This is the first death recorded in the capital, as part of the demonstrations claiming the departure of Dina Boluarte, the acting president. The repression of gatherings in the country has caused the death of 48 people since December.
mo12345lemonde with AFP
Following the refusals of deputies to give their green light to early elections, the center of Lima was once again the theater of scuffles between the police and demonstrators, Saturday January 28, in a political crisis that has been going on for fifty-two days.
Lima’s march had started as a popular festival before turning to confrontation near the parliament between a group of hooded demonstrators and the ribbing police, killed, announced the mediator’s office on his Twitter account, and Two injured, including a police officer. This is the first death recorded in the Peruvian capital as part of these rallies. The repression of demonstrations in Peru has killed forty-eight since December.
“We want dignity, Dina [Boluarte, interim president] resigning now”, chant the demonstrators. M me
é> bololurte directs Peru since the dismissal, on December 7 by the Parliament, of the president elected Pedro Castillo, the starting point of the demonstrations in the country.
” interests of Peru “
Until now, deaths have occurred in Puno and other Andean regions in the south of the country, where disadvantaged populations live, which supported Mr. Castillo and saw his election as a revenge on what they consider as Lima’s contempt for them.
The demonstrators ask that the presidential and legislative elections be put forward at 2023, a request made by the acting president and rejected by the parliament early Saturday morning. A bill tabled Friday planned to organize early elections in December 2023. To contain the emerging mobilization, the Parliament had already advanced the ballot in April 2024.
The acting president, whose mandate runs until 2026, had called for such early elections in order to get the country “from the quagmire”. She deplored Saturday that Parliament was not “able to agree on a date for the general elections, during which the Peruvians will be able to elect the new authorities freely and democratically”. “We are urging the deputies to put aside the partisan interests and to take premium the interests of Peru,” she added on Twitter.
From Lima Airport, where medicines and medical equipment were sent to the south of the country paralyzed by road blockages, M me boluarte had not wanted to “hang on to the power “.