Peru

‘They Shot Them Down Like Animals’: Massacre In Peru’s Ayacucho

January 5, 2023 Zoe Alexandra, People's Dispatch. Resist! Massacre, Peru, Protests, State Repression

On December 15, 2022, while helicopters flew overhead, members of Peru’s national army shot down civilians with live bullets in the outskirts of the city of Ayacucho. This action was in response to a national strike and mobilization to protest the coup d’état that deposed President Pedro Castillo on December 7. On December 15, hundreds of university students, shopkeepers, street vendors, agricultural workers, and activists gathered at the center of Ayacucho to express their discontent over the removal of Castillo and continued their mobilization toward the airport. Similar action was witnessed in several other cities across the southern Andean region of the country. As protesters approached the airport, members of the armed forces opened fire and shot tear gas canisters directly at them.

Peruvians Block Roads In Cusco And Puno

January 5, 2023 Telesur English. Resist! Blockades, Bolivia, coup, Peru

After a few days of truce due to the festivities, Peruvian farmers, workers, merchants, transporters, and other citizens of the Cusco and Puno regions resumed massive protests to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the call for early general elections, and the release of former President Pedro Castillo. Roadblocks to the south and north of the country have managed to restrict vehicular traffic on the main Peruvian highways, which has relatively paralyzed normal economic activities. One of the main interconnection roads between Peru and Bolivia, the road from Puno to the city of Desaguadero, is completely blocked by social organizations that joined the strike called for Wednesday.

Perú’s Dictatorship Shows True Colours

December 29, 2022 Orinoco Tribune. Resist! coup, Peru, Right wing politics, State Repression

This Monday, December 26, the de facto government of Perú, led by Dina Boluarte, annulled the appointment of 312 district sub-alderpeople across 23 regions of the country, in a move that seems to advance the erasure of any traces of opposition to Boluarte’s controversial rule. These sub-alderpeople had been appointed by President Pedro Castillo, in accordance with local legislation, during his mandate by popular election. The de facto ministry of the interior justified their decision on the basis that “these officials, instead of responding to the guidelines established regarding the functions of district sub-alderpeople, instead of representing and defending the state as the law indicates, had various degrees of participation in the popular demonstrations,” the repression of which has resulted in almost 30 deaths in less than three weeks.

Peru: Overthrow Of President Castillo Exposes The Race And Class Divide

December 26, 2022 Francesca Emanuele, Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Educate! Coups, Elections, Mass Action, Pedro Castillo, Peru

Unfulfilled campaign promises, accusations of corruption, and even an attempted self-coup cannot turn the many supporters of Peruvian President Pedro Castillo against him. The president has probably ceased to represent hopes for change, but he still symbolizes —perhaps more now than ever— structural discrimination in Peru. In Lima, the political, economic, and intellectual elites are intrigued. They wonder why the majority of Peruvians in the streets are demanding Castillo’s release. They are even more disconcerted by the minority that insists he be reinstated. It is not surprising that the ruling class is disoriented. For decades they have been isolated from the rest of the country, moving about comfortably in Lima’s de facto Apartheid, perpetuating a dynamic that tends to dehumanize Indigenous, working-class Peruvians.

Peru: Congress To Advance Elections As Anti-Coup Protests Intensify

December 26, 2022 Tanya Wadhwa, People's Dispatch. Resist! Coups, Elections, Mass Action, Pedro Castillo, Peru

The decision to change the electoral calendar came following the call for further intensification of nationwide protests demanding the release and reinstatement of ousted left-wing President Pedro Castillo, the resignation of the de-facto President Dina Boluarte, the dissolution of the right-wing dominated unicameral Congress, fresh parliamentary elections, and the establishment of a Constituent Assembly to change the country’s 1993 Constitution. On Monday, December 19, several Indigenous, peasant, and social movements from Apurímac, Arequipa, Ayacucho, and Puno regions, among others, called on the citizens to strengthen strikes and reinforce roadblocks across the country, beginning December 20. The legislators of the left-wing Free Peru party, which sponsored Castillo’s presidential candidacy in 2021, voted against the bill and insisted on their demand to call for Constituent Assembly elections alongside the next general elections.

Latin America Rejects Coup In Peru, While US Supports Unelected Regime

December 22, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Educate! Coups, Latin America, Peru, US Imperialism

More than a dozen countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have condemned the coup in Peru and backed democratically elected President Pedro Castillo. Meanwhile, the US government has staunchly supported the coup regime, which has suspended civil liberties, imprisoned Castillo for 18 months without trial, and unleashed extreme violence on Peruvian protesters, killing dozens and wounding hundreds. On the other side, Peru’s unelected coup regime has the strong support of the United States and Canada, as well as Brazil’s far-right Jair Bolsonaro administration and the right-wing governments in Ecuador, Uruguay, and Costa Rica. Chile, led by liberal President Gabriel Boric, is the only country with an ostensibly left-of-center government that has joined the US and the region’s right wing in backing the coup in Peru.

Peruvians Resist The Coup: ‘We Are Here To Support Our President’

December 21, 2022 Zoe Alexandra, People's Dispatch. Resist! Coups, Mass Action, Pedro Castillo, Peru

“You’re probably wondering who paid me to be here,” a man in his 40s, from the southern Andean province of Ica, said to me. “Well, no one paid me to be here. We are doing this because our hearts are with the homeland, because I want my Peru to change, because a government that was trying to do this was unjustly overthrown.” Luis Alberto (name changed) is one of hundreds of Peruvians who traveled to Peru’s capital, leaving behind his home and his employment, to protest the coup against Pedro Castillo as well as his detention, which took place on December 7, 2022. We met outside the Barbadillo Prison in the eastern part of Lima. This prison is where constitutional president Pedro Castillo is being held in pre-trial detention, which was just extended to 18 months by a judge on Thursday, December 15.

