Published on :
New demonstrations took place Tuesday in Peru to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and the holding of early elections. But Parliament, unable to agree on a new ballot, once once more postponed its decision on the matter.
The Parliament of Peru will meet once more on Wednesday 1 February following having once once more postponed its decision on the organization of early elections, while a new demonstration once morest President Dina Boluarte took place in Lima. “The plenary session is suspended and will resume on February 1 at 11 a.m.” (4 p.m. GMT), Parliament announced on its Twitter account on Tuesday evening.
Dina Boluarte and the right-wing Fuerza Popular (Popular Force) party advocate bringing forward the election scheduled for April 2024 to October 2023, hoping that this will calm the protest which has left 48 dead since December 7.
Parliament, which has already rejected a proposal for early elections on Saturday, has been dithering since Friday. On Monday, more than seven hours of discussions were not enough, and on Tuesday the deputies preferred to postpone the decision once more.
>> See also on France 24: CAP AMERICAS – Demonstrations in Peru: the reasons for the anger once morest President Boluarte
“The crisis in Peru is due to the failed neoliberal model (…) what must go hand in hand with these early elections is the popular consultation for a Constituent Assembly,” said leftist deputy Edgar Tello.
The demonstrators demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte, but also the dissolution of Parliament, largely discredited in public opinion, general elections and a Constituent Assembly. The unrest erupted following the dismissal and arrest on December 7 of left-wing president Pedro Castillo, accused of having attempted a coup d’etat by wanting to dissolve the Parliament which was preparing to oust him from power. Vice-President Dina Boluarte, whom the protesters consider a “traitor”, then replaced him.
Gerónimo Lopez, of the General Confederation of Peruvian Workers (CGTP), had accused the deputies on Monday of “clinging” to “their functions” by calling for a new large demonstration in the capital for this Tuesday followingnoon.
>> To read also on France 24: Crisis in Peru: the “country has been ungovernable for years”
Hundreds of people marched through the city center approaching some 200 meters from Parliament. Around 8 p.m., scuffles broke out with tear gas fire, when a large part of the demonstrators had already dispersed.
“Political interests”
“Ms. Boluarte is believed to have flouted her principles and disrespected the people (by not resigning when Castillo was impeached). A disloyal person cannot stay in government,” Nelson Calderon told AFP. a 30-year-old student. “Even if we bring forward the elections, the only demand of the people remains the resignation of Mrs. Dina Boluarte. What does an early election change if the people do not want Dina Boluarte? The people no longer want to speak with a person who murdered his own people,” he added.
Fanny Yucra, 25, from Moho also in the Puno region assures that politicians “only see their political interests, not those of the Peruvians. We will continue with the protests until the end”.
Hundreds of people protested once more on Tuesday in the south of the country. Thus, in the Andean city of Juliaca (Puno region, border with Bolivia) where 18 people were killed during clashes with the police on January 9, peasants in traditional dress marched to cries of “the united people will never be defeated”.
In Cuzco (south), the country’s tourist capital, near the famous Inca site of Machu Picchu, protesters also marched through the city, forcing businesses to close.
With AFP
