Judges in Peru have ruled that former President Pedro Castillo will be held in preventive detention for 18 months pending trial on charges of rebellion and conspiracy over his attempt to shut down Congress and rule by decree, citing the death toll after a week of violent protests, his crowding out rose to at least 15.
A Supreme Court Judiciary Committee ordered Castillo’s extended pre-trial detention while prosecutors continued investigating the criminal charges against him. The decision did not affect the merits of the allegations against Castillo, but the panel did cite the ousted president’s risk of absconding.
Demonstrators gathered outside the prison where he was held, holding banners criticizing the new President, Dina Boluarte, and calling for the closure of Congress.
The Mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Peru said in a expression: “We express our serious concern at the increase in violence in Peru and deeply regret the deaths of 15 people.” She urged the use of UN standards to control peaceful protests to prevent further violence.
The local health agency in Ayacucho in Peru’s southern Andes confirmed seven people were killed and 52 injured in the area on Thursday when protesters clashed with soldiers filmed on social media firing live rounds.
The country’s human rights ombudsman’s office issued a statement calling on the armed forces to “immediately end the use of firearms and tear gas bombs.”
“Shooting broke out, accompanied by helicopters that began dropping tear gas bombs,” Human Rights Ombudsman Eliana Revollar told national radio in reference to the armed forces’ response when protesters entered the airport.
Social media videos from the scene of the Ayacucho protests showed soldiers using firearms on the city’s streets as protesters threw stones and stormed the airport.
The Ayacucho regional government issued a statement calling for an “immediate cessation of the use of firearms…against our people” and blamed the deaths on incoming President Dina Boluarte and the defense and interior ministers.
“We need peace in Ayacucho. We had a lot of pain in the 80s and 90s and we cannot allow our people to keep dying,” Carlos Rua, the region’s governor, told national radio. The Andean region was the epicenter of the state’s brutal conflict with the Shining Path rebel group that killed nearly 70,000 people.
The country’s new government on Wednesday declared a 30-day nationwide state of emergency, deploying the army to the streets and suspending the right of assembly and movement.
“We have to be very careful about issuing these kinds of decrees that will end up leading to more deaths,” Rua said, referring to the state of emergency.
The climax of the violence comes on the seventh day of the Boluarte protests, as protesters demanded the replacement of all lawmakers and the reinstatement of Castillo, who was ousted after he tried to dissolve Congress and rule by decree to avoid impeachment on corruption charges .
Boluarte has sought to send 16 ministers to different regions of the country to open dialogue and calm the violent demonstrations that have rocked the country. A night curfew has been ordered in 15 of the country’s 24 regions.
“Neither violence nor radicalism will put an end to a legal and legitimate government,” Boluarte said earlier on Thursday. “There is no place for fear, but for courage, unity and the hope of a country that deserves more from its politicians.”
She urged lawmakers to “make the best decisions to shorten the deadlines and carry out the necessary reforms” as they met in a plenary session to discuss their bill to bring elections forward by two years to April 2024.
A newborn baby being transported by ambulance to Lima for surgery died at roadblocks south of the capital, the director of the National Children’s Hospital, Zulema Tomás, told national radio. Another child was in serious condition from a gunshot wound sustained during the protests in Ayacucho.
Six people have died as a result of road accidents and other events related to dozens of roadblocks across the country, the Human Rights Ombudsman’s office reported. More than 200 civilians and 200 police officers have been injured in the past week of unrest, she added.
Plumes of tear gas hung over downtown Lima as violent clashes broke out between thousands of protesters and police on Thursday night. Many had traveled to the capital from different corners of Peru to join a march against Congress, including Berta Chuculla, who came from Puno on Peru’s southern border with Bolivia to support Castillo.
“It was wrongly removed and we will not allow it,” she told the Guardian.
The protests have united several groups, including labor unions, army reservists and indigenous Amazons, under the banner of ousting deeply unpopular lawmakers from the unicameral chamber.
“In the end, there is no middle ground,” said Omar Coronel, a sociology professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. “What we have is a polarization between two groups of people, some of whom aren’t necessarily pro-Casillo but appear as if they are … because they are anti-Congress.”