Chaos protests in Peru: protesters demand resignation of President Wagner boss criticizes Putin and does not mince words

Peru’s political crisis is spiraling out of control as demonstrators and police officers are once again embroiled in serious clashes during anti-government protests across the country.

In the capital Lima, officials on Friday fired tear gas at crowds and threw stones at opponents of the government, as seen on television. According to police chief Victor Zanabria, about 11,800 police officers were present. Dozens of people have been killed in Peru since protests began in December.

“I deplore the deaths and injuries,” the UN human rights commissioner’s special envoy Christian Salazar Volkmann said after a meeting with government officials on Friday. “We have also asked the government for information on how they intend to investigate these cases and prevent them from happening in the future.”

stormed the airport

In the southern city of Arequipa, protesters tried to storm the airport, radio station RPP reports. Anti-government officials set fire to a police station in Chucuito province. In the Cusco region, protesters set fire to a mining camp. The government has declared a state of emergency for several regions of the South American country.

The protests are directed against the government of interim president Dina Boluarte. The demonstrators demand the resignation of the head of state, the dissolution of the congress and the release of imprisoned ex-president Pedro Castillo. Wanting to avoid a no-confidence vote in December, the former village school teacher dissolved the Congress. Parliament subsequently removed him from office. He was arrested on charges of attempted coup and is in custody.

Especially the indigenous people from the poor south of the country saw the dismissal as a blow from the old elites from the capital Lima on their own. Although Boluarte was Castillo’s vice president, she was later expelled from his Perú Libre party and distanced herself from the left in Congress.

President wants to stay in office

After being sworn in as Peru’s first female president, she quickly signaled her desire to remain in office until the end of the 2026 term. Many congressmen supported their plan — probably to keep their seats in parliament longer. In her inaugural address, the new head of state mainly sought support from Congress rather than confidence from the country’s voters.

To Castillo’s supporters in the south, it was clear: Boluarte had stabbed her former boss in the back and was now also betraying the small farmers, day laborers, and natives who had once raised Castillo to office. Especially for the poor, the former farmer and trade unionist also had a great symbolic meaning: he stood for rural, indigenous Peru, which always felt despised by the European elites in Peru.

But the security forces reacted brutally to the protests. Seven people lost their lives before Christmas in Ayacucho – particularly bitter in a region where the wounds of the 1980s civil war are still fresh. Although Boluarte subsequently rowed back and announced early elections for April 2024, protests flared up again in the new year.

Bloody clashes

Since then, there have been bloody clashes between demonstrators and the police almost every day. The security forces in particular are extremely strict. The state’s ombudsman felt compelled to issue an official statement to police on Friday reminding them that torture is illegal under the Constitution.

Peru has been in a permanent political crisis for years. The powerful Congress and government are in a constant battle for power, and all recent presidents are in prison, have fled abroad or are under investigation. “Peru is becoming increasingly ungovernable,” writes political scientist Gonzalo Banda in Americas Quarterly magazine. “Democracy survives only because of the incompetence of its opponents, not because of its strength.” (sda/dpa)