Supporters of ousted Peruvian President Pedro Castillo demonstrate on a highway in Chao, northern Peru December 15, 2022 as police arrive to clear the debris. HUGO CUROTTO v AP
Thousands have taken to the streets to demand his release, but deposed Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was remanded in custody for eighteen months by the Supreme Court of Peru on Thursday, December 15. On the same day, seven people demonstrating in support of him were killed “in different parts of the city” of Ayacucho in the south of the country in clashes with the army, according to regional health authorities.
The ex-leader of the radical left has been in prison since his release on December 7 after his attempt to dissolve parliament was described by his opponents as a failed coup. Prosecutors recalled that after his release, Mr. Castillo tried to take refuge at the Mexican embassy and demanded that he remain in detention until June 2024, citing “risk of absconding”. According to prosecutor Alcides Díaz, the ex-president accused of “rebellion” and “conspiracy” faces ten years in prison.
“We felt it coming (…). We did not go to the hearing because we refuse to take part in this masquerade,” announced Mr Castillo’s attorney Ronald Atencio, who said he would appeal.
Two new deaths Thursday in support demonstrations
The mobilization of Pedro Castillo’s supporters in the streets continues despite the 30-day state of emergency that was declared across Peru on Wednesday. This measure allows the Army to engage in law enforcement operations.
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Police said nearly half of those injuries were internal to them. “We call on the armed forces to immediately stop using firearms and helicopter-launched tear gas canisters,” the People’s Defender’s Office, a public body responsible for ensuring respect for people’s rights, said in a press release in Peru, where also 340 wounded were counted.
The most violent demonstrations took place in the south of the country, where five airports remain closed (Andahuaylas, Arequipa, Puno, Cuzco and Ayacucho). More than a hundred roads are blocked by protesters across the country and the train to the famous Machu Picchu site has stopped running, preventing tourists from getting there.
Also read: In Peru at least seven dead in demonstrations against the new power
Daily rallies have taken place near Parliament in Lima since MPs ousted Mr Castillo. Numerous police officers and members of the armed forces were present in the center of the capital on Thursday evening.
“We need a strong, authoritarian response” to the violence, Defense Secretary Alberto Otarola launched, stressing that the state of emergency included “the suspension of freedom of movement and assembly” with “possibility of covering fire.”
“There is no justice”
Outside the police barracks where Mr. Castillo is being held, in Até (east of Lima), many of his supporters are camping out and demanding his release. His niece Vilma Vasquez, 42, denounced the lack of “justice” to the press. “From the first day he took office and even more so during the election campaign, we were already terrorists. The day President Castillo took office, they didn’t let him govern, we were thieves, we were corrupt. There is no justice,” she said.
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Opponents of Camp Castillo claim that some of his support comes from Movadef, the political wing of the Shining Path, the Maoist guerrillas that claimed thousands of lives in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, and see them as “terrorists”.
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The authorities are trying to impose order by force, but also to soothe dissatisfaction by complying with some of the protesters’ demands. The new president, Dina Boluarte, former vice-president of Mr. Castillo, who came to power after his ouster, announced that she wanted to bring the election calendar forward again “to December 2023”.
Ms. Boluarte, who traces part of the dissatisfaction to her person, had already pledged on Sunday to bring her forward from 2026 to April 2024, without being able to contain the protests. You yourself are affected by the measure: Your mandate theoretically runs until 2026, Mr. Castillo was elected in 2021 for five years.