67 dead in protests, dies wounded with 36 pellets

Deaths in protests demanding the resignation of the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, reached 67 after the death on Tuesday in a Lima hospital of a protester who was wounded in January with 36 pellets in the south of the country.

Rosalino Flores, 22, injured on January 11 in a demonstration in the city of Cusco, died Tuesday in a bed at the Arzobispo Loayza hospital in Lima at 5:30 p.m., her brother Juan José Flores, who told the AP, told was with the victim.

The moment in which a police officer shoots Flores was captured on video from a security camera on 28 de Julio street in Cusco, where he fell to the ground after receiving 36 pellets. The family showed the images to AP.

In the video Rosalino can be seen hiding behind a tree, waiting for a police pursuit of the protesters to end, when suddenly a policeman armed with a shotgun approaches him, chases him and shoots him almost point-blank in the back.

Rosalino falls to the floor. It was 4:53 p.m. on January 11, according to the video. “The police fired the pellets at about three or four meters, the videos do not lie,” said the brother of the deceased. “I also saw everything because I was in front of him, it happened in a few seconds,” added Juan José Flores, through tears.

The Flores family accompanied Rosalino, a cooking student, to Lima, who remained in the intensive care unit of the former Arzobispo Loayza hospital. His health worsened because the pellets affected his kidneys, liver and intestines, his brother said.

The demonstrations have provoked international reactions. The annual report on human rights of the United States Department of State published on Monday reflected that there is a “major problem of impunity” for the abuses committed by the security forces during the protests against the Boluarte government.

The demonstrations against Boluarte began shortly after December 7, when he assumed power to replace former President Pedro Castillo, who was dismissed by Parliament after trying to dissolve the Legislature and install an emergency government to prevent his removal from office.

Since that date, demonstrations have been unleashed throughout the country that have demanded the resignation of Boluarte and members of Parliament, which have left 67 dead, 49 of them civilians in clashes with security forces.

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