Thousands converge in Peru's capital for 'Take over Lima' march
Peruvians pour into Lima, many from remote Andean regions, to protest against President Dina Boluarte and in support of her predecessor, whose ouster last month sparked deadly unrest and political chaos.
Thousands of Peruvians, many from the country's southern mining regions, have descended on the capital Lima for a major planned march against the government and Congress, fired up by over 50 deaths linked to protests since last month.
"We want Dina Boluarte to resign," said Julio Saldivar on Thursday, a protester from Ayacucho, where a dozen peopled died in December.
Police said they were on "maximum alert" and have deployed 11,800 officers in Lima ahead of expected trouble.
The clashes mark the worst violence Peru has seen in over 20 years as many people in poorer rural regions vent anger at the Lima political elite over inequality and rising prices, testing the copper-rich Andean nation's democratic institutions.
Protesters are demanding the resignation of President Boluarte, fast new elections, a clear out of Congress and a new Constitution to replace a market-friendly one dating back to strongman leader Alberto Fujimori in the 1990s.
In buses and on foot, thousands have journeyed to the capital, carrying flags and banners criticising the government and police for deadly clashes in the southern cities of Ayacucho and Juliaca, many demanding Boluarte step down.
Protesters are planning a "Take over Lima" protest on Thursday, with thousands of police expected in response. On Wednesday night scuffles began with protesters throwing rocks and police using tear gas to disperse crowds.
"We want to centralise our movement here in Lima, which is the heart of Peru, to see if they are moved," said Domingo Cueva, a protester at the state University of San Marcos.
'We won't forget the pain'
The protests, sparked by the dramatic December 7 ouster of leftist former president Pedro Castillo after he tried to illegally shutter Congress and consolidate power, have seen 43 people killed in clashes, including one police officer.
Nine more have died in related accidents.
The protest deaths have been the lightning rod for much of the anger, with banners calling Boluarte a "murderer" and calling the killings by police and military "massacres".
"We won't forget the pain the police have caused in the town of Juliaca. We women, men, children have to fight," said one protester travelling to Lima who didn't give her name.
Protester Cueva, who had come from Cusco, said many had tried to come to Lima for the Thursday protest and strike, though not all had made it.
"We have observed an increase in repressions everywhere. Some leaders have been stopped on the way, they were not allowed to pass," he said.
Police have increased surveillance of roads entering Lima and political leaders have called for calm.
The government last week extended a state of emergency in Lima and the southern regions of Puno and Cusco, curtailing some civil rights.
"We do not want more deaths, we do not want more injuries, enough blood, enough mourning for the families of Peru," Interior Minister Vicente Romero told reporters.
Boluarte has asked for "forgiveness" for the protest deaths but remained firm that she is not going to resign.
Human rights groups have accused the police and army of using deadly firearms in the protests.
Boluarte, who was Castillo's vice president, succeeded him.
But despite Boluarte belonging to the same left-wing party, Castillo supporters have rejected her, even accusing her of being a "traitor."
REASD MORE: Peru peasants arrive in Lima for major anti-Boluarte protest
By DANIEL POLITI and FRANKLIN BRICEÑO (Associated Press)
LIMA, Peru Jan. 19, 2023 3:56 p.m.
People are pouring into Peru’s capital, many from remote Andean regions, for a protest against President Dina Boluarte and in support of her predecessor, whose ouster last month launched weeks of deadly unrest and cast the nation into political chaos
Thousands of people poured into Peru’s capital, many from remote Andean regions, for a protest Thursday against President Dina Boluarte and in support of her predecessor, whose ouster last month launched deadly unrest and cast the nation into political chaos.
An anti-government protesters who traveled to the capital from across the country to march against Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, is detained and thrown on the back of police vehicle during clashes in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2023. Protesters are seeking immediate elections, Boluarte's resignation, the release of ousted President Pedro Castillo and justice for up to 48 protesters killed in clashes with police.
Martin Mejia / AP
Police repeatedly fired tear gas into crowds of demonstrators as night fell Thursday, preventing them from heading into business and residential districts of Lima. The supporters of former President Pedro Castillo were demanding Boluarte's resignation, the dissolution of Congress, and immediate elections. Castillo, Peru’s first leader from a rural Andean background, was impeached after a failed attempt to dissolve Congress.
“We have delinquent ministers, presidents that murder and we live like animals in the middle of so much wealth that they steal from us every day,” said Samuel Acero, a farmer who heads the regional protest committee for the Andean city of Cusco. “We want Dina Boluarte to leave, she lied to us.”
