Blockade of highways and highways, tear gas, deployment of police forces and even the military, camps in the main cities and daily demonstrations is the panorama that Peru presents today.
Elections, constituent and freedom for Pedro Castillo, are the demands raised by thousands of people who have taken to the streets to demand an end to the actions of a State that, after the arrival of Alberto Fujimori to power in the 90s, has characterized by the institutional instability.
Fujimori, Alejandro Toledo, Alan García (committed suicide), Ollanta Humala, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Martín Vizcarra, Manuel Merino and Pedro Catillo are the names of the presidents of the last 30 years of this nation, whose striking fact is that they are all subjected to justice or investigated for crimes at the request of what they have baptized as "the dictatorship of Congress."
Who sends whom?
At present, the Peruvian constitution -inherited from Fujimorismo- stipulates the possibility of the dismissal of the chief executive by Congress under various punishable legal figures and, the one that has been most questioned and used in the last 5 years, the "moral incapacity ”. Along with this prerogative that grants this power to Congress, the President of the Executive is also empowered by this constitution to dissolve the Legislative.
This circumstance of constant double threat between powers, had its greatest crisis in January of this year, when President Pedro Castillo decided in the morning to dissolve the Legislature that was discussing his dismissal for "moral incapacity", a debate that was approved in the afternoon. and gave rise to arrest of the Peruvian president.
This "cross death" benefited Congress which, with the support of the Armed Forces, complied with the arrest warrant against President Castillo under the accusation of "attempted coup" despite the fact that he only used a constitutional remedy.
Who is Pedro Castillo?
Of humble origins, Pedro Castillo was born in Puña, a farming town located in the province of Chota, in the department of Cajamarca. 70% of the inhabitants of this area are poor despite being located in a territory with one of the largest mineral reserves in Peru.
In his youth he became a rondero, a community defense organization that emerged in the 70s to combat Sendero Luminoso and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement. Already as a school teacher, he joins the union fights for wage demands and increased investment in education in Peru, where 5,9% of the population is illiterate and in rural areas this figure tends to triple.
As a member of the Single Union of Education Workers of Peru, he led the 2017 teachers' strike where his name rose in public opinion as a representative of the struggles of the Peruvian people for the constitution of a new constitutional order that includes the disadvantaged.
The proposal for a National Constituent Assembly to refound the State becomes the main flag of a campaign where its origin, traits and discourse manage to permeate the impoverished majorities that are located in their vast majority in the mountains of this country, thus becoming in President.
“Racist and oligarchic coup”
During his tenure as head of the Executive, he had unsuccessful attempts to organize a Government given the refusal of Congress, with a conservative majority, to approve the proposals for the formation of the Cabinet. In addition faced three "vacancy" attempts (removal by Congress) requested by Fujimorismo in union with the traditional Peruvian right, which in the end materialized his dismissal.
For the Governments of Colombia, Mexico, Bolivia and Argentina, this action by the Peruvian Congress constitutes a "coup d'état", so for these countries the current ruler, Dina Boluarte, is a "dictator" and Pedro Castillo is the legitimate president.
Presidents such as the Mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador, have coined the "illegal" dismissal of Castillo to his humble origins and for representing Peru that has been excluded for centuries and that according to his words are made invisible in the mountains.
"It was a blow from the conservatism of Peru, from the top brass of Peru, who, like the conservatives in Mexico and other countries, are class-minded, racist and very corrupt, because what is involved are the economic interests that predominate." Lopez Obrador has said, who has also questioned the silence of international organizations in the face of the dozens of deaths that occurred as a result of the strong repression of the Boluarte government against the protesters who continue in the streets demanding "elections now."
Who protests?
The denunciation of President López Obrador seems to be supported by the names of the towns that have been raised after the dismissal of Pedro Castillo. Huánuco, Ancash, Lambayeque, Tacna, La Libertad, Moquegua, Apurímac, el Vraem, Arequipa, Loreto, Cajamarca and Junín, are the provinces where the protesters come from.
One of the main characteristics that unite these provinces is that they are located in the so-called Serranía del Perú, where the two main indigenous towns are located; Quechua and Aymara.
These regions, where the poverty rate exceeds 50%, have been the epicenter of the mobilization of thousands of people who have decided to raise their voices in protest against the dismissal of Castillo, as well as to demand an end to the "dictatorship of Congress." conservative majority.
It has been in this region where the actions of the Peruvian security forces have hit the hardest, as evidenced by the balance of at least 17 people killed in the province of Puno as a result of the repression carried out by the Peruvian armed forces.
"The Taking of Lima"
Despite the repression exercised in these regions, where military units were deployed, the protests continued and the demonstrators decided to change their strategy and move to the center of power, an action they baptized as "The takeover of Lima."
"The people and the peasant communities are mobilizing. How is it possible that we have to come to Lima for them to understand our agenda? This government has delegitimized itself from day one," said Leonela Labra, a protester from Cusco, when interviewed by the BBC.
These protesters, against whom Boluarte ordered the deployment of 11.800 military and police agents, arrived in the city of Lima in marches from the mountains carrying signs with the slogan "I am not terruco" in rejection of the stigmatization campaign against the inhabitants of the mountains. Peruvian broadcast politicians and media from this country.
“There nobody listens to us. We have to come here so they can see us," said José Hilaquita, an Aymara indigenous farmer from Puno, explaining to The new york time why he had traveled more than two days to get to Lima.
These protesters have remained in the city in camps and in the homes of Lima residents in solidarity with these protests, which have the support of the majority of the inhabitants of the mountains, but are rejected by the majority of Peruvian city dwellers and coastal residents, a situation that demonstrates the marked social and class division that characterizes Peruvian society.
