- Mirelis Morales Tovar
- BBC News World
image source, EPA
Roadblocks, demonstrations and some violent protests that have left 7 dead and dozens injured until Tuesday.
The crisis in Peru reached the streets, following Congress dismissed former President Pedro Castillo last week for wanting to dissolve Parliament and establish an emergency government.
The appointment of Dina Boluarte as President of the Republic, far from bringing calm, has led to a wave of protests in Lima and in the interior of the country.
Faced with this situation, Boluarte declared a state of emergency last Monday “in areas of high social conflict” and presented to Congress a proposal to advance the general elections to April 2024, two years ahead of schedule.
The measure, however, did not stop the protests in departments such as Apurímac, Cajamarca, Arequipa and Ica, where clashes with the police, airport closures and blockades of the main access roads have been reported.
Many defend the return of Castillo -now detained in preventive detention-, but there are at least three other claims on the streets.
1. The resignation of President Dina Boluarte
Andahuaylas, in the department of Apurímac, was the first city to rise up in rejection of the decision of Congress and the appointment of Boluarte as the first female president of Peru. A paradoxical fact considering that it is the cradle of the president.
image source, EPA
“Boluarte is disconnected from her own land,” said Yudith Romero, a 27-year-old girl who has participated in the protests in Apurímac, in a telephone conversation with BBC Mundo. “How is it possible that she is so calm when her people are bleeding to death.”
There are not a few who describe the current president of the Republic as a “traitor”, who had shown herself to be a staunch defender of Castillo. A year ago, when she presented her first vacancy in Congress, she went so far as to affirm that if the president was vacated, she would resign. An action that many were waiting for.
“Dina Boluarte has made fun of the people,” claims Enyel Asencio, a 30-year-old independent worker who joined the Cajamarca protests. “We are asking for her resignation to speed up the call for general elections.”
Those who protest affirm that Boluarte – not having been elected, but appointed by Congress – does not have the legitimacy to be in the presidency until the elections proposed for April 2024.
image source, Archyde.com
The protesters attribute the responsibility for this political crisis to the congressmen, because they consider that they respond to individual interests and became a stumbling block for Castillo’s administration, regardless of the popular will.
“Peru is taken over by a mafia that doesn’t care who the people have voted for,” says Alex Zapana, a 27-year-old from Arequipa who also joined the demonstrations. “This Congress removes a president, regardless of whether he is from the right or the left. They just want control.”
Congress has vacated (removed) or forced the resignation in recent years of presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Martín Vizcarra and now Castillo. The current Constitution allows a battle between the Executive and the Legislative, because both can override the other. This has made the country almost ungovernable.
“Congressmen have placed many restrictions on the management of Castillo, who left the Peruvian highlands and with whom we have felt represented. So we are not going to rest until Congress resigns, because we want our vote to be respected,” adds Romero .
The demand for early elections not only includes the presidential ones but also the legislative ones, which would allow the election of a new Congress.
3. Constituent Assembly
image source, EPA
One of Pedro Castillo’s promises during his electoral campaign was to pave the way for a constitutional reform, in order to correct the problems that the 1993 Constitution has generated.
The current Magna Carta opens the possibility of a presidential vacancy with the approval of 87 votes and Congress has not hesitated to activate it to remove leaders.
This constitutional resource, which was used in the Castillo case, was also applied to cut the command of Vizcarra in 2020 and of Alberto Fujimori in 2000.
Likewise, this Constitution gives the president the power to dissolve Congress if the Executive is denied confidence on two occasions.
“In Peru, there is no democracy, but rather a power dispute that does not allow governability,” Asencio comments. “We are asking for a Constituent Assembly to rewrite a new social pact,” he notes.
… And the release of Castillo
image source, Archyde.com
Some sectors are also demanding the release of Pedro Castillo. Others, at least, ask that the conditions of his detention be clarified and that due process be opened for him.
“Castillo’s detention has been irregular. The Prosecutor’s Office is not an autonomous body and this Congress has no morals to vacate it,” says Zapana, from Arequipa. “There are those who demand restitution, because they want their vote to be respected.”
“We know that Castillo acted badly,” adds Romero. “But this Congress turned its back on him and put many restrictions on him. The right has ruled this country for more than 30 years and it hurts them that the left has won. For the first time, we felt represented and we are outraged that they have taken away that hope “.
The protests are expected to continue in the coming days and there is talk of a call for a national strike for December 15 if the protesters’ requests are not met.
“I don’t see Dina (Boluarte) willing to leave office and that will make the crisis worse,” Zapana foresees. “I do not bode well for the country. We need to make a clean slate.”
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