renewed escalation of the protests.
“As a preventive measure, (the) Velasco Astete International Airport in Cuzco is temporarily suspending operations,” the Ministry of Transport and Communications reported on its Twitter account.
🚨#The last | the #MTC informs that as a preventive measure the international airport of Velasco Astete of #Cusco, is temporarily ceasing operations. This measure is carried out to ensure the safety of people and the safety of flight operations. pic.twitter.com/iwCfLMYCp6
— Ministry of Transport and Communications (@MTC_GobPeru) January 24, 2023
Five weeks later, mobilizations in Peru have already claimed more than 56 lives, most of them in clashes with police.
Following the violence recorded during the marches, the Andean nation’s defense and interior ministries this Tuesday considered “unacceptable the extreme level of violence against law enforcement agencies” during the marches, the epicenter of which was recorded in the south of the country.
This was after Boluarte had called for calm while asking for a “national ceasefire”.
relieve tension
“I call on my beloved homeland for a national truce to set up dialogue tables, set the agenda for each region and develop our cities,” he said, describing the protesters who revived the protests as “violent radicals and with their own agenda .” in the southern Andes.
“I never tire of calling them for dialogue, peace and unity,” Boluarte said at a conference with foreign press at the government palace in Lima this morning.
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Boluarte repeatedly reiterated his “apologies for the dead” at these protests, at least 46 directly related to the demonstrations that resumed on January 4 in southern Peru, maintaining blockades on the country’s main routes.
In addition, Boluarte ruled out his resignation again.
“I will leave when we call the general election (…) I have no intention of remaining in power,” he said forcefully, adding that Congress “without a doubt” will support the advance of scheduled elections in February will confirm April 2024.
“Would my resignation solve the crisis and the violence? Who would take over the presidency of the republic?” he emphasized when asked by the press if he would remain in office.
A hit for comfort
Stressing that she holds the presidency by constitutional mandate, Boluarte attributed the version that she gave former President Castillo a coup d’etat to a “narrative of radical groups of people based on drug trafficking, illegal mining and smuggling that they would be behind.” face the violent protests.
“The only truth, gentlemen of the world and of Peru, is that there was a coup on December 7, a failed coup,” he said.
“The way Pedro Castillo left is a way of bullying himself by saying that a coup d’état took place despite being the author of his own coup d’état and due to the printing of the 57 tax files he against him, didn’t go. for acts of corruption,” said Boluarte.
It was convenient for Castillo to “perform a self-prank to bully himself and move this whole paramilitary apparatus and not respond to the acts of corruption for which they are being denounced. There are no victims here, Mr. Castillo, here is a country bleeding to death because of its irresponsibility,” he said.
“With the truth” before the OAS
Boluarte, who will attend a meeting before the Organization of American States (OAS) online on Wednesday, said his intention was to “report the truth.”
“Tomorrow I will appear before the OAS to tell the truth, the Peruvian government and less Dina Boluarte have something to hide, I have always spoken with the truth, looking at my brothers and sisters, there are 50 people who are at were killed in these acts protested, it hurts me, as a wife, mother and daughter, it hurts me,” she said.
As of Tuesday, 85 pickets had blocked passage on highways in 9 of the 25 Peruvian regions demanding Boluarte’s resignation, according to transport authorities.
In the Ica area, police used tear gas to clear several sections of the Panamericana Sur highway that remain closed by dozens of local residents.
With AFP and EFE