Peru protests: President calls for dialogue after more than 30 injured

• At least 54 people have died in clashes with security forces since the unrest started.
• 17 dead people who died during protests in Juliaca on January 9 had autopsies that revealed wounds from gunshot projectiles.
• The majority of the victims are indigenous people from rural Peru.

Peru protests: After skirmishes between protestors and police during widespread rallies resulted in one death and 30 injuries, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has appealed for dialogue.

“Once more, I urge conversation and urge those political leaders to cool off. Consider the nation with more objectivity and honesty; let’s discuss, Boluarte stated during a press conference on Thursday night.

Her remarks followed street battles in the nation’s capital Lima, where tens of thousands of demonstrators from all across the country encountered a tremendous display of force by local police.

In defiance of a state of emergency imposed by the government, protesters marched through Lima demanding Boluarte’s resignation and calling for general elections as soon as feasible.

A number of demonstrators were seen marching along Abancay Ave., close to Congress, after cutting over a security barrier, according to state television station TV Peru. Protesters can be seen assaulting security personnel and throwing objects in the video.

In the city’s downtown, police officers were also seen firing tear gas at some protesters.

Intense skirmishes also occurred in the southern city of Arequipa, where protestors hurled rocks at police and yelled “assassins” at them close to the airport, which on Thursday canceled flights. Live video from the city showed flames rising from the nearby fields and numerous people attempting to knock down fences close to the airport.

According to Boluarte, there have been injuries to 16 people and 22 members of the Peruvian National Police, as well as damage reports from Cusco, Puno, and Arequipa airports.

According to the interior ministry, a significant fire was also recorded in the heart of Lima, where ten firefighting units were dispatched to douse the flames.

Boluarte stated, “Those who are doing these criminal acts of vandalism will face the full force of the law; we will not permit it again.”

Additionally, she showed support for the attacked press personnel.

The acts of violence committed during these days in December and now in January will not go unpunished, according to Boluarte. “That’s not a peaceful protest march,” he added.

In Cusco, Peru, on January 18, 2023, a man holds a Peruvian flag as he participates in a protest before traveling to Lima to join protesters from all over the nation for the “capture of Lima” march calling for the resignation of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte following the removal and detention of former President Pedro Castillo.

In interviews en Espanol, as they gathered in Lima this week, some protestors denied the accusation that the marches were being led by vandals and criminals, which has been disparaged by public officials and certain media.

Daniel Mamani, a demonstrator, asserted that despite what “the state claims about us, we are not criminals or terrorists.”

“We are laborers, the everyday people who go to work; the government oppresses us; they all need to leave; they are useless.”

“At this time, the political climate justifies a change in the government, the executive branch, and the legislature. The immediate matter is that. Because there are other, more serious problems that haven’t been addressed—such as inflation, unemployment, poverty, starvation, and other historical problems—”another demonstrator called Carlos, a sociologist from the Universidad San Marcos, told CNNEE on Wednesday.

“A more violent environment”

The removal of former President Pedro Castillo in December ignited the Andean nation’s weeks-long protest movement, which is calling for a total overhaul of the government. It was also spurred by intense discontent with the nation’s living standards and inequality.

At least 54 people have died in clashes with security forces since the unrest started, and another 772 people, including security personnel, have been injured, according to information released earlier on Thursday by the national Ombudsman’s office. The rising death toll has also increased demonstrators’ rage.

Authorities in Peru have been accused of employing excessive force, including weapons, against demonstrators recently. Police have retaliated by saying that their methods adhere to global norms.

According to the city’s director of legal medicine, 17 dead people who died during protests in Juliaca on January 9 had autopsies that revealed wounds from gunshot projectiles. Days later, “unknown persons” allegedly burned to death a police officer.

The incident in Juliaca at the beginning of January, according to Jo-Marie Burt, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, was “the biggest civilian death toll in the country since Peru’s restoration to democracy” in 2000.

According to Edgar Stuardo Ralón, vice-president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), victims’ heads and upper bodies had also been shot during the commission’s fact-finding journey to Peru.

Ralon saw a “deterioration of public dialogue” during the Peruvian protests, in which indigenous people were denigrated and protesters were called “terrorists.”

He cautioned that using such words could create “a environment of increased violence.”

“I mean, it’s easier for the police and other security services to employ this kind of repression when the press uses that, when the political elite uses that, right?” Professor Omar Coronel, an expert on Latin American protest movements at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.”

Information regarding those slain in the unrest has not been released by Peruvian authorities. However, according to experts, the most blood is being shed by Indigenous protesters.

The majority of the victims are indigenous people from rural Peru, according to Burt.

The protests have been concentrated in the country’s central and southern regions, which are home to a large indigenous population. These areas have historically been disadvantaged and excluded from the political, economic, and social life of the country.

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