Anger at Boluarte was the common thread as street sellers hawked T-shirts saying, “Out, Dina Boluarte,” “Dina murderer, Peru repudiates you” and a call for “New elections, let them all leave.”
“Our God says thou shalt not kill your neighbor. Dina Boluarte is killing, she's making brothers fight,” Paulina Consac said as she carried a large Bible while marching in downtown Lima with more than 2,000 protesters from Cusco.
By early afternoon, protesters had turned key roads into large pedestrian areas in downtown Lima.
The protests have so far been held mainly in Peru's southern Andes, with 54 people dying amid the unrest, the large majority killed in clashes with security forces.
“We’re at a breaking point between dictatorship and democracy,” said Pedro Mamani, a student at the National University of San Marcos. Students there are housing demonstrators who traveled for the protest that is being popularly referred to as the "takeover of Lima."
The university was surrounded by police officers, who also deployed at key points of Lima's historic downtown district.
Some 11,800 police officers were being sent out, Victor Zanabria, the head of the Lima police force told local media. He played down the size of the protests, saying he expected around 2,000 people to participate.
There were protests elsewhere and video posted on social media showed a group of demonstrators trying to storm the airport in southern Arequipa, Peru's second city. They were blocked by police but the airport paused operations.
The demonstrations that erupted last month and subsequent clashes with security forces were the worst political violence in more than two decades and has highlighted the deep divisions between the urban elite largely concentrated in Lima and poor rural areas.
By bringing the protest to Lima, demonstrators hope to give fresh weight to the movement that began when Boluarte was sworn into office on Dec. 7 to replace Castillo.
“When there are tragedies, bloodbaths outside the capital it doesn’t have the same political relevance in the public agenda than if it took place in the capital,” said Alonso Cárdenas, a professor of public policies at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University in Lima.
“The leaders have understood that and say, they can massacre us in Cusco, in Puno, and nothing happens, we need to take the protest to Lima,” Cárdenas added, citing cities that have seen major violence.
The concentration of protesters in Lima also reflects how the capital has started to see more antigovernment demonstrations in recent days.
The protester were planning to march Thursday from downtown Lima to the Miraflores district, an emblematic neighborhood of the economic elite.
The government has called on protesters to be peaceful.
Boluarte has said she supports a plan to push to 2024 elections for president and Congress originally scheduled for 2026.
Many protesters say no dialogue is possible with a government they say has unleashed so much violence against its citizens.
As protesters gathered in Lima, more violence erupted in southern Peru.
In the town of Macusani on Wednesday, protesters set fire to the police station and judicial office after two people were killed and another seriously injured by gunfire amid antigovernment protests. The person who was injured died Thursday morning in hospital, said a health official in the town.
Activists have dubbed Thursday's demonstration in Lima as the Cuatro Suyos March, a reference to the four cardinal points of the Inca empire. It’s also the name given to a massive 2000 mobilization, when thousands of Peruvians took to the streets against the autocratic government of Alberto Fujimori, who resigned months later.
There are several key differences between those demonstrations and this week’s protests.
“In 2000, the people protested against a regime that was already consolidated in power,” Cardenas said. “In this case, they’re standing up to a government that has only been in power for a month and is incredibly fragile.”
The 2000 protests also had a centralized leadership and were led by political parties. “Now what we have is something much more fragmented,” Coronel said.
The latest protests have largely been grassroots efforts without a clear leadership.
“We have never seen a mobilization of this magnitude, there’s already a thought installed in the peripheries that it is necessary, urgent to transform everything,” said Gustavo Montoya, a historian at the National University of San Marcos. “I have the feeling that we’re witnessing a historic shift.”
The protests have grown to such a degree that demonstrators are unlikely to be satisfied with Boluarte’s resignation and are now demanding more fundamental structural reform.
The protests have emerged “in regions that have been systematically treated as second-class citizens,” Montoya said. “I think this will only keep growing.”
———-
Associated Press journalist Mauricio Muñoz contributed.
Protestors from across Peru are traveling to Lima and demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte. Photo by EPA-EFE/Paolo Aguilar
Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Protestors from across Peru are traveling to the capital city of Lima to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte.
The head of Peru's National Police in Lima, Victor Sanabria, told reporters that nearly 12,000 police officers were deployed in the capital. Key government buildings were reinforced in anticipation of further protests.
