Peruvian government denounces that “foreign interests” fuel violence in protests

The Prime Minister of Peru, Alberto Otárola, denounced on Monday that “foreign interests” are fueling, through illegal financing, violence during protests in the south of the country, which has so far recorded 46 people who died in the framework of these demonstrations.

The premier spoke at a press conference, shortly after the Ombudsman’s Office confirmed that at least 17 people died during the days of demonstrations that took place today in the city of Juliaca, in the southern department of Puno.

He asked the Public Ministry to initiate an investigation together with Crime Prevention prosecutors to verify “not only these unfortunate deaths” at the scene, but also to capture and prosecute “those who are destroying the country.”

Otárola asserted that the violent groups are “financed by foreign and foreign interests and by dark money from drug trafficking.”

Likewise, he attributed responsibility for the situation to former President Pedro Castillo (2021-2022), by assuring that among the culprits is “the one who announced a coup d’état” from the Government Palace on December 7 and that today he is detained in the prison of Barbadillo, in the city of Lima.

He denied that the situation registered to date is the responsibility of the Armed Forces or the National Police, the latter institution that has confirmed at least 75 of its officials injured, “many of them in serious condition.”

After assuring that the promoters of the demonstrations have threatened to take over Lima on January 14, he warned that from the government “we are not going to stop defending the rule of law, nobody is going to run here.”

Regarding the violence experienced today in Puno, which would have as its goal the seizure of the Inca Manco Cápac International Airport, he pointed out that it is part of an “organized, systematic attack of vandalism and violent organizations against the rule of law and local institutions” .

He pointed out that about 9,000 people approached the air terminal in the Puno city of Juliaca, but it was about 2,000 that “initiated a merciless attack against the police and these institutions,” to prevent, among other things, medicines from reaching the the location.

They would have used hazelnut weapons, firearms called “spells” and others with a double charge of gunpowder, “generating an extreme situation” that caused the death of almost twenty people in a single day, he denounced.

On the other hand, authorities identified the entry into the region of some 200 cousters (medium bus) and combis (minibus) that, illegally financed, transported from various cities “violent people who have been looking for this fatal outcome.”

Otárola announced that a high-level delegation from the Executive will go to Puno tomorrow Tuesday to seek dialogue and deliver medicine.

According to the latest report from the Ombudsman’s Office, until 9:00 p.m. this Monday, 17 deaths were registered in Juliaca, plus one due to events related to the blockade of roads, which increased to 46 the deaths registered in the framework of the protests in the South American country.

With information from Xinhua