discontent grows while uncertainty casts a shadow over the Boluarte government

First modification: 01/13/2023 – 19:39Last modification: 13/01/2023 – 19:45

A 16-year-old boy is the most recent fatality confirmed by the Peruvian authorities.

His death raised to 19 deaths in the context of anti-government protests in the Puno region alone and increases the total number of deaths to at least 42, as confirmed by the Prosecutor’s Office this Friday, January 13.

However, the counts of the local press raise the figure to at least 49, since the social outbreak more than a month ago, after the impeachment and arrest of then-President Pedro Castillo after he unsuccessfully tried to dissolve Congress.

Violence does not stop in a country submerged in continuous abrupt changes of government and political crises, while the current Administration seems to cling to power, shadowed by strong citizen discontent. A panorama of instability in the midst of which citizens have seen six presidents in the last six years.

The authorities assured that Thursday, January 12, was the day in which the greatest number of blocked roads was registered.

But roadblocks, fires and clashes between protesters and the public force continue to spread in several cities including Lima, the capital and Cusco, as well as in the regions of Puno, Arequipa and Ayacucho, in the south.

In Lima, hundreds of people marched through the city center on Thursday demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the closure of Congress and immediate general elections.

Some also called for Castillo’s release. The governors of Puno, Cusco and Apurímac have joined the voices demanding the departure of Boluarte.

In Arequipa, the interprovincial roads continue to be affected after dozens of protesters threw stones and burning tires at the main routes in the last few hours.

The fury increases with the passing of the days and this Friday a congressman denounced that a group of activists attacked his house, in the city of Puerto Maldonado, in the Amazon.

They demand the release of social leaders linked to the protests

The Police reported that they arrested three leaders of an organization allegedly linked to the demonstrations, in the south of the nation.

The authorities identified them as Rocío Leandro Melgar, president of the Ayacucho People’s Defense Front (Fredepa), the organization’s vice president, Stefany Alanya Chumbes, and the secretary of the same entity, Alejandro Manay Pillaca.

The local press reported that the arrests occurred after prosecutors expanded a preliminary investigation against “those found responsible” for the violent demonstrations last December in which 10 people died in that region.

However, human rights organizations in the country demanded the release of what they describe as social leaders.

Hundreds of people gathered in front of the police station to demand the release of the three arrested, for which the authorities increased the deployment of public forces.

The Ministry of the Interior assured that Leandro Melgar was part “of the terrorist organization Sendero Luminoso and was arrested and imprisoned for participating in attacks in the 1980s and 1990s.”

The Minister of Labor resigns and demands that the Government respond to the protesters

Despite the continuous demands to abandon power and allow a complete renewal of the Executive and the Legislative, both Boluarte and the congressmen cling to their positions.

The authorities concentrate on ordering security operations, neglecting the merits of the claims.

However, social discontent was joined by the Minister of Labor, Eduardo García Birimisa, who submitted his resignation on Thursday, January 12, but not before urging the president to apologize to the country and acknowledge the errors in the government’s response to the protests.

García assured that the social and political crisis that his nation is going through “deserves a change of faces in the direction of the country and an advance of elections that cannot wait until April 2024”, referring to the only date so far approved by the congressmen to call new elections.

All despite the fact that the citizens demand that the change of Administration be immediate since Boluarte herself publicly asked the deputies to organize the voting for December of this year. The term for which Castillo was elected and in which he was replaced by his vice president ends in 2026.

Boluarte, who was Castillo’s running mate before assuming the Presidency, also expressed his support for judicial investigations into whether the security forces have acted with excessive use of force, as denounced by some civil organizations and protesters.

But this proposal and other moves in his cabinet have so far failed to quell the unrest or convince a people who insist on a complete change of government as soon as possible.

With AP, EFE and local media