Crisis in Peru: rising prices, breathing room for the World Cup and tension for a big march in Lima

The classic car horn in the streets of Limescapital of Peruthey have multiplied these days in the city center since the morning due to detours that try to avoid arriving at the Government Palace, one of the points where the defenders of the former president demonstrate in the afternoon Peter Castillodeposed and arrested for attempted coup.

While the violent episodes in the interior of the country, where seven people have died as a result of police repression, more than 100 policemen have been injured, protesters have vandalized the airports of Arequipa and Cusco and also taken over a food company, have a small replica in Lima every afternoon.

During the day, the people of Lima follow the crisis inside the country on radio and television. Even if they start to feel it in their pockets. “Potatoes have gone up in price over the last month, but now they’re going to go up more because they’re closing everything down,” she said. clarion Carlos, owner of a “Mechita” vegetable stall in the Surquillo 2 market in Lima for 20 years.

The ball

Among the eight types of potatoes, the most consumed product in Peru and in demand during the holiday season, the most expensive is the yellow potato, which previously cost 5 soles and is now sold for 8 soles. they are not suffering from shortages and are already increasing”, complains a customer of the same market, with the certainty that when the crisis and the pickets on the country’s routes pass, prices will go down.

On the blackboards of the bars the calendars of the matches of the World Cup in Qatar 2022. In general, Peruvians support South American teams, even if More to Argentina than Messi. The Argentine team shirts are part of the clothing of some Peruvian runners in Miraflores and the goals are shouted like their own.

For this Tuesday’s semi-finals, everyone is anticipating that there will be some breathing space in the midst of the crisis to watch the game.

Castillo’s defenders who gather in Plaza San Martín, where they take out small bottles with a mixture of water and vinegar to ease the effects of tear gas, also staged a call-up after Argentina’s match against the Netherlands on Saturday because the Mundial does not cover your claim.

Employees of the bars in front of Plaza San Martín come in and clear tables on the sidewalks to the rhythm of tear gas canisters. “Unfortunately, we are used to it, but that is not always the case,” says one of the managers at clarion. Castillo’s defenders meet there to march down Abancay Avenue to Congress and then back to the plaza.

Every afternoon, in the areas surrounding the Congress, employees of the municipality of Lima dressed in blue pass in front of the shops to warn that the gases have already started to go down so that they close the shutters. The marches were escalating in protester numbers, violence, and police response. They shoot tear gas aimed at the body causing injuries.

In Lima, which seems indifferent to the protests in the interior of the country, there is a sentiment intended for politics: “Let them all go”. It is the product of a Congress that has a worse image than Pedro Castillo himself, who attempted an own coup last Wednesday.

However, increased tension is expected in the capital this Tuesday. In view of clarion protesters indicated that Castillo’s defenders would arrive from within the country. At the same time, the head of the Lima Police Region, Víctor Sanabria, announced that the police will increase the level of response against vandalism and ordered the permanent deployment of 5,000 police officers in central Lima.

Every night, Abancay Avenue ends.This Tuesday, all men in uniform raised the Peruvian flag in the Plaza San Martín, where protesters gather.

Castillo’s new letter

Held in pre-trial detention, former President Castillo has published a third letter encouraging protesters.

“Given the serious acts of massacre of my people, I urge the National Police and the armed forces to lay down their arms to stop the violation of the democratic order and the massacre of my people”, begins the letter that Castillo wrote this Tuesday and which their lawyers read from the door of Diroes prison.

And he directly addresses his former running mate, the vice president who assumed power last Wednesday after Castillo’s coup attempt, when she read, among other things, a recorded message closing Congress. “Mrs. Dina, look at the place you occupy, I hold you and your entire circle that accompanies you responsible for the vicious attack on my compatriots,” said Castillo.

While for this Tuesday the Permanent Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of the Judiciary has scheduled the hearing for the afternoon to challenge the preventive detention against the former president Castillo, the 53-year-old countryside teacher who came to power in the elections of July last year, said also left a message to his followers who maintain more than 50 lockdowns in different parts of the country.

“I ask the organized people to remain vigilant and optimistic”, concludes the letter he signs as “Constitutional President of the Republic”.

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