Editor TLN
Five days have passed since the strike called by social, union and indigenous organizations that demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte. The death toll stands at fifty, a figure that could rise given the disproportionate force used by the police to contain the protests. Seven of the country’s 25 regions, including Lima, have been declared a state of emergency, including Cusco . Testimony of Alain, teacher and farmer from that region.
“There is a lot of tension on the part of the population, especially rural”
How did that region of Peru wake up today, Monday, January 23?
“Today we are in calm, provisional waters. On weekends some truces are established so that the population can go to supply ourselves, take our products, exchange. Today the exchange of products is also one of the main tools on which the people of Cusco survive in the countryside. The market is blocked and the tension is quite high. Today the demonstrations are expected to resume again with force and the repression is also prepared to contain any excesses. Cusco is one of the strongest regions involved with the current demonstrations and fear is latent. There is a lot of tension, a lot of concern on the part of the population, especially rural people, who are also organizing themselves, beyond being able to provide for themselves. The communities continue trying to organize themselves to gather food collections, of medicines, of clothes, whatever is possible, to be able to support the compañeros and compañeras, the grandparents, the grandmothers, the s peasants who are now on the march to the city of Lima. There have been several waves; the first waves have not been enough, apparently, to make the voice of the Peruvian countryside heard and we are in that situation”.
‘The state of emergency means the absence of civil guarantees for the population’
We are on the 5th day of the general strike that began on January 19. Recently, the Government of Peru, led by Dina Boluarte, decided to extend the state of emergency for 30 days in the capital Lima and in the regions of Cusco, Callao and Puno, that is, the region where you live. What concrete consequences does that have? What does the state of emergency mean to you?
“First it means the absence of civil guarantees in the population. The government has very vehemently announced the radicalization of the political position of maintaining order. So, we are in a rather complicated, confusing, tense situation. There is a kind of intolerant atmosphere in which the speeches are radicalized. So we can only pray that this does not continue to exacerbate without further ado. Let’s hope that our communities, as they have been doing up to now, maintain the peaceful principle of their marches. That does not imply that there is a series of overflows, a series of abuses, a series of infiltrations and political manipulations from all sides”.
‘The term terrorist is being used indiscriminately’
A recent study highlights that, in social networks, which is the most used in Peru to disseminate events, there is a large part of these social networks that use the term terrorist. It is the most used word today. What effects does this have knowing that the country lived precisely, well, terrorism in the 90s from the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso?
“The term terrorist is being used indiscriminately and this unfortunately above all and eminently by the official means of expression, perhaps also conditioned by the position of the State. The term terrorist is being used by the President of the Republic, it is being used by our cabinet and this unearths some memories that we have sadly wanted to forget. However, the handling of these terms is being so abusive, so brazen, that all it is doing is exacerbating the population even more. I shared with you a few moments ago that there are more waves of delegations are leaving the capital and there is also a majority uprising of the Lima population that is on the rise. The press itself is becoming aware of the illogical and abusive nature of this use of terminology. Terrorism in the 1980s, let’s say In short, it was to sow death, its objective was to kill. Today the populations go out to march. So, for a l ado, in the vast majority of the country it is like an insult, it is a provocation that does not make it easier for people to calm down their vindication spirits. In the case of cities and capitals that are more subject to the press and television broadcasts, this rather arouses the fear that we already had in the past. The forces of order, obviously following the instructions of the State, are up against the wall and I believe that the debate is summed up simply between what we can do as a State: either we guarantee the constitutional order, the order of society, or we guarantee life above everything. I believe that the State has decided to bet on the constitutional and institutional order of the nation”.
‘The Peruvian people have never been as united as today’
We have been 46 days since the departure of President Pedro Castillo from the government, there are 50 deaths and the president has indicated that the cabinet, her cabinet, is more united than ever. In this context, what can be expected for the next few days?
“Sadly I must share that what we can expect is that this will increase, that the demonstrations will continue. I could say that I believe that your cabinet is more united than ever, reinforcing the aforementioned position. However, also for another side, I can assure you that the unity of the people is growing. I also believe that the Peruvian people have never been as united as today. There is an image that will reflect what I am telling you. Soccer is something that is in the blood of the Peruvians and like in Europe, like in any country, you know, the little quarrels and fights that exist between the different soccer teams.Today, even the strongest teams, what they call the barras bravas, have become united all together to take to the streets in support of the provincial brothers who are arriving in the capital and the population of Lima who is in the streets expressing their discontent.It should be noted that in the latest polls announced by the press sa we have 70% discontent in the nation and 50% of the national population that supports the strikes and unemployment. I think that reflects quite well how the people are forgetting some superficial things to unify at the same time that the government seeks to tighten the screws. The people seem to respond with even more unity.”
On Saturday the police violently intervened in the National University of San Marcos. The police itself reports that most of the nearly 200 students who were detained have already been released. The Association of National Universities of Peru has protested this introduction at the University of San Marcos. How does the population see this entry by the police, which has been, I insist, quite violent, from one of the main universities in the country?
“The population most subjected to fear by the media is justifying the deaths, they are justifying the institutional order of the nation, as I am telling you. On the other hand, the vast majority is beginning to realize the abuse of power. Unfortunately or happily, today in Today the media and especially social networks allow information to wander transversally. University students are also beginning to join in. Yesterday we had the manifesto, the pronouncement of the professors of the University in the Faculty of Anthropology of the same University of San Marcos to express their discontent. The population volume in discontent is growing exponentially”.
‘We beg the European populations, the peoples of the world to demonstrate’
Is there any demand that you want to make at an international level, given the crisis situation that is being experienced in Peru?
“I think that today it is essential that democratic countries, countries that are committed to democracy, peace, unity and tolerance among peoples, demonstrate. Today, the European Union and France, the cradle of human rights, is summoned with all the hearts of our peoples to try to avoid this massacre that, unfortunately, I think, is going to continue. We beg the European populations, the peoples of the world to please demonstrate. I can assure without question Undoubtedly, today we are, if not close, within a dictatorship. We ask that you please demonstrate and speak out so that the right of peoples to demonstrate in peace is maintained and that justice is applied as it should be, both towards excesses, that abuses on the part of the protesters are prevented. But, above all, that the repression is not so violent and that the deaths of our brothers and sisters in the countryside are not justified”.
