Lima Peru.- Thousands of Peruvians from various regions of the Andean country began their walk to Lima yesterday to carry out a mega-march and force the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, in the midst of violent protests that add up to fifty deaths in more than a month.
According to local media reports, some groups have already arrived in the capital, where about 50,000 Aymara are expected to fuel the anti-government demonstrations.
“We are going to be in Lima to make our voice of protest heard,” promised leader Jimmy Mamani, president of the Association of Population Centers of El Collao province, an Aymara area in the Puno region, bordering Bolivia, while preparing together with hundreds of peasants to start the journey.
“It has definitely already been agreed (with peasants from other regions).”
Mamani, mayor of the town of San Isidro, is one of the hundreds of peasants who came out ready to travel the 1,350 kilometers that separate their community from Lima.
“We are going to enter through the four cones of Lima (north, south, east, west). We want to carry out a peaceful mobilization without problems,” he added.
The Aymara leader indicated that the protest will be like the “March of the four of them”, alluding to the massive three-day demonstration that, coming from the four corners of Peru, in July 2000, led to the fall of the autocratic regime of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) in November of that year.
The current platform of requests is political and can be summarized in three points: Boluarte’s resignation, immediate elections and the calling of a Constituent Assembly. The Government has already rejected all these requests.
“It is not fair that the Executive cannot listen to our requests, they turn a deaf ear. The truth is that one is already upset and at this point, talking with them is something that cannot be done,” Mamani said.
During the journey to the capital, at least 3,000 residents of the city of Andahuaylas (southeast), in the Apurímac region, were detained by the Police in the district of Humay, in the province of Pisco (about 240 kilometers to the south of Lima), to carry out identification checks.
“We are from Andahuaylas, we are undertaking this trip to the city of Lima. The march is peaceful, we are not violent, we are humble farmers,” said a peasant.
From Cusco, dozens of peasants in buses left for the capital, 1,100 kilometers away.
According to local media, the scene outside the Government Palace was common during yesterday’s session.
The Boluarte Administration extended the state of emergency for 30 days over the weekend in Lima, Cusco, Callao and Puno to stop the protests, authorizing the military to intervene together with the Police to maintain public order.
It also extended the curfew for 10 days from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m. in Puno, the epicenter of the demonstrations.
The road blocks continue to set the pace for the protests. Yesterday, 96 sections of roads remained closed by protesters in 9 of the 25 regions.
In the La Libertad region (north), for the first time this year, residents blocked the northern Pan-American highway, which connects Lima with that end of the country, with burned tires.
In Puno, dozens of Aymara residents blocked the Ilave international bridge that serves as a transit route to Bolivia.
The Government has assured that it will avoid what it describes as a “riot” over Lima, but at the same time it has stressed that it respects the right to peaceful protest.
