The railway line which allows access to the site would have been damaged by demonstrators who claim the resignation of President Dina Boluarte. At least 400 tourists, including 300 foreigners, are blocked at the foot of the site.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
“Due to the social situation and to preserve the security of visitors”, the Peruvian authorities ordered, Saturday January 21, the closure of access to Machu Picchu, the day after new demonstrations.
A demonstrator succumbed to his injuries on Saturday in Ilave, in the south of the country, after the clashes of the day before, announced the defender of the local people. From the start, on December 7, of the mobilization against President Dina Boluarte, 46 people have died.
The train that serves the Machu Picchu is the only way to go there. The way having been damaged by demonstrators, it has not been circulating for several days. According to the company that operates the line, rails have been removed. At least 400 tourists, including 300 foreigners, are blocked at the foot of the site, in Aguas Calientes. Tourists “cannot leave because the railroad has been damaged in different places,” said Tourist Minister Luis Fernando Helguero on Friday evening. “Some tourists have chosen to go to Piscacucho, but it is a walk of six hours or more and very few people can do it.” Piscacucho is the village closest to Machu Picchu connected to the road network.
In December, tourists had already been blocked at Machu Picchu before being evacuated by a special train, supervised by the police and railway teams to repair the track. Tourism, vital for the economy, represents between 3 and 4 % of GDP and gives employment to all the strata of the population.
“I do not know what to accuse them”
The troubles began after the dismissal and arrest of President Pedro Castillo, accused of having tried a coup by ordering the dissolution of the Parliament which was about to hunt it from power. The authorities have decreed the state of emergency in several regions including Lima and Cuzco, tourist capital of the country, without stopping the protest movement.
The European Union condemned violence and use, according to her, “disproportionate” for force by the police on Saturday. “The EU calls on the government (…) to guarantee an inclusive dialogue with the participation of civil society and the communities concerned,” she said in a press release.
The crisis is also a reflection of the enormous gap between the capital and the poor provinces which supported the Castillo president, of Native American origin and a member of a Marxist inspiration, who saw his election as revenge on What they consider to be Lima’s contempt. In the capital, the day after two days of mobilization, with the arrival of demonstrators from the Andean regions, the situation remains tense.
Members of the police have broken the portal of the University of San Marcos, in the city center, with an armored vehicle to expel part of the demonstrators from the provinces who have been sleeping there for several days. The police searched the occupants, sometimes forcing them to go to bed on the soil before the university, found AFP journalists, before stopping some. > Test your general culture with the writing of the “world” discover section>
“I have relatives who are there. I am worried. We do not know what can happen. I don’t know what We accuse them, “deplored Luz Maria Ramirez, 62, who came from Andahuaylsas (south), epicenter of demonstrations in December. Lawyers but also prosecutors went on site “to verify the legality of police operations and guarantee” respect for fundamental rights, according to a prosecution press release.