The death toll in protests in favor of ousted leader Pedro Castillo has risen to 25, the Peruvian Ministry of Health said on its social networks this Sunday (18).
The place where there are more deaths is Ayacucho, about 500 kilometers from Cusco. Two days earlier, demonstrators set fire to the local offices of the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office and tried to take over the airport, being prevented by the authorities.
Deaths were also recorded in five other regions, most of them in the southern part of the Peruvian Andes, where Castillo’s electorate was concentrated in past elections and where protests were most intense.
The security forces — which since the establishment of a state of emergency last week have involved both the police and the army — are accused of using deadly weapons in clashes with protesters by human rights groups.
Among the bodies that condemned “the escalation of violence” is the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (CIDH). Linked to the OAS, the Organization of American States, she should make a technical visit to the country at the beginning of next year.
Peru has been immersed in a social upheaval since December 7, when Castillo failed in a coup attempt after ordering the dissolution of Parliament, bringing forward elections and decreeing a state of exception. He was eventually impeached by Congress and sentenced to 18 months in pre-trial detention on charges of rebellion and conspiracy.
Since then, its supporters have taken to the streets of several cities across the country. In addition to his release, they demand the anticipation of general elections, the dissolution of Congress and the creation of a Constituent Assembly. They also demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte, the vice president who took power after the populist leader was removed and whom they call a traitor.
According to the head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, Manuel Gómez de la Torre, however, “normality is being gradually recovered”, with the reopening of highways, airports and cities.
Just this weekend, the approximately 5,000 tourists who were trapped in the Cusco region, which serves as a base for visits to the archaeological site of Machu Picchu, finally managed to leave. About 4,500 of them flew back to their places of origin on Friday after the local airport reopened, while another 400 who were stranded in the historic citadel after a train line was blocked left on Saturday.
Last week, Boluarte tried to appease the population by proposing to Congress to advance the elections from 2026 to 2023, but was defeated. Parliament should resubmit the project to a vote again this Tuesday (20). According to recent surveys, 83% of the population considers that the anticipation of the election is the only possible way out of the crisis.
Pope Francis prayed for the Andean country this Sunday (18). In his Angelus prayer, the pontiff asked Peru “to cease violence” and “opt for the path of dialogue to overcome the political and social crisis that affects the population”.
Lava Jato prosecutor seeks 9 years in prison for former president MartÃn Vizcarra for bribery
A member of the Lava Jato special team, prosecutor Germán Juárez presented his accusation against former president MartÃn Vizcarra, who governed the Andean country between 2018 and 2020. The information is from a report by the local newspaper El Comercio published this Sunday (18).
Vizcarra is suspected of having accepted bribes for two public works in Moquegua, in the south of the country, when he governed the region from 2011 to 2014. They would consist of an irrigation project and a plan to expand and improve the local hospital.
According to El Comercio, the Attorney General’s Office requested a sentence of 15 years in prison for the former president for the crime of passive bribery, in addition to asking that he be prevented from holding public office for nine years.
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