Peru at an impasse: the demonstrations continue, the political deadlock persists
Peru, Lima, January 20, 2023 in the evening: clashes between supporters of deposed President Pedro Castillo and those in power continue in the capital and elsewhere in the country.
Some 10,000 police officers have been deployed in the capital, reports our correspondent, Juliette Chaignon.
REUTERS - ANGELA PONCE
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
In Peru, demonstrations against the power of Dina Boluarte continue.
After a day of nationwide protest Thursday in Lima, the contested president spoke again to call for calm, while condemning the most violent protesters.
But on Friday, new rallies took place.
Between the power and the supporters of ousted president Pedro Castillo, no dialogue seems possible.
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How to explain the dialogue of the deaf between power and supporters of ousted President Pedro Castillo?
For
Roman Perdomo
, from the Center for International Research at Sciences Po, the political class is disconnected from the country.
“
Even beyond the case of Dina Boluarte, I think we can talk about the disconnection of the political class and it is not new in Peru,
explains Roman Perdomo, at the microphone of
Mickaël Ponge
.
The political crisis that the country has been going through for six years is catalysed by poor quality politicians, who manage more easily to agree on personal interests than on a project for the country.
And social dialogue is also made difficult by a political culture that criminalizes forms of opposition and dissent, since the years of armed conflict in 1980;
but also by a context of racism, structural classism of Peruvian society which contributes to the fact that the claims of the other are not considered as legitimate, which generates a response through violence
.
»
The government is currently in dissonance with the protesters' demands, but its position may change, according to Roman Perdomo.
“
He can still always change course.
For example, by recognizing the demonstrations as legitimate, and above all by giving guarantees that this is a transitional government and that there will be elections imminently.
And of course, that accounts are rendered for the fifty dead for a month.
»
Demonstrations against President
Dina Boluarte
continued Friday evening in Lima as in the rest of Peru, the day after a large rally on Thursday in the capital.
In Lima, where more than 10,000 police were deployed, three people were injured, reports our correspondent,
Juliette Chaignon
.
Wilber was already on the streets on Thursday and is marching again in the city center of the capital.
“The president does not seem to want to find a solution to the problem.
How many more deaths will he need to listen to us?
»
Resident of Lima, of Aymara origin, Wilber joined the demonstrators from the south, center and north of the country: "we come to protest and support our brothers who have come from their villages"
Juliette Chaignon
Violent clashes resembling battle scenes also took place in Arequipa, the country's second city.
The airport in Cusco, the country's tourist capital, reopened at midday yesterday, but the train to the famous site of Machu Picchu is still suspended.
At least 300 foreign and local tourists are stranded in the area.
“The people want a new Constitution”
"
It has been more than two hundred years since the peoples of the country have been forgotten.
Poverty has increased, there are no hospitals, there are no schools, there are no roads.
That's why people take to the streets.
They go to the capital to make their voices heard, because Lima is a conservative city, it is an indifferent city, where all the economic power is concentrated.
But the people today are not asking for water, sewers, schools or hospitals.
It is a political struggle.
The people take to the streets to demand the resignation of Ms. Boluarte, so that new elections can be called.
And also for a new Constitution to be put in place, to rebuild the Republic and recover all our natural resources.
Because Peru is a rich country where there is gold, silver,
copper, gas, lithium.
And yet, everything is sent abroad, without being taxed.
They even destroy nature and the environment, and in addition, they continue to appropriate the properties of the peasants
“Explained on our antenna Geronimo Lopez Sevillano, the secretary general of the CGTP, at the microphone of
Justine Fontaine
.
►
Also to listen
:
"There is a feeling (...) of betrayal of part of the population", in the political crisis in Peru
New delegations are due to arrive in the coming days.
In the capital, the demonstrators assure that they will protest until the resignation of President Dina Boluarte.
(and with AFP)
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