Peru on fire over anti-government protests, dozens dead
The tension that has manifested itself politically in the offices of the institutions and in the public prosecutor’s offices since the inauguration of the progressive President Pedro Castillo on July 28, 2021, has openly turned into a social mobilization since December 7th.
That day, the center-right-controlled parliament managed to sack Castillo “for moral incompetence,” thanks in part to a sudden, never really clarified decision by the head of state to dissolve the Legislative Assembly.
Even the swift intervention of the judiciary, which ordered Castillo to be jailed for 18 months on charges of attempted coup d’etat, did nothing to ease tensions and sparked a popular uprising. For over two weeks, roadblocks and demonstrations multiplied, much to the dismay of many tourists, including Italians who were stranded in tourist areas and near the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.
Police officer burned alive in clashes with protesters
A police officer died after protesters attacked a police patrol car and set their car on fire in the city of Juliaca in Peru’s Puno region on Monday night. The local authorities have reported this. Another police officer was seriously injured in the head.
Josè Luis Soncco Quispe, 29, was on patrol with a colleague when they were attacked by a mob, who later set fire to their vehicle. Soncco’s partner in the patrol car, Ronald Villasante Toque, said the men “were attacked by about 350 protesters”. Villasante was taken to a hospital in Lima after being beaten with multiple head injuries.
Prime Minister Alberto Otarola confirmed Soncco’s death in a session of Congress and said officers were attacked by protesters. “Police arrived at the scene to find that one officer had been beaten and bound and the other, Luis Soncco Quispe, was sadly dead. He was burned alive in his squad car,” he said. Otarola announced a three-day curfew from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. in Puno and a day of mourning.
Before the Christmas holidays, the accidents had caused 28 deaths and dozens of injuries in six regions of south-central Peru (Lima, Apurimac, La Libertad, Junin, Arequipa and Ayacucho). The mood of the protesters was also warmed by the behavior of President Dina Boluarte, who had been Castillo’s deputy but after taking power installed a centre-right government and allied with the conservative parliamentary majority. And Parliament, too, has done its part to increase social demands by rejecting the request for immediate new elections and limiting itself to approving a general advance until the end of 2024.
With these assumptions, the movements that contributed to Castillo’s presidential victory have returned to the streets, along with groups of “ronderos” (peasant guards) and members of the Aymara and Quechua tribes.
From January 4th The demonstrators resumed their protests, demanding the dissolution of parliament, the resignation of Dina Boluarte, immediate new elections and the ex-president’s release. Prime Minister Alberto Otárola’s government has chosen the line of harsh confrontation with the protesters and this led to a fierce battle in Juliaca, in the Puno region, last Monday that left 18 protesters dead and a policeman burned alive in the car which the mob set on fire would have.
Prosecutors confirmed that all civilians were killed by gunfire and opened investigations into genocide and manslaughter against Boluarte, Otárola and the defense and interior ministers.
With these assumptions, a possible relocation of the mass protest to Lima in the next few days, as announced by the Miners’ Federation, could have unforeseeable consequences.