Two protestors were killed on Wednesday in the southern region of Puno, as the death toll for six weeks of demonstrations surpasses 50.
Protestors took to the streets of the South American nation in December, demanding the reinstatement of former president Pedro Castillo, who was impeached in December after attempting to dissolve congress in the wake of previous impeachment attempts.
The Constitutional Court of Peru determined that Castillo's attempt to dissolve congress was a coup attempt to interfere with a legitimate impeachment process.
Castillo attempted to flee the country but was detained before he could leave.
On Jan. 9, security forces killed 18 people in Puno region. Amnesty International has accused security forces of using "excessive force against protestors."
Several members of President Boluarte's cabinet have resigned in protest of her handling of the crisis, and Peru's top prosecutor is conducting an inquiry into her role in the crackdown.
While the demonstrations began in support of Castillo, the demands have evolved, with many protestors now calling for the resignation of Boluarte and fresh elections.
By Carrie Kahn
Published January 19, 2023
Martin Mejia AP
Updated January 19, 2023 at 4:16 PM ET
LIMA, Peru — Peru's capital is bracing for large demonstrations against the government over coming days. Thousands of rural residents have been streaming into Lima to demand justice for the more than 50 people killed in weeks of protests.
Demonstrators began blocking roads and storming airports around the country after the arrest and impeachment of former President Pedro Castillo last month. The political newcomer was facing a third impeachment attempt and prior to the vote, attempted to dissolve Congress and rule by decree.
His vice president, Dina Boluarte, was sworn in immediately following Castillo's jailing.
What the demonstrators are demanding
Demonstrators want Boluarte to resign and for new elections to be held. She has imposed a state of emergency in the capital Lima and three other regions.
What began as protests demanding the release and restitution of Castillo have morphed into widespread calls for justice for those killed by what activists say is excessive force by police and the military.
Guadalupe Pardo / AP
/
APPresident of Congress José Williams (left) and Sen. Jose Cevasco place the presidential sash on Vice President Dina Boluarte as she is sworn in as the country's new president in Lima on Dec. 7.
Protesters also want to bring attention to long-standing social and economic inequality in the country. The wealth gap between Peru's indigenous south and the urban capital has long been present, but has widened in recent years.
Dina Lopez came to Lima from her highland city of Ayacucho to participate in protests. "No one pays attention to us out there — where are our human rights?" she said. She spoke to NPR as police attempted to remove her and fellow protesters from the doorsteps of a church.
"That woman is deaf to our suffering," Lopez added, referring to President Boluarte.
For her part, Boluarte says she is not leaving. "These necessities will be resolved, only when we get together and converse pacifically," she said while attending the opening session of Peru's Constitutional Court on Tuesday.
She said the historic needs of Peru's poor and indigenous communities can't be addressed through violence.
There are fears of escalating and prolonged violence
The divide between Peru's Lima elite and the rest of the country is nothing new, but these prolonged protests are unusual, Alberto Vergara, a political scientist at Lima's Pacific University, told NPR.
"Now we have 50 dead and we are on a path to have more," he warns. Vergara fears that given Peru's dysfunctional political system more violence is inevitable.
Indeed, Peru has had 10 presidents in more than 20 years of political upheaval, with one leader lasting just six days.
Vergara said Peru's mediocre politicians are the threat here — not tyranny which usually leads to democratic demise. "Peru is perhaps showing us that chaos and disorder can also be the opposite of democracy," he said.
Security services are accused of excessive force
Conservatives, including Congressman Jorge Montoya, warn of possible terrorism links to the ongoing demonstrations and unrest. He claims, without evidence, that the marchers are backed by communists and drug traffickers.
Martin Mejia / AP
/Tear gas is thrown back at police trying to break up supporters of ousted President Pedro Castillo at Plaza San Martin in Lima, on Dec. 11.
"There is no dialogue, no dialogue is necessary. What is necessary is to correct what is wrong," Montoya told NPR. He is calling for a strong hand by security forces to end the demonstrations, and even says it was the protesters who shot at civilians during demonstrators.
Human rights lawyer Juan Miguel Jugo says that is absurd. "There is no proof that happened," he told NPR. He said the deaths were caused by excessive force by the police that shot civilians in the head, chest and limbs.
Protesters say they will continue marching until the president and Congress are gone and new elections are scheduled for this year. One woman, who would only give NPR her first name, Tanya, for fear of government retaliation, said she will not be backing down.
"Our eyes have been opened and we will continue fighting," she said.
Copyright 2023 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.
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