The questioned Peruvian president, Dina Boluarte, defied today, parading in public in an open car, the protests demanding her resignation and the criticism of the long message she offered before Parliament for the national anniversary.
The president surprised by walking along the wide Avenida Brasil, scene of the parade, in the midst of the public gathered in the stands.
The convertible vehicle moved flanked by dozens of escorts in civilian clothes and behind them stood two rows of hundreds of uniformed policemen, one per meter, looking at the spectator stands, waiting for any incident.
At least one person was violently removed from the stands and detained, according to witnesses, for shouting at the head of state.
Before the stop, Boluarte attended a rite of the evangelical churches and, when leaving, eluded with his escort a group that demanded justice for the death of their relatives, a total of 18 who died last January in protests in the southern city. from Juliaca.
Repudiation of Boluarte's message
The repercussions of the presidential message of more than three hours yesterday focused on Boluarte's request for forgiveness for more than 60 deaths recorded during those protests.
Former transitional president Francisco Sagasti criticized Boluarte for spending only two minutes on the main reason for the disapproval of up to 81 percent that Boluarte registers in the polls.
He also indicated that the request for forgiveness was insufficient, since the seriousness of what happened warrants a clearer and more forceful attitude.
The jurist Omar Cairo added that yesterday's was "an unforgivable message" and pointed out that the killing of protesters is a crime against human rights, for which its direct and indirect perpetrators cannot be pardoned or amnestied.
For the former Minister of Women Gloria Montenegro, it is incongruous that the president calls for reconciliation in her message when the Executive is responsible for the deaths in the protests.
Analyst David Sulmont described Boluarte's request for forgiveness as insufficient and hypocritical, because no one assumes political responsibility for the deaths, those responsible for the repression remain in office and the government washes its hands of it.
The criticisms also refer to Boluarte's attacks on his predecessor, Pedro Castillo, as if he had not been his minister, and to his insistence on remaining in office despite the fact that 80 percent, according to surveys, call for new elections.
The newspaper La República synthesized his opinion on the presidential exposition with the phrase "a message without a horizon that only his allies applaud" from the right-wing congressional benches.
The former governor of the northern Andean region of Cajamarca, Mesías Guevara, said that the best message yesterday was that of the Archbishop of Lima, Monsignor Carlos Castillo, who in a religious service for the national anniversary said that the deaths await justice.
For former Prime Minister Mirtha Vásquez, Boluarte's message "is indigestible," since she "refuses to understand that nothing she proposes will be viable without her and Congress leaving."
