Peru has and continues to experience major protests all over the country with no end in sight.
For the last two months, Peru has seen political instability in its territory. An impeachment has come to the former President Pedro Castillo, who was accused of attempting to dissolve the Peruvian Constitution.
According to NPR, the former President had delivered a televised speech regarding the dismantling of the Peruvian congress and the legislative powers. He intended to do this because of charges of corruption that were imposed against him on Dec. 7, 2022. Within that same day, Peruvian congress voted 101 vs 6 votes to oust the former President.
According to The Guardian, Pedro Castillo was a Rural School Teacher and a member of a teacher strike movement in 2017. His involvement in the teacher’s strike was to promote the increase of wages, more funding of education and to put skilled workers into the education system. On July 28, 2021, Pedro Castillo was sworn in as the new left-wing leader of the country.
Castillo had never held public office positions in his life before his election, and he was born to a very poor family that didn’t know how to read nor write.
In his address to the nation, Castillo said, “This country is founded on the sweat of my ancestors. The story of this silenced Peru is also my story.” During his inauguration, he faced multiple challenges from congress. A weak support from the congressional representative Government did not approve all of his plans for his policies for years to come.
While Castillo was delivering his inauguration speech, King Felipe IV from Spain was sitting in the audience.
Castillo emphasized that Spanish colonization has divided Peruvian society in terms of economic inequality stating, “The three centuries during which this territory belonged to the Spanish crown allowed them to exploit the minerals that sustained the development of Europe, in large part with the labor of many of our grandparents.”
The same day that Peruvian former President Castillo was ousted out of his presidency, he tried to flee to the Mexican embassy. He was caught in traffic according to some sources and was immediately arrested. Vice President Dina Boluarte was sworn in as the new President of Peru. Boluarte is the first woman to become President in Peru’s history.
On Jan. 21, over a month after the removal of the former President Castillo, demonstrators against Boluarte’s Presidency began requesting her resignation. Protesters across the nation want a new constitution to be reformed and a new democratic Government to be placed in power.
According to PBS News, about 55 people were killed and 700 demonstrators were injured in these protests since the leadership of President Boluarte.
In the same article, it mentions that people have traveled from all regions of Peru to give their support against the current President and demonstrate their discomfort in the streets of Lima Peru. “We are headed to Lima to fight. We are here for the wounded, for the many deaths caused by this de facto government,” some protestors said.
Peru has seen some tourism industries shut down due to the protest unrest across the country. One spokesperson from the Culture Ministry of Peru said they closed one of the country’s most attractive tourist sites like Machu Picchu and the Inca trail. About 417 visitors were stuck in Machu Picchu with more than 300 foreigners amongst the people that were held in Machu Picchu, according to Tourism Minister Luis Fernando Helguero at a news conference.
On Saturday, Jan. 21, Police raided one of Peru’s important public universities due to protesters occupying the premises of the university. Some tracks in the vicinity of Machu Picchu were destroyed by some protesters. People that were stranded in Tourism attractions were issued a full refund, the culture ministry said in a statement. Some airports in Peru were shut down due to the clashes between police and protestors near the vicinity.