Peru: President asks protesters to remain “peaceful and calm” in Lima
Peru’s President Dina Boluarte called on the hundreds of protesters demanding her resignation and converging on Lima to remain “peaceful and calm” during the two crucial days of mobilization on Wednesday and Thursday.
“We know that they want + to take + Lima” in view of “everything that comes out on the networks, the 18th and 19th (Wednesday and Thursday). I ask them to take Lima, but peacefully and calmly”, declared Mme Boluarte during a speech at the Constitutional Court.
The protests, which erupted after the December 7 dismissal and arrest of left-wing President Pedro Castillo, accused of attempting to carry out a coup by trying to dissolve the Parliament which was preparing to oust him from power, left at least 42 dead.
The protesters met in Lima to give more weight to their movement, believing that they would be better heard in the capital.
The demonstrations which until then had been concentrated in the southern Andes should swell in Lima: several political parties and a trade union confederation called for a strike on Thursday.
“I am waiting for them to be able to talk about their social agendas,” said the president, while emphasizing that “the rule of law cannot be subject to the whims” of a group.
Ms. Boluarte, who was Mr. Castillo’s vice-president, succeeded him in accordance with the Constitution. She comes from the same party as him but the demonstrators see her as a “traitor”.
They demand his resignation, the dissolution of Parliament and the holding of new elections with a Constituent Assembly.
On Tuesday, hundreds of residents of the Puno region (near Bolivia), many of them in traditional dress, left for Lima.
“I’m excited to go to Lima, because the struggle continues,” Julio César Ramos told AFP before boarding a bus.
Others, who left Andahuaylas on Sunday, the epicenter of the unrest in December, arrived in Lima on Tuesday morning with the desire to make their voices heard: “Brothers have already lost their lives. We too are ready to give it (.. .) So that my child has better opportunities, so that he is not a marginalized Indian. This is the beginning for things to change!”, promises Abdon Felix Flores Huaman, 30, a peasant who also has a training as a psychologist. , Unemployed.
– “Please give up!”
It was however impossible, despite the announcements of each other, to know the extent of this mobilization and to know how many people have arrived or are on their way to Lima.
In the afternoon, some groups arriving from the provinces marched peacefully towards the city center and Plaza San Martin.
“Dina Boluarte must leave because she does not represent the (Pacific) coast, nor the Andes, nor the (Amazonian) jungle”, argues Edith Calixto, a 45-year-old teacher, who arrived Tuesday from Cuzco.
“Dina please give up so that the people calm down. The people will not surrender,” shouts Antonia Riveros, 55, from Huancavelica.
“It’s a march for peace because we don’t want violence. I know that at the moment there is a group that disagrees with the current government but nevertheless (violence) is not the way to do it. We want peace and quiet,” says Cesar Noa Casas, a trader.
In addition, roadblocks continued to disrupt traffic in the country. On Tuesday, 94 sections of road were blocked by protesters in eight of 25 regions. In the early hours of the morning, however, the police released the Panamericana Norte highway.