Rally in Lima, the president calls for “a national truce”
The demonstrators once again met in the streets of Lima on Tuesday.
On the outskirts of parliament, the procession was repelled by tear gas fire from the police deployed en masse.
AFP
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Tuesday called for a “national truce” as another large demonstration in Lima demands her departure and the dissolution of parliament. Several thousand poor protesters, from the Andean regions and mostly in traditional dress, marched through the center of the capital with Peruvian flags and cries of “Dina assassine” for the 46 demonstrators who have died since the start of the protest.
A protester brandished a large doll holding a bloody knife, decked out with a photo of the interim president, who came to power after the dismissal in early December of ex-president Pedro Castillo.
Elections in 2024
On the outskirts of parliament, the procession was repelled by tear gas fire from the police deployed en masse. The demonstrators responded by throwing stones, noted an AFP journalist. Before this large rally, the second in Lima in a few days, Dina Boluarte had once again tried to defuse tensions, calling on her “dear homeland for a national truce” to “restore dialogue”, “set an agenda for each region” and “develop” the country. “I will never tire of calling for dialogue, peace and unity,” she added during an intervention before the foreign press, repeating almost word for word a sentence already pronounced on January 20. during a televised intervention.
“I have no intention of staying in power,” she repeated, ensuring that she wanted to respect the Constitution and step down in the elections, which have been brought forward to 2024. “Would my resignation resolve the crisis and violence? Who would assume the presidency of the Republic? she questioned. Visibly moved, Dina Boluarte also asked for “pardon for the dead”, promising investigations by the prosecution to determine the perpetrators.
She notably assured that demonstrators had been killed by “dum-dum” type bullets, ammunition which is not used by the police. An intervention without effect on the demonstrators.
“Irresponsibility”
“We no longer believe his words,” says Rosa Soncco, 37, from Acomayo, at more than 3,000 meters above sea level, in the Cuzco region (south). “There are 50 dead. How many mothers cry?”. “We don’t believe her because she said if Castillo resigned she would leave. We demand: one, that she resign; two, change Congress; then new elections. We want a transitional government,” she said. In the procession, took part dozens of army reservists in khaki uniforms. “They help us. We will stay here until the end, until she leaves,” says Rosa Soncco.
The unrest began on December 7 after the dismissal and arrest of left-wing President Pedro Castillo, accused of having attempted a coup d’etat in order to dissolve the Parliament which was about to oust him from power. Former vice-president of Pedro Castillo, with whom she was elected on the same ticket in 2021, Dina Boluarte, stressed that she had Andean origins like him.
“It suited him to make this coup in order to victimize himself and move all this paramilitary apparatus and not answer to the prosecutor for the acts of corruption of which he is accused. There are no victims here, Mr. Castillo: there is a country that is bleeding because of your irresponsibility,” she said again on Tuesday.
85 roads blocked
The crisis is also a reflection of the huge gap between the capital and the poor provinces that supported President Castillo and saw his election as revenge for what they see as Lima’s contempt. Authorities said 85 roads were blocked by roadblocks Tuesday in nine of Peru’s 25 regions. In the Ica region (southwest), the police used tear gas to try to unblock several sections of the still closed Panamerican highway.
Dina Boluarte must also speak on Wednesday before the Organization of American States (OAS) while the international community and human rights associations have criticized the repression, citing a “disproportionate” use of force by the part of the police and the army, called upon to maintain order within the framework of the state of emergency.
“I will come before the OAS to tell the truth. The Peruvian government and especially Dina Boluarte have nothing to hide. Fifty people died (by adding the deaths due to the blocking of the roads, editor’s note), it hurts me, as a woman, mother and daughter, it hurts me, ”she said.
AFP
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