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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/12/12/five-killed-by-police-during-anti-coup-protests-in-peru/">peoplesdispatch.org</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Five killed by police during anti-coup protests in Peru : Peoples Dispatch</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Tanya Wadhwa - December 12, 2022<br></div>
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<div class="gmail-content">
<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><img src="cid:ii_lbllaasp0" alt="image.png" width="392" height="221"><br><p>Since
December 7, tens of thousands of Peruvians have been protesting in
different parts of the country, demanding closure of the Congress, new
elections and new constitution through a Constituent Assembly. Photo:
Wilson Chilo / Wayka Peru
</p><div>
<p>Since December 7, tens of thousands of Peruvians have been protesting in different parts of the country in rejection of the <a href="https://peoplesdispatch.org/2022/12/08/coup-in-peru-president-pedro-castillo-overthrown-by-conservative-congress/">parliamentary coup</a>
that took democratically elected left-wing President Pedro Castillo out
of office and led to his arrest. On December 7, Peru’s right-wing
dominated unicameral Congress approved the third vacancy (impeachment)
motion against Castillo. Hours following his removal from office, he was
arrested and charged with allegedly “breaching constitutional order”
for having tried to dissolve the Congress before the vote on the motion.</p>
<h3><b>Citizens’ resistance</b></h3>
<p>For the past five days, the protesters have been organizing peaceful
mobilizations and roadblocks across the national territory demanding
that former President Castillo be immediately released and reinstated as
the president of the country.</p>
<p>In the capital Lima, despite heavy police repression, the protesters
have been maintained a nearly permanent protest in front of the
Congress. Another central demand of protesters has been the effective
dissolution of the right-wing-controlled parliament. Some have also
demanded that fresh elections be organized to change the country’s
legislature.</p>
<p>The protesters have also expressed their rejection of the appointment
of Castillo’s Vice President Dina Boluarte as the new president. They
are calling for Boluarte’s resignation, arguing that she is not an
elected leader. They also condemned her for making a political alliance
with the right-wing to govern.</p>
<p>The citizens are also demanding that a Constituent Assembly be called
to draft a new constitution to replace the current neoliberal one,
which was written and imposed in 1993 during the dictatorship of Alberto
Fujimori (July 1990–November 2000). They have stressed that it is time
that this long-standing demand of the Peruvian people be addressed and
fulfilled. Before being overthrown, Castillo had declared that the
Congress would remain dissolved until the Constituent Assembly was
installed, making good on his presidential campaign promise.</p>
<p>In addition to the capital, protests against the coup have been
registered in regions across the country including Andahuaylas,
Arequipa, Trujillo, Iquitos, Madre de Dios, Ica, Tacna and Huacho
provinces.</p>
<h3><b>Police repression</b></h3>
<p>The police have been responding to these peaceful protests with
violence and repression. The police officers have been using tear gas
and even live bullets against demonstrators.</p>
<p>According to reports from local media and the <a href="https://www.defensoria.gob.pe/">National Ombudsman Office</a>,
at least two protesters, 15 and 18 years old, were killed in police
repression on Sunday, December 11, in the city of Andahuaylas, in
Apurímac region. On Monday December 12, in the city of Chincheros, the
local hospital confirmed that two protesters died as a result of the
police repression, including a 16-year-old and 26-year-old Jonathan
Lloclla Loayza. A fifth protester was killed in Arequipa by police.</p>
<p>In the early hours of Sunday morning, residents had been
demonstrating outside the local airport in Andahuaylas and blocked the
entrance. In an attempt to unblock the airport, the police agents
brutally repressed the people. Videos on social media showed the police
running over a woman and attacking the press. In the incident, over 20
people were severely injured and over a dozen were arrested. The
hospital in the city reported that one of the deceased died due to a
gunshot injury in the neck.</p>
<p>The same day, the police also violently repressed the residents in
Arequipa and Ica, who had blocked the Pan-American highway since
December 7 in protest. The police reopened the highway, but failed to
dismantle other roadblocks maintained by the residents, mainly erected
by peasant and Indigenous communities, across the provinces.</p>
<p>The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Peru <a href="https://twitter.com/OACNUDHPeru/status/1602105905721622532?s=20&t=DFXIMvTiDlhwmf3Q7RMPrA">condemned</a>
“the death of a minor and a young man in Andahuaylas, Apurímac,” and
called for “a prompt, impartial and exhaustive investigation of the
facts, providing access to justice to the next of kin of the victims.”
