Puno, the epicenter of the protests that do not seem to diminish

First modification: 02/21/2023 – 02:08

Peruvian discontent is now concentrated in a single region. In Puno, in the south of the Latin American country, anger over the ouster of former President Pedro Castillo remains palpable.

The Peruvian authorities reported this Monday, January 20, that for the first time since the protests began, roadblocks were reported only in that region. Nine roads saw their traffic interrupted at 35 different points.

The blockades have led to a number of repercussions. According to the Puno Chamber of Commerce and Production, tourist operations are completely closed due to the lack of land connectivity caused by the blockades.

As reported by the local newspaper ‘Trade’, the region has suffered the cancellation of 75% of travel reservations.

Also according to the outlet, Puno has seen its businesses affected. “Puno’s merchants are going back to work, but when they see numerous groups of protesters, they close their stalls,” says the newspaper.

A “parallel system”

While much of the country has begun to return to calm, the situation in Puno seems to be in stark contrast to the rest of Peru.

Blockades have become commonplace. According to Martín Ojeda, manager of the Interprovincial Transport Guild for ‘El Comercio’, “it is as if there was a parallel system of power where the protesters decide what to do with the highways: nobody stops them”.

And he added: “Transportation is completely abandoned, it is impossible to circulate.”

Puno, epicenter of the protests

More than 1,200 kilometers from Lima, Puno became the epicenter of the protests that began after Pedro Castillo’s failed self-coup attempt in December last year.

The former president tried to dissolve Congress, shortly after he was arrested for “rebellion” and removed from office. One that his vice president, Dina Boluarte, began to occupy.

The decision generated strong discontent, especially in the south of the country. A historically marginalized area that had been Castillo’s electoral base. His figure, that of a rural teacher, had been seen as a hope for many of his residents. They saw the former president as a political representation that had been denied to them on many occasions.

Castillo’s dismissal added to a series of disagreements accumulated for years in that region. And it was in Puno where they were heard for the first time.

There, too, the police repression was strongly felt. In one day alone, on January 9, in Juliaca, in the department of Puno, 17 people were killed.

From that point, in the Peruvian highlands, they spread throughout the country. Although in other regions the discontent has diminished, a good part of the inhabitants of Puno continue to demand protests on a daily basis.

Discrimination and poverty, two factors of discontent

One of the factors that explains why discontent persists in Puno is the discrimination that the region has faced.

As pointed out International Amnesty, “Its population, mostly indigenous (like those of other regions such as Apurímac and Ayacucho) has historically been the object of discrimination and inequality in their access to political participation.”

The organization also points out that the population of these areas has “remained in a continuous struggle to access the basic rights of health, housing and education.”

In addition, many voices from the south of the country have demanded that the capital, Lima, on the Peruvian coast, be forgotten.

Puno is part of the regions found in the Peruvian Andes. An area that lives largely from agriculture and its enormous mineral wealth.

But many groups in the region denounce that the country’s resources tend to be reserved for large cities, leaving aside the country’s rurality.

According to ‘PRP’, “Only in Puno, the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) indicate that four out of 10 people suffer from monetary poverty, with incomes below the cost of a basic basket.”

With EFE and local media