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As deadly protests continue, Peru’s government faces crisis | Protests News

City of Lima, Peru – Dozens of civilians were shot dead by the armed forces. The gate of a top public university was barged in by a military tank. Police fire area.

Almost seven weeks later Dina Boluarte became president of Peru after his predecessor Pedro Castillo gets rid of chaosThe protests that have roiled the south of the country have metastasized, spread to Lima’s capital where they were met with fierce repression.

The protesters, many of them Castillo supporters, called for Boluarte resignsas well as for new election and constitutional amendments. Approximately 50 civilians were killed since the protests began.

Now, the burning question on the minds of millions of Peruvians is: How does their country get through this deadly political deadlock?

During a press conference on Tuesday, Boluarte called for a “national armistice” to engage in “dialogue and set an agenda” for the country.

But she also used her speech to denounce protesters for not organizing “a social agenda” and for committing violence and vandalism, including the use of guns. selfconstruct.

“My country is living in a state of violence, created by a radical group with a political agenda,” she said.

Al Jazeera spoke with protesters, political analysts and unskilled workers in Peru about possible solutions to a crisis that has exposed Peru’s deep roots. social inequality — and there is a warning from scholars about the possibility of a slide toward authoritarianism.

A protester in Lima looks into the camera and raises his fist in protest.
Celia, an indigenous Aymara potato farmer, traveled from southern Peru to protest in the capital, Lima. [Neil Giardino/Al Jazeera]

‘Peru is waking up’, protesters say

Speaking in tears and in a rough voice after days of chanting during the protests, Celia, a potato farmer from the Puno region, said the time for dialogue with the Boluarte government had passed. She declined to give her last name for fear of police retaliation.

“After all the blood she shed from my brothers, [Boluarte] must resign,” said Aymara native Celia. She was one of many protesters from Peru’s provinces who gathered in central Lima to call for reform.

To get there, she traveled a day, passing police checkpoints and blocked highways all the way from her hometown of Ilave, a village along the Bolivian border that has been rocked by recent violence.

Amid the clamor of protesters on the streets of Lima, Celia criticized a government she said had rejected its policies. Aboriginal and peasant class too long.

“Peru is waking up,” she said. “We have been taken advantage of for too long. If we don’t work hard in the fields, Lima will starve.”

The demands of anti-government protesters like Celia once focused on release of former president Castilloperson in pre-trial detention while being investigated for accusations of rebellion. But now, protesters are increasingly focused on ousting Boluarte, calling for new elections and a re-draft of the country’s 1993 dictatorship-era constitution.

Rising tensions ‘will explode’

Analysts note that, as Castillo’s former vice president, Boluarte’s succession to the presidency is constitutionally legal. She was sworn in the same day Castillo was impeached and removed from office, on December 7.

But her deployment of military force against the protesters, combined with her refusal to acknowledge the legitimacy of their demands and widely portray them as far-left agitators, has hindered her ability to build consensus.

“She and her government treated [protesters] Jo-Marie Burt, a senior fellow at the Washington Office for Latin America, a nonprofit organization.

“If she continues to rule with her back against the people and uses repression to deter protesters, that may last for a while, but at some point it will explode.”

In an attempt to defuse the protests in Lima last week, the Boluarte government implemented an order state of emergency across seven regions, including the capital, have impeded basic civil liberties, including the right to assembly.

On Saturday, an anti-terrorist team used an armored vehicle to ram down the gate of University of San Marcos to drive out nearly 200 rural protesters inside. It is a show of force that draws parallels with the repressive tactics of the disgraced. Former President Alberto Fujimoriwho ordered a similar raid on the university in 1991.

Protesters behind a colorful banner chanted and raised their fists in the streets of Lima, Peru.
A group of indigenous Aymara protesters gather in central Lima to demand the removal of President Dina Boluarte [Neil Giardino/Al Jazeera]

Narrative counterbalance ‘is on the street’

Analysts warn that, when the Boluarte government employs tactics like these, the door to dialogue with peaceful protesters will close.

“The government has ignored the possibility of a political solution and is instead looking for an authoritarian solution, one based on what we call Dural [iron-fisted] politics,” said Paolo Sosa Villagarcia, a political scientist with the Institute of Peruvian Studies.

Sosa Villagarcia notes that, instead of seeking wide-ranging dialogue between cultures, Boluarte has instead chosen to criminalize protests and form a governing coalition with former far-right enemies. in Congress, as well as the police and armed forces.

The political scientist also cautions that, with the national press largely broadcasting the law and order spell and limited investigations into state violence, there is little to contradict the wall. government reports on events.

Sosa Villagarcia said: “Currently, the only counterweight to her government is on the streets and they are being severely repressed. “I fear that at some point the government will succeed in restraining the protesters. Then she is free to do what she wants.”

A poll this month showed Boluarte’s disapproval rate at 71%. With the death toll likely to rise amid unrest, a majority of Peruvians see new elections as the best way forward.

Facing public pressure, Peru’s deeply divided Congress will hold a referendum next month to ratify it. election for 2024which would require constitutional change.

Far-right factions in Parliament have set the conditions for their votes, hoping for assurances that the government will eliminate independent electoral bodies. That worries observers like Jo-Marie Burt, who sees elections not as a panacea but as the least risky path out of a spreading crisis.

“I don’t see any other way forward that doesn’t mean more repression, possibly loss of life or extreme instability, deadlock and paralysis,” she said.



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