PROTESTS are continuing throughout Peru demanding the resignation of President-designate Dina Boluarte, the closing of the Congress, the advancement of elections in 2023, and the release of former Peruvian President Pedro Castillo.
The Peruvian Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed last Friday that 329 people had been arrested since the beginning of the protests last December against the government of President-designate Dina Boluarte.
Among the injured there are 351 civilians and 176 police officers.
According to the report, 41 protesters died in direct confrontations with law enforcement, and one police officer. Another seven people lost their lives due to accidents related to the protest actions.
Castillo ran on a Socialist platform, promising to nationalise the country’s massive mining industry, rewrite the (previous right-wing president) Fujimori-era constitution, and impose higher taxes on the wealthy
Those promises, as well as Castillo’s own identity as a former schoolteacher, union leader and campesino, garnered him support in rural areas and among the Indigenous population, which represents about a quarter of the total population of Peru.
Castillo is serving 18 months in preventive prison since being dismissed by Congress on December 7th for allegedly committing the ‘crime of rebellion’.
On that date, Congress removed Castillo and appointed Boluarte as President. Immediately protests broke out across the country. As of January 4th, the citizens are carrying out an indefinite strike.
The General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP), the Agrarian and Rural Front of Peru (FARP), the National Assembly of the Peoples (ANP) and other social and political organisations called for a national strike in rejection of Boluarte and in support of Castillo.
‘We declare ourselves in a popular insurgency against the coup d’état planned and perpetrated by Congress, the leadership of the Armed Forces, the mainstream media, and the Judiciary, which acted as operators of economic groups,’ the FARP and ANP said.
Peruvian legislator Kelly Portalatino filed a complaint against the 19 ministers who make up the cabinet of President-designate Boluarte who, on Friday, reiterated that she will remain in office, despite the demonstrations demanding her resignation.
Portalatino, of the Peru Libre party, indicated that the constitutional complaint filed against the entire Boluarte cabinet is for the alleged commission of the crimes of homicide and serious injuries against citizens.
Following Castillo’s dismissal by the Congress, which then immediately swore in Boluarte as president-designate on December 7th, thousands of citizens have demonstrated demanding her resignation and the closing of the Parliament, as well as the establishment of a Constituent Assembly.
‘We ask through a special parliamentary process to determine the eventual responsibilities that could have been incurred by said officials,’ said Portalatino in his denunciation delivered to the legislative sub-commission of Constitutional Accusations.
Last Friday, Boluarte made her first public statement since the Juliaca massacre, in the department of Puno, where 17 demonstrators were killed by Peruvian security forces.
In her speech, Boluarte partially acknowledged possible responsibilities in the repression, however, she declared that she would remain in office.
‘If we have made a mistake in finding peace and calm, I apologise to the Peruvian people,’ she said, but immediately affirmed: ‘I will not resign.
‘My commitment is with Peru and not with this minuscule group that is making the country bleed.’
In this context, the Boluarte government has radicalised its policy of persecution against opposition leaders following the arrest last Thursday of seven social leaders in the city of Ayacucho.
The next day, hundreds of people held a demonstration in that Peruvian region demanding the release of their comrades.
On the Thursday, the Peruvian police had used tear gas and firearms to harshly repress the population, leaving a minor dead and more than 50 people injured in the city of Cusco.
The previous day, the Peruvian Ombudsman had also confirmed the death of an Indigenous leader as a result of the police repression unleashed against the people protesting in the city.
Remo Candia Guevara, who died at the Antonio Lorena Hospital in Cuzco, was a leader of the Urinsaya Collana peasant community, in the province of Anta.
‘We demand an immediate investigation to find those responsible for the death and proceed to the respective sanction,’ the Ombudsman said.
Jennie Dador, secretary of the National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDH), condemned extrajudicial executions by security forces under President Boluarte’s command, which have been reported by human rights activists.
