One dead in protests against the president of Peru and in demand for elections

The protests against new government of Peru This Sunday they left one dead and five injured in clashes inside the country demanding the resignation of the president In Boluarte and the call for new general elections.

The mobilizations took hold in various cities in the north and south of the Andes for the fourth day in rejection of the Congress and also asking for the release of former leftist president Pedro Castillodismissed on Wednesday the 7th by Congress.

In the southern Andean city of Andahuaylas, the police reported one person dead and five injured, including a policeman, after violent clashes in an attempt by protesters to storm the city’s airport.

Reinforcements from the Air Force were to arrive at said air terminal. riot police to contain the thousands of protesters in Andahuaylas, in the Apurímac region, the birthplace of Boluarte.

Some attacked with slingshots and stones, while security forces repelled with tear gas, according to media images at the scene.

The premises of the Huancabamba police station, a town in Apurímac, was set on fire, RPP radio reported.

In the same city on Saturday the protests left 16 civilians and four police officers injured on Saturday.

Thousands of people mobilized through the streets of Cajamarca, Arequipa, Tacna, Andahuaylas, Huancayo, Cusco and Puno, according to images broadcast by local television stations.

indefinite unemployment

Meanwhile, agrarian unions and peasant and indigenous organizations announced a “indefinite unemployment“As of Tuesday, adding to the requests for the closure of Congress, early elections and a new Constitution, according to a statement from the Agrarian and Rural Front of Peru.

The collective, which brings together a dozen organizations, also demands the “immediate freedom” of Castillo.

According to the Agrarian Front, Castillo “did not perpetrate any coup d’état” when on Wednesday he announced the closure of Congress, the intervention of the public powers and that he would govern by decree, which led to his dismissal by parliament and the assumption of the Head of State by Vice President Boluarte.

In Lima the leftist party Free Peru called for a mobilization on Sunday afternoon from the historic Plaza San Martín, the epicenter of political demonstrations in Peru.

Lima always turned his back on Castillo, a rural teacher and union leader with no contact with the eliteswhile the Andean regions have identified with it since the 2021 elections.

The Congress, dominated by the right, announced that it will meet on Sunday afternoon to analyze the situation.

early elections

Castillo was detained by his own escort while on his way to the Mexico’s embassy to request political asylum. The prosecution charges him with rebellion and conspiracy.

Boluarte formed a government on Saturday with an independent and technical profile and with former prosecutor Pedro Angulo as prime minister.

“Until now, the president has not been clear about what the big question is: are we in a transition government or are we before an authority that intends to stay until 2026?” political analyst Giovanna Peñaflor told AFP.

“She should be clear that her role is to facilitate the new general elections and that this is the path that will augur her to have some stability that will allow this cabinet not to be like the past and end up being relegated,” he added.

The demand for new elections is associated with an overwhelming rejection of Congress: according to November polls, 86% of Peruvians disapprove of parliament.

Boluarte did not rule out calling for early elections on Friday in search of a peaceful solution to the political crisis, and urged the population to calm down.

Castillo refuses health tests

Meanwhile, the controversy grew around the version of a former chief of staff and Castillo’s lawyer that the former president was doped when he read the message in which he announced his failed coup attempt.

In an alleged letter that he would have written in prison, Castillo maintains that a “camouflaged” doctor and nurses and a “faceless” (hooded) prosecutor “forced” him to take blood samples on Friday and Saturday.

According to the letter, he refused to cooperate because he feared for his safety.

The president of the Institute of Legal Medicine, Francisco Brizuela, confirmed that the former president “refuses to take a blood sample and a urine sample. Therefore, the expertise (to find out if he was drugged) could not have been carried out “.

Castillo also rejected “a psychological and psychiatric expertise,” he added.