The President of Peru, Dina Boluarte, assured this Friday (13) that despite the growing political pressure spreading to the capital Lima and the demonstrations that do not end after five weeks and 42 dead, she will not resign will resign.
“Some voices coming from the violent and radical are demanding my resignation, inciting chaos, disorder and destruction among the populace. I tell them responsibly: I will not resign, my commitment is for Peru,” she said in a speech to the national program on state television.
“I cannot help but reiterate my regret at the deaths of Peruvians in the protests. I apologize for this situation,” he added.
Peru saw its tenth straight day of protests on Friday following the yearend ceasefire during which three ministers resigned and roadblocks remained in place in the southern Andes affecting the tourist city of Cusco and the train to Machu Picchu.
The day began with an almost total blockade of Arequipa, the country’s second largest city and cradle of the revolutions, with no land connection to the neighboring Andean regions of Cusco and Puno.
Demonstrations were also in Tacna, 1,220 km southeast of Lima, on the border with Chile, a country that temporarily closed its transit on Thursday “due to demonstrations near Peru’s Santa Rosa border complex,” Chilean authorities said.
In addition to the president’s resignation, protesters are demanding elections this year instead of April 2024 and the convening of a constituent assembly, which leftwing parties and peasant organizations have been calling for since 2021.
Added to this is the call for justice and punishment for those responsible for the 42 deaths reported in clashes with police. There are also 531 wounded 355 civilians and 176 police officers and 329 arrested, according to prosecutors, who have launched a “genocide” investigation into Boluarte.
waivers
Regional governors and various professional associations in Peru joined the voices calling for President Boluarte’s resignation.
Opposition MP Susel Paredes said on a radio station that Boluarte’s resignation is “ripe” and that Thursday’s resignation of Labor Minister Eduardo García was “the beginning of the end” after he disagreed with the way in which the government handles protests, gone .
The head of US diplomacy for Latin America, Brian Nichols, said on Twitter that Washington was “deeply concerned by the violence” in Peru and saddened by the injuries and deaths in the unrest.
For his part, the head of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) mission, which ended on Friday, the Guatemalan lawyer Stuardo Ralón, called for an impartial investigation into evidence that parts of the armed forces had used “excessive use of force” to suppress the demonstrations.
Shortly after the IACHR statement, the government announced the resignation of Home Secretary Víctor Rojas, who had been questioned about the performance of the police’s antiriot unit.
He was immediately replaced by retired police general Vicente Romero in a ceremony in which Boluarte also inducted Nancy Tolentino into the women’s portfolio, before Labour’s surprise resignations of Grecia Rojas and Luis Alfonso Adrianzén.
Roadblocks, particularly in the country’s historically marginalized south, have also spread to rural areas. Meanwhile, the protests reached the capital.
Amid the intense crisis, which for the time being has no prospect of a solution, the authorities have closed Cusco airport for security reasons, in the face of an escalation of violent protests since the beginning of this week, which has also led to the cessation of train services to Machu Picchu, the Mecca of international tourism.