According to international standards for the protection of human rights, an extrajudicial execution occurs when the death of a person is the consequence of acts outside the law, which deprive the victim of any possibility of legitimate defence.
The murder of 10 people in Ayacucho and 17 citizens in Puno fall within the concept of ‘extrajudicial execution’, human rights defenders said, warning that this will be reported to the delegation of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) which is visiting Peru.
Peruvians once again took to the streets of the capital Lima and in various departments to demand Dina Boluarte’s resignation, the holding of early general elections this year, and Castillo’s release.
The National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDDH) of Peru also demanded the immediate release of the social leaders detained in Ayacucho during the protests against Boluarte.
Hundreds of people had gathered in front of the Ayacucho police station to demand the release of the detained citizens, including the president of the Ayacucho People’s Defence Front (FDPA).
The human rights defenders denounced the detention of the three FDPA leaders after they’d attended a cultural act in the House of the Teacher (La Casa del Maestro).
The CNDDH warned that repressive actions like this would only worsen the polarisation in the country.
Police brutality was also present in Lima, where social and union organisations called for mobilisations demanding justice for over 48 people murdered since December 7th, 2022 when Dina Boluarte assumed the presidency.
Last Monday, Peru experienced one of the bloodiest days since then, when security forces under her command murdered 17 people in the city of Juliaca.
According to the Ombudsman’s Office, most of the 17 protesters died near the Juliaca airport, where hundreds of citizens had gathered demanding Boluarte’s resignation, the closure of Congress, the holding of general elections this year, the formation of a constituent assembly, and the immediate release of former president Pedro Castillo.
The National Association of Journalists of Peru (ANP), an International Federation of Journalists affiliate, has recorded at least 72 cases of violations of the work of media and aggressions against journalists, amid the political and social crisis gripping the country.
The IFJ has condemned ‘the violence unleashed by the State against the population and against media workers, who are carrying out the indispensable work of exposing threats to democracy.’
Since the beginning of the protests on 7th December, the ANP has monitored the working conditions of journalists covering the protests throughout the country, and has recorded 72 attacks on the media so far and an upsurge in police and military repression against duly identified media workers.
The most high-profile case is that of EFE photojournalist Aldair Mejía, who was attacked and threatened by the police for recording the arrest of a citizen. Then, he was shot in the leg by security forces. Agents, who harassed Mejía for doing his job, told him: ‘If you do that again, I’ll blow your head off and you’ll be dead.’
Before holding a press conference with organisations in defence of freedom of expression and human rights, ANP president and IFJ vice-president Zuliana Lainez referred to the events as ‘barbaric’.
Lainez stated: ‘We are deeply concerned about police repression, especially against those whose job it is to inform.
‘These are not attacks by demonstrators, nor by those who infiltrate the protests to carry out violent assaults. Since January 4th, when the demonstrations resumed until today, the biggest aggressors against journalists have been police and military personnel.’
As for the attacks on media workers, the ANP president stated: ‘Despite the fact that our colleagues are duly identified … they have tried to break their credentials and have shot them directly, as in the case of EFE photojournalist Aldair Mejía, who received a bullet in the leg’.
In this particular case, she added: ‘The police are trying to install a new narrative saying that it was not a projectile but a stone. Fortunately, we have the evidence of the first X-ray report.
‘The State says nothing and it has done nothing against these attacks. We are not surprised as it has been quiet about the 17 Peruvians murdered in Juliaca, in the south of the country. Therefore, it is going to stay silent about the attacks on journalists,’ the IFJ vice-president said, adding:
‘Beyond these attacks, what is most worrying is that these areas are becoming zones of tremendous opacity. Since there are no foreign journalists, who is going to record the whole issue of police repression?
‘There will be no one to take uncomfortable photographs or film. This is outrageous.
‘Our colleagues have had to leave Juliaca, and the local media are having enormous difficulties in working.
‘The police now want to tell us how to do our job.’