The OHCHR also urged Peruvian citizens and authorities to maintain
“calm” and avoid “escalation of tensions,” stressing that “the right to
peaceful assembly must be guaranteed.”</p>
<p>Upon the confirmation of two deaths in Andahuaylas, the protesters
intensified the measures of protests across the country. The residents
of Arequipa immediately organized the closure of the local airport in
solidarity.</p>
<p>The social organizations from Apurímac called for an indefinite
regional strike, starting at zero hours on December 12. The Agrarian and
Rural Front of Peru (FARP), an umbrella organization bringing together
over a dozen Indigenous, peasants, women’s movements and social
organizations, also <a href="https://twitter.com/ResistiendoVla/status/1601616422748139520?s=20&t=mCfpiBsntkt-tgjpgbS_nQ">called</a> for an indefinite national strike beginning Tuesday, December 13.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="es"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FOTOGALER%C3%8DA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FOTOGALERÍA</a> | Tras la confirmación de dos muertos en protestas a nivel nacional, exigiendo el cierre del <a href="https://twitter.com/congresoperu?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@congresoperu</a> y la renuncia de Dina Boluarte (<a href="https://twitter.com/DinaErcilia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DinaErcilia</a>), la represión policial se intensifica en Lima y regiones.</p>
<p>Fotos: Juan Mandamiento <a href="https://t.co/V8eypsGCzA">pic.twitter.com/V8eypsGCzA</a></p>
<p>— Wayka (@WaykaPeru) <a href="https://twitter.com/WaykaPeru/status/1602349171264323584?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 12, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p>In response to increasing popular pressure, in the early hours of
Monday, December 12, President Boluarte announced that she would send a
bill to Congress to advance the general elections to April 2024.</p>
<p>She also declared a “state of emergency in the areas of high social
conflict,” which was denounced as a clear attempt to criminalize
protests by various social movements.</p>
<blockquote>
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">The situation in Peru is intensifying after the
coup against Pedro Castillo. Protests & roadblocks continue to grow
across the country & in the capital Lima. These are already having
effect. Dina Boluarte, head of the coup govt, has even slipped having to
call for early elections <a href="https://t.co/B1cK2dQuc2">pic.twitter.com/B1cK2dQuc2</a></p>
<p>— Manolo De Los Santos (@manolo_realengo) <a href="https://twitter.com/manolo_realengo/status/1601994617905451012?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 11, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<h3><b>Despotism of the Peruvian right</b></h3>
<p>The right-wing opposition majority Congress, which has an 11%
approval rating, waged almost constant attempts to overthrow Castillo
and destabilize his government as soon as he entered office in late July
2021. On December 12, Congress advanced its attacks and approved a bill
to lift Castillo’s immunity, making way for his prosecution. The
decision was made by 64 votes in favor, 35 against and 1 against.</p>
<p>Castillo had been preliminarily detained for a period of seven days.
Following the removal of his immunity, now, the Prosecutor’s Office can
use its powers to request up to 36 months of preventive detention for
Castillo.</p>
<p>The Prosecutor’s Office is investigating Castillo for the crimes of
rebellion and conspiracy, abuse of authority and public disturbance for
announcing the dissolution of Congress. Castillo has alleged that the
office is controlled by the oligarchy.</p>
<p>Peruvian activist Daniela Ortiz, in an <a href="https://multipolarista.com/2022/12/10/peru-coup-president-pedro-castillo/">interview</a> with <i>Multipolarista</i> editor Ben Norton, pointed out that the parliamentary coup against Castillo was aimed at “putting the right in power.”</p>
<p>“It is not about taking down Castillo, it is about putting themselves
in power, because it is something that we have seen before. He is not
the first president to be taken out by the right-wing, he is actually
the third president. And we’re not talking of just any right-wing. We’re
talking about the Fujimori right-wing that wants to be in power and
continue that dictatorship that we had with Alberto Fujimori. Now, we
have Keiko Fujimori, his daughter, and all the people from her party,
Popular Force, who are aiming basically to take power and not let anyone
be in the executive power. It has been happening for many years. The
Popular Force has been controlling the congress and creating the laws to
be able to control the executive power and not let the Peruvian people
have the president that we have elected,” said Ortiz.</p>
<p>Ortiz added that “the demand to close the Congress was a popular
demand. Many of the recent marches, blockades and demonstrations were
not against Castillo, but were to push him to work on the agenda he
entered with…And what happened was that he did what the people were
asking him to do…Many of us understand that the detention of Castillo is
absolutely illegal. Even under the rules that they have imposed.”</p>
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