LIMA (AP) — Some 300 Peruvians marched in Lima Wednesday to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte and members of Congress, in a restart of sweeping December-February protests that began in the Andes and left more than 60 dead.
The protesters moved peacefully through the streets of the historic center of the capital, where anti-government marches were banned in February by order of Mayor Rafael López-Aliaga, an ultra-conservative and ally of the president.
Although the protests in the capital had calmed down, in the southern region of Puno, on the border with Bolivia, the marches have been recurrent. A week ago, on the day of the local flag, Peruvians from rural areas marched with black and white flags, as a sign of mourning for the death in early January of 18 civilians shot in confrontations with the police.
Shirley Muñoz, a 51-year-old cosmetics saleswoman, waved a Peruvian flag alongside riot police on Wednesday. “If she is a mother, if she is a woman, let her think of the young people who have died and resign so that she is at peace with her conscience,” said the woman, referring to President Boluarte.
Angie Quispe, a 31-year-old domestic worker, marched with her seven-month-old son Liam to demand the resignation of the president, but also to ask for an improvement in her salary. “Since the Dina government started, there is no improvement for the workers,” she said.
The proposals to advance the presidential and parliamentary elections, which were debated at the beginning of the year in the midst of the protests, do not seem to be of interest to Congress, which has sent to the file five plans that sought to shorten the term of Boluarte and the 130 legislators.
Both the unicameral Parliament and the president maintain high rates of unpopularity, according to all surveys. The firm Ipsos Peru revealed a recent national poll in June where 81% of Peruvians reject the work of Parliament, while 77% disapprove of the president’s management.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations agreed in May that the security forces used excessive force when repressing anti-government demonstrations that began after then-President Pedro Castillo tried to dissolve Parliament on December 7 to prevent be removed from office.
Hours later, on the afternoon of December 7, Congress removed Castillo for moral incapacity. He was succeeded by Dina Boluarte, who was vice president. The demonstrations against his management began in the southern Andes, where a large part of the country’s mining and tourist wealth is concentrated and in areas with great identification with Castillo, now in preventive detention for three years while he is prosecuted for the alleged crimes of rebellion and corruption.
The balance of the protests was 49 demonstrators killed in clashes with security forces, according to the Ombudsman’s Office. Another 11 civilians died in traffic accidents or roadblocks by protesters. Seven uniformed officers also died.
Boluarte received an early visit from Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso, who went to a remote Peruvian town on the border with Ecuador where a Binational Border Assistance Center was inaugurated. It is the first visit by a foreign head of state to Boluarte, who does not have a vice president.
Since the beginning of her term, the Peruvian has not been able to leave the country to make official visits because the constitution does not provide for whom to leave power while the president is out of the country. For this reason, Boluarte has proposed to Parliament to govern remotely in case of traveling abroad.
