By Countercurrents Collective
Protesters in the Peruvian city of Andahuaylas have seized the airport and set fire to part of the terminals, the Peruvian Corporation of Commercial Airports and Aviation (CORPAC) said.
Radio Programas del Peru (RAA) has reported that one protester died during clashes with police while ten other including police officers were injured.
Protests are being carried out in Lima and in regions such as Arequipa, Trujillo, Ayaucho, Huancavelica, Huancayo, Puno and Cajamarca.
Since last Wednesday, thousands of protesters have been demanding Castillo’s release and the closure of Congress, which ordered the dismissal of the then president.
In Arequipa, Cusco, Ayacuchom and other southern provinces, social organizations have called on people to go to the capital city to protest against Castillo’s imprisonment and force a call for new elections.
Besides blocking the Pan-American Highway, citizens have held demonstrations in Ica, Arequipa and Tacna. They are demanding the closure of Congress and new elections.
Media reports on Peru said:
Mass protests are taking place across Peru with demonstrators demanding the immediate holding of elections and the resignation of the new president, Dina Boluarte.
On Sunday, protesters at Andahuaylas airport “set fire to the transmitter room, fuel room, encircling the air terminal with acts of violence, where 50 members of the Peruvian National Police and company employees were located,” CORPAC said in a statement.
The airport was forced to suspend work out of security concerns, CORPAC said.
Peru’s Congress impeached President Pedro Castillo on Wednesday. Prime Minister Dina Boluarte took an oath as the country’s new president within two hours of the impeachment vote, vowing to serve out the rest of Castillo’s term, until July 2026.
Castillo, who had tried to dissolve the parliament before the vote, was arrested after the impeachment procedure and the Peruvian prosecutor’s office has launched a criminal case against him on charges of a coup attempt and crimes against the state.
Several corruption cases have been opened against Castillo, who maintains that all accusations against him are political persecution by the opposition.
Court Declares Inadmissible The Habeas Corpus To Pedro
Reports by teleSUR said:
The Third Constitutional Court of Lima declared the habeas corpus petition filed in favor of the former Peruvian president, Pedro Castillo, inadmissible.
Judge John Paredes ruled that the petition made by Castillo’s defense must be archived definitively and thus the habeas corpus lawsuit filed for the way in which the former president was detained by police officers was declared inadmissible.
With the resolution of this court, the immediate freedom of Castillo is compromised.
Meanwhile, this Saturday the Extraordinary National Assembly of Social Organizations of Peru approved its support for the closure of unicameral Parliament, the call for a National Constituent Assembly, and the request for Castillo’s immediate release.
In addition, nearly 200 delegates of this Assembly approved the call for a national strike for December 15.
Hours earlier, the former president announced the dissolution of Congress and the establishment of a Government of Exception.
The Armed Forces and the National Police did not support the action, declaring it unconstitutional. Castillo is now being held at the Directorate of Special Operations (DIROES).
Social Movements Demand Holding of Elections
The New Peru movement and other political groups requested that the authorities advance general elections and convene a Constituent Assembly.
These organizations reject the “truce” that President Dina Boluarte requested because it will open the way for policies that will not favor the popular classes.
On Thursday, the Police repressed the citizens who protested in the center of Lima demanding the closure of Congress, which removed Pedro Castillo from the presidency on Wednesday. Currently, he is imprisoned in the Barbadillo prison in the district of Ate.
“On Wednesday, far-right elites carried out a racist and classist strategy aimed at breaking the popular will and removing Castillo from the presidency,” New Peru militant Lucia Alvites said, adding that Boluarte’s truce “represents in practice a pact with the coup plotters that have been handcuffing democracy.”
A tweet reads, ” Now from Peru: in San Martin Square, the police attack with violence an gas protesters rejecting the government of Dina Boluarte. There is one death not yet confirmed. Violence always comes with a coup!!”
“What we propose is that elections be called with new rules. We must have a referendum that allows us to establish certain reforms, return power to the people, and ask citizens if they want a new Constitution,” she pointed out.
Pedro Transferred To Maximum Security Prison
An earlier teleSUR report said:
On Wednesday night, former President Pedro Castillo was transferred to the Special Operations Directorate (DIROES), a maximum security prison near Lima where he will be confined while awaiting trial.
Previously, he spent over 8 hours in the Lima Prefecture, amid the situation created after his decree of dissolution of Congress. The Public Ministry announced the start of preliminary investigations against Castillo for “breaking the constitutional order.
Simultaneously, Attorney General Patricia Benavides and the Police entered the Government Palace as part of the proceedings related to the accusations of rebellion and conspiracy.
Teams from the Prosecutor’s Office also entered various ministries to collect documentation for the open investigation against the former Peruvian president.
One tweet reads, “Pedro Castillo was transferred to the Special Operations Directorate (DIROES), a police headquarters in eastern Lima, where former president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) is being held.”
On Wednesday morning, Castillo decreed the temporary closure of Congress and the establishment of a “Government of Exception.”
This decision was not supported by the majority of the members of his cabinet nor by the Armed Forces, the Police, the Constitutional Court, and the Judiciary.
Hours later, Congress debated a third vacancy request for moral incapacity against him, which was finally approved by 101 of 130 lawyers.
Mexico Postpones Pacific Alliance Summit Due to Peruvian Crisis
Another teleSUR report said:
On Wednesday, Mexico announced the postponement of the 17th Summit of the Pacific Alliance after Peruvian President Pedro Castillo was impeached by Congress earlier in the day.
“Given the latest events in Peru, we have agreed to postpone the Summit of the Pacific Alliance that was to take place on Dec. 14 in the city of Lima,” Mexican Foreign Affairs Minister Marcelo Ebrard tweeted.
Mexico regrets the developments in the South American country and “hopes for respect for democracy and human rights for the good” of the Peruvian people, he added.
The summit had been rescheduled to take place in Lima, Peru on Dec. 14 in a show of support for Castillo after his nation’s Congress barred him from attending the summit originally slated for Nov. 25 in Mexico City.
Founded in 2011, the Pacific Alliance gathers Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, representing the world’s eighth-largest economic bloc and eighth-leading exporter.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, the Pacific Alliance accounts for 41 percent of the region’s GDP, according to data from the bloc.
Mexico holds the rotating presidency of the alliance this year and is due to pass the baton to Peru at the leaders’ summit.
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12 December 2022
Source: countercurrents.org