1674144214 Thousands of Peruvians gather in Lima for a grand march

Thousands of Peruvians gather in Lima for a grand march against President Boluarte (+ video)

Thousands of Peruvians gather in Lima for a grand march

Demonstrators take to the streets of Lima. Photo: AP.

The desert capital of Peru brought together thousands of people from remote areas of the Andes to protest against President Dina Boluarte on Thursday and support her predecessor Pedro Castillo, the removal of which sparked deadly demonstrations in December and plunged the country into political chaos.

Supporters of Castillo, the first rural president in 200 years of the Republic, hope the protest will open a new chapter in mobilizations that began more than a month ago and are calling for Boluarte’s resignation and structural change in the country. Castillo was ousted after a failed attempt to dissolve Congress.

So far, the protests have mainly taken place in the southern Andes. A total of 53 people were killed in the riots, most in clashes with security forces.

By directing the protest to Lima, the protesters hope to give new impetus to the movement that began when then-Vice President Boluarte was sworn in as Castillo’s successor on December 7, although he died in a public ceremony in the city exactly a year earlier South had promised the country that if the president were sacked, she would resign because her loyalty was “bulletproof.”

“When there are tragedies and bloodbaths outside the capital, they don’t have the same political relevance on the public agenda as if they happened in the capital,” said Alonso Cárdenas, professor of public policy at Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University in Lima.

“The leaders understood that and say: ‘You can massacre us in Cusco, in Puno and nothing happens, we have to take the protest to Lima,'” he added, citing two cities that have been the scene of deadly violence in protests.

Peru is a very centralized country and about a third of the 33 million inhabitants live in the metropolitan area of ​​Lima.

“In my own country, the voices of the Andes, the voices of the majority, have been silenced,” Florencia Fernández, a Cusco-based lawyer, said ahead of Wednesday’s protest. “We had to travel to this aggressive city, to this centralist city, and we say “The Andes have come down”“.

The concentration in Lima also reflects the increase in anti-government mobilizations that the capital has registered in recent days.

“Lima, which had not joined the protests at all in the first phase in December, decided to join after the Juliaca massacre.”said Omar Coronel, professor of political science at the Catholic University of Peru, referring to the 18 people killed in that city on January 9.

The protesters plan to march this Thursday from central Lima to the Miraflores neighborhood, one of the emblematic neighborhoods of the country’s business elite, where protests are not usually held.

The government has urged the protesters to remain peaceful.

“We know they want to take Lima,” Boluarte said this week. “I urge you to take Lima, yes, but in peace,” he added, noting he would be waiting for her “to discuss social agendas.”

Boluarte has said he supports a plan to bring forward the 2026 presidential and congressional elections to 2024. Many of the protesters say there is no possible dialogue with a government that they say has unleashed so much violence against its citizens.

While demonstrators gathered in Lima, new outbreaks of violence were registered in the south. A woman and a man died in the city of Macusani after clashes with police. The demonstrators set fire to the police station and the judiciary headquarters. In addition, a 30-year-old man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his chest, Dr. Iván Fernández confirmed to AP.

Activists have died in the Lima demonstration “March of the Four”, based on the four cardinal points of the Inca Empire. It’s the same name given to another massive mobilization in 2000, when thousands of Peruvians took to the streets to protest the autocratic government of Alberto Fujimori, who resigned months later.

Key differences between these rallies and this week

“In 2000, people were protesting against a regime already entrenched in power,” Cardenas said. “In this case, you are dealing with a government that has only been in power for a month and is incredibly fragile.”

Furthermore, the 2000 mobilizations had a centralized leadership and were led by political parties. “What we have now is something much more fragmented,” Coronel said.

The protests that have gripped much of Peru over the past month have been largely a popular effort without clear leadership.

“There has never been a mobilization of this magnitude. A common sense is already installed in the peripheries that there is an urgent need to change everything,” said Gustavo Montoya, historian at the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. “I have the feeling that we are witnessing a historic change.”

The protests have grown to such an extent that the demonstrators should not be satisfied with Boluarte’s resignation and are now also demanding fundamental structural reforms in the country’s organization in order to counter the worsening crisis of confidence in the ruling elite.

Beyond a specific event, the protests “emerged in regions that were systematically treated as second-rate Peruvians,” Montoya said. “It seems to me that it will grow.”

Analysts warn that failure to heed the demands of dissenters could have tragic consequences for the country.

“You have to think about what you want to do with Peru, otherwise it could explode,” Cardenas said.

On video, protesters arrive in Lima

(Taken from AP)