The desert capital of Peru has reunited thousands of people arrive from remote parts of the Andes to protest this Thursday against the president, Dina Boluarte, and to support her predecessor, Pedro Castillo, whose removal in December sparked deadly demonstrations and plunged the country into political chaos.

Castillo’s supporters the first rural-born president in 200 years of republic, hope that the protest will open a new chapter of the mobilizations that began more than a month ago and ask for the resignation of Boluarte and a structural change in the country. Castillo was ousted after a failed attempt to dissolve Congress.

So far the protests have mainly taken place in the southern Andes. In all, 53 people were killed in the riots, most in clashes with security forces. The latest casualties occurred on Wednesday night, when two people (one of them a woman) were killed in clashes in Masusani in the south.

By leading the protest in Lima, protesters hope to give new impetus to the movement that began when Boluarte, then vice president, was sworn in on December 7 to replace Castillo despite having promised exactly a year earlier in a public ceremony in Lima. the south of the country which, if the president is ousted, she would have resigned because his loyalty was “bulletproof”.

The difference of demonstrating in Lima

“When there are tragedies, bloodbaths, outside the capital they do not have the same political relevance on the public agenda than if they occur in the capital,” said Alonso Cárdenas, professor of public policy at the Antonio Ruiz de Montoya University in Lima.

“The managers have understood this and say “They can massacre us in Cusco, in Puno and nothing happens, we have to take the protest to Lima”he added, citing two cities that witnessed deadly violence in the protests.

Peru, a centralized country

Peru is a country very centralized for centuries and about a third of its 33 million inhabitants live in the metropolitan region of Lima.

“In my country, the voices of the Andes, the voices of the majority they were silencedFlorencia Fernández, a lawyer who lives in Cusco, said ahead of Wednesday’s protest. “We had to go to this aggressive city, to this centralist city, and say ‘The Andes have come down’.”

The concentration in Lima is also a reflection of the increase in anti-government demonstrations that the capital has seen in recent days.

“Limes, what he hadn’t joined protests in the first phase of December, decided to join after the Juliaca massacre,” said Omar Coronel, professor of political science at the Catholic University of Peru, referring to the 18 people killed in that city on January 9 (with bullets to the body).

The march from downtown to Miraflores

Protesters plan to march this Thursday from downtown Lima to the Miraflores district, one of the beautiful and emblematic neighborhoods of the economic elite of the country and where there are normally no protests.

The government has asked the protesters to be peaceful.

We know they want to take Lima, Boluarte said this week. I invite you to take Lima, yes, but in peace, he added, specifying that he would wait for them “in the Government Palace to be able to discuss social agendas.

Boluarte said it supports a plan to bring the election forward to 2024 to the presidency and to Congress, scheduled for 2026. Many disaffected say there is no possible dialogue with a government which, according to them, has unleashed so much violence against its citizens.

As protesters gathered in Lima, in the south there were new outbreaks of violence. A woman and a man died in the town of Macusani after clashes with the police. Protesters they burned down the police station and the seat of the Judiciary. Also, a 30-year-old man was hospitalized with a gunshot wound to the chest, Dr. Iván Fernández confirmed to the AP.

The “March of the Four”

Activists dubbed the Lima demonstration the “March of Them Four”, in reference to the four cardinal points of the Inca empire. It is the same name that received another massive mobilization in 2000, when thousands of Peruvians took to the streets to protest. against the autocratic government of Alberto Fujimoriwho resigned months later.

There are several key differences between those demonstrations and those of this week.

“In 2000, people protested against a regime that was already consolidated in power,” Cárdenas explained. “In this case, they are facing a government that it’s only been a month in power and is incredibly fragile”.

Also, the 2000 mobilizations had centralized leadership and they were run by political parties. Now what we have is something much more fragmented” said the colonel.

An unprecedented mobilization, but without leadership

The protests that have swept much of Peru over the past month have largely been grassroots initiatives. without clear leadership.

“There has never been a mobilization of this magnitude. There is already common sense installed in the suburbs that is needed, urgenttransform everything”, said Gustavo Montoya, historian of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. “I have a feeling that we are witnessing a historic change.”

The protests have grown to the point that protesters are unlikely to accept Boluarte’s resignation and now they are also calling for a fundamental structural reform in the country’s organization to deal with the worsening crisis of confidence in the ruling elite.

Beyond a specific event, protests have arisen “in regions that have been systematically treated as second-class Peruvians”, Montoya pointed out. “This looks to me like it’s going to grow.”

Analysts warn against listening to the demands of the dissatisfied could have tragic consequences for the country.

“You have to start thinking about what you want to do with Peru, otherwise it could explode,” Cárdenas said.

Associated press

ap