Opinion: Peru Congress ignores key demands of nationwide protests

By Antonia Rodriguez Sanchez

(Opinion) The Peruvian Congress has rejected, with 75 votes against, the proposal of congressman Jaime Quito (Perú Libre) for early elections in September 2023 and a referendum on a constituent assembly.

The bill provided for the newly elected head of state to take office on December 31, 2023.

The vote also postponed further discussions on early parliamentary elections until August, thus ignoring one of the main demands of the protests against President Dina Boluarte.

Indigenous Aymara representatives in Puno have decided to continue to protest and block roads until the president resigns.

“We are not terrorists. We have seen how many of our brothers have been killed. We demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte,” a community member from Plateria told La Republica.

In a press conference in Talara (Piura), Boluarte again announced that she would not resign from her post.

She pointed out that the advancement of the legislative elections was in the hands of Congress.

“My resignation is not up for debate in this situation. I know that there is a small part of the population, the groups that are causing violence and chaos in the country, that want to extort the resignation of President Boluarte. We will not give in to this political blackmail,” assured the woman who came to office through the removal and arrest of elected President Pedro Castillo.

The president had repeatedly accused the protests against her were organized by drug trafficking groups, the illegal mining industry, and political activists.

Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi had now conceded Thursday that the government had no evidence that criminal groups controlled the demonstrations in the country.

However, she insisted they would “find the evidence” of the demonstrators’ links to criminal groups. When asked how this would be done, she did not answer.

The Centro Estratégico Latinoamericano de Geopolítica (Celag) released a report on January 29, listing the Boluarte government as having the second-highest number of human casualties in protests from 2000 to the present in Latin America.

It is surpassed only by former Colombian President Iván Duque, who suffered 83 deaths during his tenure between 2018 and 2022.

Boluarte’s short tenure has been marked by violent repression by the armed forces and national police, which has left more than 60 people dead and thousands injured during mass protests in various country regions.

Last Saturday, the first death occurred during protests in Lima, Peru’s capital.

As the Peruvian Ombudsman’s Office confirmed, the victim was Víctor Santisteban Yacsavilca (55).

Camera footage shows how the victim was hit in the back of the head by a police tear gas grenade and went down.

Attorney Ruth Luque said the death was due to severe traumatic brain injury.

“Painful news that requires urgent political responses,” she tweeted.

The EsSalud health authority also initially announced that the deceased had been admitted with a “severe traumatic brain injury.”

It later changed the communiqué, which now stated that he had arrived with a “severe bruise” and in a “poor general condition” as a result of a “blow.”

According to Peru’s National Association of Journalists (ANP), repression and violence against press members are also rising.

So far, 153 journalists have been attacked in connection with the protests against the government, most of them by police forces. Among the most severe incidents, the ANP cites the death threat made by police officers against Aldair Mejía, a photojournalist for the Spanish news agency Efe, on January 7 in Juliaca (Puno).

A few hours later, the journalist was hit by shrapnel in his right leg, causing a broken bone.

Social organizations and indigenous communities called for a large demonstration in the Peruvian capital last Saturday.

More people are expected to arrive from other provinces in the coming days.

Many have sold their livestock and the goods they produce to provide for themselves during the protests.

The organizers have also announced demonstrations for February 9 in the capital and the regions of Ayacucho and Arequipa.

FULL SUPPORT FOR BOLUARTE FROM THE US GOVERNMENT: SHERMAN WITH GERVASI IN WASHINGTON ON TUESDAY

Meanwhile, the Boluarte government can continue to count on US support.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with Peruvian Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi in Washington last Tuesday.

According to a State Department press release, “Sherman reiterated the US support for Peru and President Boluarte and their efforts to strengthen Peruvian democracy and ensure peace, stability, and the unity of the Peruvian people.”

She said the Deputy Secretary of State “encouraged the Boluarte government to continue to take steps to hold those responsible for acts of violence accountable.”

With information from amerika21