Interview

Crisis in Peru: "For the indigenous populations, there has never been a real democracy"

Anti-government protesters chant slogans against Peruvian President Dina Boluarte, on the shores of Lake Titicaca in Puno, Peru, Tuesday, March 7, 2023. AP - Juan Karita

Text by: Justine Fontaine Follow

4 mins

On December 7, 2022, leftist President Pedro Castillo was impeached after attempting to dissolve Peru's parliament.

His arrest, then the refusal of Congress and the government to advance the general elections to 2023, provoked a vast protest movement in the country.

Interview with Lissell Quiroz, professor of Latin American studies at the University of Cergy. 

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Tuesday, March 7, a few hundred people gathered in Lima to continue to demand the resignation of interim president Dina Boluarte.

A few hours earlier, the head of state was heard for the first time by the Peruvian prosecutor's office in the investigation which targets her for "genocide", "intentional homicide", and "serious injuries", because of the death more than 50 demonstrators in the crackdown on protests that have rocked Peru since December 2022.

RFI: In an interview given to the Spanish daily 

Lissell Quiroz

: They [the members of the government and the president] cling to power, and they are also kept in power by the political forces present.

The only possible way out of this crisis is to organize elections and prepare a new constitution.

However, political parties and the ruling class (in the broad sense) are in a period of reconfiguration.

They want to have time to prepare for these elections and ensure a return to power or a stay in power, as the case may be.

They are thus putting pressure on the government to ask him to stay at all costs, despite the demonstrations.

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Does the response - political and security - provided by the Peruvian authorities reflect a weakening of Peruvian democracy? 

Yes.

Peruvian democracy has not experienced any real development since its birth in the 19th century.

Although there have been stages of strengthening this democracy at times, the democratic system has been shaky, especially since the time of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000).

Peru has failed to create a system in which political parties truly function as representatives of the people, a system that effectively fights corruption and does not privilege some over others.

In Peru, there is a strong racial dimension, of discrimination against indigenous populations.

These populations in particular have risen en masse in the past three months.

This is particularly the case of the Aymara people, from southern Peru [near the border with Bolivia].

For these populations,

there has never really been a democracy.

They are considered second-class citizens, who do not have the same effective rights as those of Lima, the capital.

This uprising of the indigenous populations of the Andes, but also of the Amazon - who are claiming rights that they have never obtained - is a very important dimension for understanding this social crisis.

It should be remembered that indigenous people have only had the right to vote in Peru since 1980.

but also of the Amazon - who are claiming rights that they have never obtained - is a very important dimension for understanding this social crisis.

It should be remembered that indigenous people have only had the right to vote in Peru since 1980.

but also of the Amazon - who are claiming rights that they have never obtained - is a very important dimension for understanding this social crisis.

It should be remembered that indigenous people have only had the right to vote in Peru since 1980. 

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On March 8, 2023, the government is launching an investment program worth one billion soles (approximately $264 million) for the Puno region (south), the epicenter of the protest.

Is this a step towards the demonstrators?

Yes, it's a big step, late, but absolutely necessary.

It is rare for the State to invest in this particularly neglected region.

Faced with the scale of the mobilization, which is continuing very firmly, the government had no other solution than to take this step.

It is the result of the pressure of public opinion which notes that there is a differentiated treatment between citizens.

The lives [of indigenous peoples] seem to be worth less than those of protesters in the capital.

The government was therefore pushed to make a move to try to show that these Peruvians also have rights. 

[Interview in long version] Lissell Quiroz, professor of Latin American studies at the University of Cergy

Justine Fontaine

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• Peru

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