Why Peru Has Had Seven Presidents In Six Years

December 18, 2022 Lee Foulkes and Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Educate! Alberto Fujimori, Coups, Dina Boluarte, Francisco Sagasti, Manuel Merino, Martín Vizcarra, Mercedes Aráoz, Pedro Castillo, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Peru, US Imperialism

In just over six years, Peru has had seven different presidents. The period between July 2016 and December 2022 has been a time of deep political instability. This chaos is largely due to Peru’s deeply undemocratic constitution, which was inherited from the far-right US-backed dictator Alberto Fujimori, who governed the country with an iron fist from 1990 until 2000, committing genocide against the Indigenous population and killing, torturing, and disappearing thousands of dissidents. Article 113 of Peru’s constitution gives the unicameral congress the ability to remove presidents if two-thirds of members vote to declare that they have a “moral incapacity.”

Bolivarian Alliance Supports Peru’s President Castillo Against Coup

December 17, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Educate! Argentina, Bolivia, Coups, Latin America, Peru

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), the left-wing economic and political bloc uniting countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, has forcefully opposed the coup d’etat in Peru and expressed its support for the country’s democratically elected President Pedro Castillo. ALBA member states released a joint declaration stating that they “reject the political trap created by the right-wing forces of that country against the Constitutional President Pedro Castillo, forcing him to take measures that were later used by his adversaries in parliament to oust him from office.” The alliance condemned the violent “repression by the law enforcement agencies against the Peruvian people who are defending a government democratically elected at the polls.”

Lawfare: Judicial And Legislative Coups In Argentina And Peru

December 16, 2022 Teri Mattson, WTF is Going On in Latin America and the Caribbean. Podcast – WTF is Going on in Latin America & the Caribbean Argentina, Lawfare, Peru, US coups

On Tuesday, December 6, An Argentine court sentenced Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to six years in jail and disqualified her from holding public office in a high-profile corruption case on Tuesday. The vice president, who has temporary immunity due to her current role, will not face immediate prison time and is expected to appeal the sentence, with the case likely to spend years winding through higher courts. The crisis in Peru reached the streets, after Congress dismissed former President Pedro Castillo on December 7 for wanting to dissolve Parliament and establish an emergency government. The appointment of Vice President Dina Boluarte as President of the Republic, far from bringing calm, has led to a wave of protests in Lima and in the interior of the country.

Peru Coup: CIA Agent Turned US Ambassador Met With Defense Minister Day Before President Overthrown

December 16, 2022 Ben Norton, Multipolarista. Resistance Report Coups, Pedro Castillo, Peru, US Imperialism

The US ambassador in Peru, a veteran CIA agent named Lisa Kenna, met with the country’s defense minister just one day before democratically elected left-wing President Pedro Castillo was overthrown in a coup d’etat and imprisoned without trial. Peru’s defense minister, a retired brigadier general, ordered the military to turn against Castillo. The coup set off mass protests all across Peru. The unelected regime has unleashed brutal violence, and police have killed numerous demonstrators. Meanwhile, the US government has staunchly supported Peru’s unelected coup regime, which declared a nation-wide “state of emergency” and deployed the military to the streets in an attempt to crush the protests.

Golpe In Peru: Castillo Under Arrest, People Demand A Constituent Assembly

December 16, 2022 Francisco Dominguez, Public Reading Rooms. Educate! Coups, Pedro Castillo, Peru, US Intervention

Regardless of Castillo presidency’s evident shortcomings and mistakes, his ouster represents a grave setback for democracy in Peru and Latin America as a whole. His election last year took place on the back of an almighty crisis of credibility and legitimacy of a political system rigged with corruption and venality in which presidents were forced to resign on corruption charges (some ended in prison), with one committing suicide before being arrested on corruption charges. In the last six years Peru has had six presidents. The rot was so advanced that no mainstream political party or politician could muster sufficient electoral support to succeed in winning the presidency in 2021 (the main right-wing party, Fuerza Popular’s candidate got less than 14% of the vote in the first round).

Peruvians Continue To Resist As Anti-Coup Protests Enter Second Week

December 15, 2022 Tanya Wadhwa, People's Dispatch. Resist! Coups, Mass Action, Pedro Castillo, Peru

Since December 7, tens of thousands of citizens have been protesting in different parts of Peru against the ouster of democratically elected left-wing President Pedro Castillo in a legislative coup carried out by the right-wing dominated unicameral Congress. For the last week, Peruvians have been on the streets demanding that the former President Castillo, who was illegally arrested following his removal from office, be immediately released and reinstated. They are also demanding the effective dissolution of the Congress which currently has an 11% approval rating. The citizens are also demanding that a Constituent Assembly be convened to draft a new constitution to replace the current neoliberal one, which favors the right-wing oligarchy.

The US Egged On The Coup In Peru

December 14, 2022 Vijay Prashad and José Carlos Llerena, People's Dispatch. Educate! Coups, Latin America, Pedro Castillo, Peru

On December 7, 2022, Pedro Castillo sat in his office on what would be the last day of his presidency of Peru. His lawyers went over spreadsheets that showed Castillo would triumph over a motion in Congress to remove him. This was going to be the third time that Castillo faced a challenge from the Congress, but his lawyers and advisers—including former Prime Minister Anibal Torres—told him that he held an advantage over the Congress in opinion polls (his approval rating had risen to 31 percent, while that of the Congress was just about 10 percent). Castillo had been under immense pressure for the past year from an oligarchy that disliked this former teacher. In a surprise move, he announced to the press on December 7 that he was going to “temporarily dissolve the Congress” and “[establish] an exceptional emergency government.”

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