Above Photo: Peru’s coup regime president Dina Boluarte greeted in New York by protesters shouting, “Killer!” El Búho.pe.
Peru’s illegitimate coup president couldn’t escape protest and condemnation when she attended the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
National Strike, Day 259
This past week was the 78th United Nations General Assembly as leaders from around the globe flew to New York City for a week of high-level meetings and speeches. Among those featured to speak at the GA was Dina Boluarte, the current coup leader of the Andean country of Perú. Since December 7th, 2022, the Peruvian masses have organized themselves and mobilized against this U.S. backed coup led by the far right dominated Congress beholden to local and international elite interests that ousted democratically elected president Pedro Castillo Terrones. And in the capital of the belly of the beast, New York City, Boluarte felt the people’s rejection yet again as organizations and collectives of Peruvians in the diaspora and allies from the Stop Cop City Movement, protesting against the construction of a militarized police training site in Atlanta that would be akin to a new School of the Americas, organized rallies and speak outs in front of the UN and other events where the coup leader was scheduled to speak. This is in sharp contrast to the image of a stabilizing Perú “overcoming the political and social crisis” that she presented during her speech at the UN.
The de facto leader, along with various ministers such as de facto Minister of Foreign Affairs Ana Gervasi met with high level officials of various countries, such as President Gabriel Boric of Chile, who joins the U.S. in condemning revolutionary governments and has welcomed NATO troops into Chilean territory, and spoke at the Pacific Alliance Investment Summit, as well as speaking at the UN General Debate. On September 19th, Boluarte was scheduled for a lunch at the Americas Society/Council of the Americas at noon where a group of Peruvians met her to voice their disdain and total repudiation of her coup government. Videos of this circulated on social media as her response was just to wave and say thank you, despite cries of “assassin” to her face.
Later that day she gave her speech in front of the UN General Assembly, with Peruvians once again protesting outside. Among the fallacies spewed by the coup leader was her proclamation that “Peru was in the midst of a political and social crisis that we were able to overcome within the framework of our Constitution with firmness and courage.” Boluarte also stated that “Peru is a country that respects democracy, the rule of law, human rights, international law… that promotes peace and to achieve peace, it is necessary to implement the charter of the UN and to uphold it in all circumstances.” This, of course, is in stark contrast to the multiple human rights reports stating that the current government has engaged in extrajudicial killings and massacres, among other abuses.
The next day the agenda was again full with multiple bilateral meetings and an event with investors at the Pacific Alliance Investment Summit where Boluarte would be the keynote speaker. Various groups and collectives of Peruvians organized a rally outside the investors meeting, with a group of individuals paying admission to the investors summit in order to disrupt. The disruption went as far as forcing Peruvian National TV to cut the stream.
When asked why it was important to be present at these events, Elva Navarro of PEX Semillas de Libertad said,
“It was important for us to be there so people can know that she is a usurper of power who robbed us of our democratic vote for Pedro Castillo. She does not represent us and that’s why we repudiate her wherever she goes. Now she is a puppet of US imperialism, oligarchy and groups in power that have historically exploited us and stolen our natural resources and now will not allow the country to develop. Nothing changes for the common Peruvian and the repression and murders continue for our siblings in the struggle. We don’t forgive this tremendous betrayal and we don’t forget our martyrs.”
Along with Peruvians, allies from the Stop Cop City Movement also joined to support the protest outside the event to bridge the connection between the coup in Perú, US/EU/NATO interference in Nuestra América and the construction of a police training site in Atlanta commonly referred to as Cop City, despite widespread disapproval. The coordination went as far as integrating members of both protests under one jail support team to build these connections. A Stop Cop City supporter and member of NYC ICEWatch stated at the rally, “they are trying to make Cop City the new School of the Americas and those genocidal murderers that have the blood of over 80 of our fellow Peruvians will go to Atlanta to train there in urban warfare to kill even more people. We cannot let it be built!”
The expansion of US and Western interests vis a vis NATO into Peru through the backing of this coup and sending over a thousand troops to “train armed forces” while police and military personnel also trained in France, along with the proliferation of U.S. bases in the territory particularly where large reserves of various minerals exist show how deeply entrenched these nefarious forces have been in the country. As SOUTHCOM Commander General Laura Richardson has previously stated, the mineral wealth of this region is “off the charts.”
Not only have the US and West entrenched themselves into Peru through this coup for the purposes of controlling just that country, they have done so to have a base from which to launch aggressions and interference into the rest of the region, particularly the lithium triangle of Bolivia, Chile and Argentina that also includes the southern region of Puno in Peru, all of which make up about 60% of the world’s lithium reserves. SOUTHCOM is also looking to expand to Guyana Esequiba, a territory disputed by Guyana, from which to launch yet another campaign against Venezuela for its vast wealth of oil reserves, according to Yvan Gil, Foreign Minister of Venezuela speaking at the UN General Debate.
As Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) has drawn these connections of the multi-faceted war against Africans and colonized peoples at home and abroad, these interferences into Nuestra América and beyond are a direct assault of the sovereignty and self determination of the peoples. At the 2014 CELAC meeting in Havana, Cuba, member states declared that Nuestra América should be seen and respected as a Zone of Peace. In 2023, members of the Black Alliance of Peace Haiti/Americas team traveled to Cuba to launch the Zone of Peace campaign to activate the popular movements sector of this state sponsored call and to expel these nefarious forces that promote terrorism and not peace. BAP, along with partner organizations throughout the region including CELAC Social, are working to build a true and just zone of peace without the boot of the US and western white power elites on the neck of the continent. Make Nuestra América a zone of peace!