Drivers stop again in Peru due to increase in extortion

Lima residents had difficulties getting around on public transportation this Thursday due to the start of a strike by drivers demanding effective measures from the government to combat the increase in extortion.

Some wholesale food markets also stopped serving in support of the stoppage, which was also followed, although less forcefully, in the interior of the country.

It is the second transport strike In less than a month in Lima, where in-person classes were suspended for almost two million schoolchildren, remote work was prioritized for those who can do it and up to four hours were tolerated for the entry of workers.

Images from local television early on showed hundreds of people trying to get around with the few buses that were circulating. The police and armed forces transported desperate workers trying to reach their destination in their own vehicles.

“Organized crime has penetrated the institutions, for how long? Today they are killing street vendors, they are not killing businessmen, they are killing the working class,” said Elmer Velásquez, leader of an urban transportation union.

In a market on the northern outskirts of Lima, which served minimally, a giant sign read: “No to extortion.”

Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters, including drivers and people who support the strike, marched towards the Congress headquarters in the center of Lima.

The president of the Council of Ministers, Gustavo Adrianzén, assured that “the situation is one of absolute tranquility” and recalled that an electric train and a rapid transit bus system, which cover 12% of the daily transportation demand in Lima, were operating. without problems.

Fourteen districts of Lima were declared in emergency by the government two weeks ago to empower the military to help the police fight insecurity, amidst criticism from formal companies that claim that the State is losing the battle against organized crime.

The police reported that they arrested 13 people in the first hours of the protest, for blocking some roads in Lima with stones, burning rubber tires or attacking moving vehicles.

Some 10,000 police and soldiers have come out to ensure security during the drivers’ strike, according to the Government.

On Monday night, a driver and three passengers were shot to death in a minibus in an urban area of ​​the port of Callao. Three other passengers were injured. The police have not clarified the incident and two of the dead were workers returning home.

The prime minister admitted that after the state of emergency, extortion of wineries, small businesses and restaurants has continued.

At least six other people have been killed in extortion cases since late August, according to police.

According to a survey in August by the Peruvian state statistics office (INEI) and released at the end of September, 86% of the country’s urban population perceives that in the next twelve months they may be the victim of a criminal act.

In 2023, the police arrested 289 people for the crime of extortion throughout the country, an increase of 165% compared to 2022, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.

Prime Minister Adrianzén said that some opposition parties and radical left groups are “politicizing” the protest and calling for a change to the Constitution and even the removal of President Dina Boluarte.

Last week, Boluarte’s government sent Congress a bill to punish up to life in prison for the crimes of kidnapping, hired assassination and extortion, for which it seeks to be classified as “urban terrorism.”

[Con información de Reuters y AP]

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