(CNN Español) — In a message late this Monday, the president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, decreed a state of emergency in Lima and Callao, prohibiting the immobility of people in these provinces between 2 am and 11:59 on the same day.
The state of emergency measure comes due to the protests by carriers in several regions of the country due to the increase in the price of fuel that began on March 28 and that have left, so far, at least three dead.
This is what the state of emergency means.
Mobility is reduced in that region of Peru
“In order to restore peace and internal order, the Council of Ministers decreed a state of emergency suspending the constitutional rights related to liberty and personal security, inviolability of the home, and freedom of assembly and movement in the provinces of Lima and Callao President Pedro Castillo said This Monday around midnight.
According to the state of emergency, people who live in the department of Lima and in the province of Callao will not be able to move freely while the measure lasts.
Remote work ordered
Workers in the public and private sectors should not go to face-to-face work, but will carry out remote work “in accordance with the regulations on the matter”, says the presidential decree.
There will be no attention at vaccination points
The Ministry of Health of Peru reported this Tuesday that there will be no care in the vaccination centers once morest covid-19 in Metropolitan Lima and Callao due to the presidential decree. However, it was clarified that vaccination will continue in the rest of the country.
There will be no face-to-face classes
On Monday followingnoon, the Ministry of Education issued a statement on his Twitter account and announced the suspension of face-to-face school classes this Monday and Tuesday “as a result of the blockade of different access roads and acts of violence in different parts of the capital.”
Who can move
According the presidential decreeduring the social immobilization measures “the strictly necessary personnel are excepted”, such as personnel of the “health services, medicines, the continuity of the services of water, sanitation, electricity, gas, fuel, telecommunications and related activities, cleaning and collection of solid waste, funeral services, cargo and merchandise transportation and related activities”.
Pharmacy and apothecary workers, who can work normally during the day, are also exempt from the measure. Likewise, journalists who identify themselves with their press pass and identification may mobilize on this day.
And those who need urgent or emergency medical attention for health reasons, will be able to travel in their vehicle or on foot to the health centers, which will operate normally this Tuesday.
The population will be able to stock up on products from the basic basket, because, according to the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Félix Chero, to RPP News“the markets and supply centers will be working”.
Reactions to the curfew in Peru
The Ombudsman of Peru asked “immediately” to lift the measure of curfew for considering it “unconstitutional” and “disproportionate”.
“The measure adopted by the Executive Branch is unconstitutional due to the absence of due motivation and for being absolutely disproportionate in relation to the acts of social protest registered in Lima and Callao,” the Ombudsman’s Office said in a statement.
“The immobility order does not take into account the severe impacts that will be caused to the workers of the country, the majority of whom work in informal conditions, which is why their right to work will be affected in the same way as other rights. such as food, health, education,” added the Ombudsman.
For his part, Jorge Muñoz, mayor of Lima, rejected Castillo’s measure and described it as “immoral”, as he said, the curfew leaves 11 million people in Lima and Callao without mobility, and this does not allow them to “bring food to their homes.”
“Pedro Castillo’s incapacity and mismanagement are immoral because they threaten the well-being of the people,” Muñoz said on his Twitter account, calling for the president’s resignation.
The president of the Congress of Peru, Maricarmen Alva, said in the early hours of Tuesday that the measure was “extreme” because it might cause people to not be able to take food home. “The people need to eat,” she wrote.
Alva, from very early on, expressed concern that the state of emergency might impede the functioning of Congress due to the non-mobilization order. “The Legislative Branch will continue with its scheduled agenda for today, Tuesday, April 5,” he wrote.
This Tuesday, Alva said that the measure cannot prevent the operation of that entity. “There are different opinions on constitutional issues, there are some constitutionalists who say that it is unconstitutional, others do not, it is already an issue for constitutional lawyers. What yes, what the president cannot do according to article 117 of the Constitution is to prevent the functioning of Congress, we are speaking for what our work means.
However, normality is being reported in Congress and, this Monday, before the measure was known, Congress summoned President Castillo at 3 pm, local time, to appear before that corporation to find a solution to the crisis. that crosses Peru.
#TuCongresoInforma I The head of Congress informs the President of the Republic of what was agreed in the #PlenoDelCongreso to attend Parliament, together with State Ministers, on Tuesday, April 5, from 3:00 p.m. pic.twitter.com/zGx5WqWyQT
– Congress of Peru ???????? (@congresoperu) April 5, 2022
Castillo, a former school teacher who became president in July 2021 and has survived two impeachment attempts, defended his government’s measure to combat rising fuel prices.
“The ‘social immobilization’ put in place in response to trucker strikes is a pervasive and disproportionate restriction on the rights of assembly and movement,” tweeted Human Rights Watch senior researcher, Juan Pappier.
This Monday, eight Peruvian regions saw traffic restricted due to a strike by transport workers, according to SUTRAN, the country’s supervisory institution for national land transport services. A clip from Peru’s state television and CNN affiliate TV Peru showed Peruvian Defense Minister José Luis Gavidia speaking to protesters who were blocking a highway in Lima and telling them that the government was already in negotiations over prices. of tolls, one of the main demands of the protesters.
“You have to believe in us. We are working intensely”, said Gavidia. “The right to strike, they are right, is a right, but always respecting the rights of others.”
— With information from Jimena de la Quintana of CNN en Español in Peru.
