Peru’s president to be questioned this week in genocide investigation; understand

Peru’s President Dina Boluarte will be questioned personally by the Prosecutor’s Office next Tuesday as part of the investigation to determine her responsibility for the deaths in the protests against her government, the president’s defense said Sunday.

In recent years, most of the country’s former presidents since 2000 have been arrested or investigated for corruption, mainly in the wake of the impacts of Operation Lava Jato in the country.

This is the case of Alejandro Toledo, Ollanta Humala and Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.

Another president, Alan Garcia, also under investigation, committed suicide with police on his doorstep in operation in Lima in 2019.

And Pedro Castillo, elected in 2021, ended up in jail after attempting a foiled coup last December.

Boluarte has “every willingness to want to cooperate with the ascertainment of the truth and the investigation,” his lawyer Kelly Montenegro told El Comercio.

“If the prosecutor’s office indicates that the procedure will be face-to-face, then it will be face-to-face,” she added.

Boluarte said she would be “present, with great pleasure, to answer the questions they ask me.”

Peru’s prosecutor’s office began an investigation against Boluarte on Jan. 10 for the alleged crimes of “genocide, aggravated murder, and serious injury” during anti-government demonstrations in Dec. 2022 and Jan. 2023 in the regions of Apurímac, La Libertad, Puno, Junín, Arequipa and Ayacucho.

Chief of Staff Alberto Otárola (former Defense Minister), former Interior Minister Víctor Rojas, Defense Minister Jorge Chávez, and former Chief of Staff Pedro Angulo are also included in the investigation by the national prosecutor Patricia Benavides.

CRISIS AFTER THE FAILED COUP

On Tuesday, Boluarte will complete three months in power after replacing former President Pedro Castillo, arrested after being ousted by Congress on Dec. 7 following a failed coup d’état when he was under investigation for alleged corruption.

Peru’s institutional crisis sees protests and the arrest of former president Pedro Castillo.

In a political crisis, Peru registered demonstrations against and in favor of ousting former president Pedro Castillo.

Former vice-president of Castillo and current Peruvian leader, Dina Boluarte takes over the presidency to pacify the country.

A 53-year-old rural teacher and union leader, Castillo is serving 18 months of pre-trial detention in Barbadillo, a prison for former presidents inside the headquarters of the Police Special Operations Directorate in Lima.

His fall from power after 17 months in power sparked violent protests that left 48 dead and more than 600 injured in clashes with security forces.

Another seven people died in traffic accidents in events related to roadblocks.

On Saturday, new clashes between protesters and security forces left at least 16 injured, ten civilians and six military personnel, and a police station burned down in Juli, in the Andean region of Puno, authorities said.

The protesters are demanding Boluarte’s resignation, the closure of Congress, and the advancement of elections to 2023.

With information from Estadão

More: Peru news in English, every day from The Rio Times.