President of Peru meets with religious leaders amid protest that has left 50 dead | International

After several weeks of protests, which have left 50 dead in Peru, President Dina Boluarte met with religious leaders to seek a way out of the social crisis.

The President of Peru, In Boluarte, met this Monday with leaders of a dozen religious organizations to promote the strengthening of dialogue and social peace in the country, where anti-government protests There are 50 deaths since December.

As reported by the Presidency through a statement, the meeting was held at the Government Palace and was attended by representatives of the Interreligious Council of Peru, which includes Christian, Evangelical, Jewish, Islamic and Buddhist organizations, among others.

During the meeting, religious leaders advocated the construction of a country “in peace, without discontent, and with the opening of spaces to speak, listen and walk the path of unity and development”.

In this sense, the executive secretary of the council, Laura Vargas, expressed the availability of the organizations to “promote dialogue, forgiveness, and travel for that purpose to the region where it is necessary to strengthen communication and peace.”

Boluarte, for his part, thanked them for “the interest and concern in joining the search for social peace in the country and stressed the need for dialogue to be sustained over time among all Peruvians,” always according to the note.

At the end of the meeting, the president of the Interreligious Council and representative of the Peruvian Episcopal Conference, Monsignor Salvador Piñeiro, indicated that “they raise their prayers so that Peru is a country of brothers, where tolerance, understanding and solidarity prevail.”

In addition, Piñeiro reported in statements to the media that the Argentine priest Luis Humberto Béjar, who had been questioned for asking for Boluarte’s resignation and intervene in Peruvian political affairs, he was disqualified from working as a parish priest in the southern region of Puno and he retired to his country to “reflect.”

“The Bishop of Puno, Monsignor Jorge Carrión, has taken away his license. He can no longer work as a parish priest in Pucará (Puno) and has asked him to go to rest in his land for a year so that he reflects because these imprudence make us misunderstand and create this whole atmosphere of disunity. Today more than ever, we Peruvians feel like brothers,” the archbishop asserted.

The meeting at the Government Palace was held one day following the mass in memory of the citizens who died in the protests in which the Archbishop of Lima, Carlos Castillo, called for peace and to “detect those who give wrong orders , propagators of death”.

Representatives of the Union of Evangelical Christian Churches of Peru, the Conference of Men and Women Religious of Peru, the National Evangelical Council of Peru, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Jewish Association of Peru, the Islamic Association of Peru and the Bahai Community of Peru.

Likewise, members of the Anglican Church of Peru, the Lutheran Church of Peru, the Sotoshu Zen Buddhist Community of Peru, the Brahma Kumaris Peru, the Interdenominational Network of Women of Faith and Spirituality, the Peruvian Youth Network of Religions also attended. for Peace, and Religions for Peace, Latin America and the Caribbean.