A large demonstration with the majority participation of citizens from the Andes began this Thursday, January 19, in Lima to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, early elections and the closure of Congress. Meanwhile, the authorities deployed a Massive security operation in the Peruvian capital to prevent disturbances and vandalism.
At the same time, the southern region of Arequipa was the scene of a pitched battle between the security forces and thousands of protesters, that at the point of throwing stones they tried to storm the airport, being repelled with tear gas.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications announced on Twitter the preventive suspension of operations at the airport terminal.
Columns of demonstrators set out from various points in Lima ready to march through the main avenues of the citybefore converging at the end of the day in front of the Palace of Justice.
In the last few hours there was a confrontation on Camino Real avenue and Víctor Andrés Belaúnde avenue, in the San Isidro district, where the riots between the National Police of Peru and the demonstrators.
“We are here fighting for our just reason. We want them to close Congress”told the news agency AFP farmer Ayda Aroni, who came from the Ayacucho region, located 330 kilometers southeast of Lima.
“They marginalize us, they tell us that we are vandals, they tell us that we are terrucos (terrorists), we are demanding our right.”the woman contributed.
In Lima they deployed “11,800 troops on the streets to control riots, more than 120 trucks and 49 military vehicles, and also the participation of the armed forces”assured the head of the Lima Police Region, General Víctor Zanabría.
Various businesses near the route of the march were closing as the day progressed and some of them covered the windows with wood to avoid being the target of eventual attacks by vandals.
On Thursday it was known death of a second protester wounded by a gunshot hours earlier in the chest when he demonstrated in Macusani, in the Puno region.
On Wednesday a woman also died of a gunshot wound. in the framework of the protests in Macusani, where a crowd burned a police station and a judicial premises.
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After the reported deaths, the death toll rose to 44 since the crisis broke out on December 7.
In the regions of Puno, Huánuco and Tacna Hundreds of peasants mobilized on the public highway.
The Cusco airportlike the one in Arequipa, suspended its operations for security reasons.
The railway service between Cusco and the Inca citadel Machu Picchu was also temporarily suspended, according to the operating company.
The taking of Lima
The demonstrators demanded the resignation of Boluarte and the immediate calling of elections.
“In Lima, the fight will have more weight. When they repress us in our regions, nobody mentions it”warned Abdón Félix Flores, 30, a farmer who was ready “to give his life.” He left Andahuaylas on Sunday, the epicenter of the demonstrations in December, to arrive in Lima on Tuesday.
The general secretary of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP), whose organization is behind the march, predicted the advent of greater conflicts if the president does not resign.
“The marches will continue. All the regions of the country have said that they will not return to their place of origin until he resigns. In Boluarte“, explained to the agency AFP Gerónimo López, union leader who called the strike.
Although the government decreed on Sunday a state of emergency for 30 days in Lima, Cuzco, Callao and Punothe union leader specified that the organizers did not request authorization for the concentration.
“There is no authorization from the police, authorization is never requested for a social demonstrationit is not an obligation that they authorize us”, he pointed out, despite the fact that the state of emergency suspends the freedoms of assembly and movement, in addition to allowing the intervention of the army to maintain order.
Deep institutional crisis
Peru passes intense protests since December 7 was Former President Pedro Castillo was removed by Congress and arrested for a failed coup with which he tried to close Parliament, govern by decree and convene a Constituent Assembly.
The crisis also reflects the enormous gap that exists between the capital and the humblest provinces who support President Castillo, of indigenous origin.
The president Boluarte He had called for calm this Monday: “We know that they want to take Lima because of everything that is appearing on the networks on the 18th and 19th, I call them to take Lima, yes, but in peace, calmly.”
Boluarte was the vice president of Castillo, whom she replaced as established by the Constitution, and comes from the same party, but is considered a “traitor” by the protesters.
CA/HB
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