Peru’s Political Meltdown: Protests, Division and Tragedy
nacla.org
Peru has been in a state of political and civil turmoil following the impeachment and removal of President Pedro Castillo on the 7th of December.
What has happened in Peru?
Ex-President Pedro Castillo, an indigenous and left-leaning politician from the rural south was elected in July 2022 after narrowly edging Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of the former Peruvian dictator Alberto Fujimori. By securing his victory via such a fine margin, Castillo was destined to struggle from the very beginning due to the deeply polarized condition of the nation.
Less than six-months following his election, political chaos unraveled. On the 7th of December, Castillo attempted to secure the military’s support to form a constituent assembly to reform Peru’s constitution which would thus allow him to prevent Congress from proceeding to impeach him as President based upon allegations of corruption and treason. Castillo’s ‘coup’ failed however, and Congress succeeded in their plan to remove him from control. Vice President, Dina Boluarte subsequently became the first woman to assume the Presidential office in Peru by virtue of her position. Such events triggered the outbreak of hostile and widespread protests across Peru which are still ongoing.
Why are people protesting?
The masses of people that have taken to the streets represent Castillo supporters. These supporters largely hail from southern Peru, in cities such as Puno and Cusco where the largest populations of indigenous people reside and some of the most bitter protests have occurred. The protesters primary objective is to get Boluarte to resign and for the country’s constitution to be altered in order to strengthen the position of the President, as initially endeavored by Castillo. In addition, these protests are representative of a wider movement within Peru whereby the indigenous peoples are striving to demonstrate their presence and strength, following years of what they describe as being the victims of a discriminative political system. Observers have likened events in Peru to that of Bolivia where, across the last two decades protests were underpinned by the concept of ‘runasur’, denoting the unification of the indigenous peoples across Peru and Bolivia. Such comparisons have prompted some to describe the current crisis as the ‘Bolivian-isation’ of Peru.
The consequences
Forty-two people have now been confirmed to have died as a result of these protests and things have gotten so uncontrollable that on the 15th of January the Peruvian Government felt obliged to declare a state of emergency and close famous tourist locations such as Machu Picchu.
This political bedlam brings into question Peru’s system of government which affords an enormous amount of power to Congress to control the position of the President due to Peru’s history of authoritarian leaders. This relationship is highly sensible considering the context of Peru’s political past, however, perhaps in this new age of legitimate democratic elections within the nation, a new relationship needs to be cultivated between that of the President and Congress to strengthen the executive and discourage instability.
By Oliver Watt