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image source, Archyde.com
The political crisis that Peru has been experiencing for two days continues this Friday with protests in Lima and other cities in the country.
Hundreds of people have gathered in various parts of the Peruvian capital to demand new elections generals to renew the presidency and Congress.
The highways that go to the south and north of Lima were barricaded raised by groups of protesters, mainly from the agricultural sector.
The protests come two days following the president Pedro Castillo was dismissed by Congress, following the president announced the dissolution of the legislature.
Castillo was arrested and faces a charge of “rebellion.”
The new president, Dina Boluarte, said this Friday that is willing to talk with the country’s political and civil forces regarding an early electionsomething he had ruled out the day before.
image source, Getty Images
Protesters stood in front of Congress to demand new elections.
In the face of the protests that have arisen in various parts of the country, he asked for calm: “If society and if the situation warrants early elections, in conversation with the democratic and political forces of Congress, we will sit down to talk,” Boluarte told the press. .
They demand a change in Congress
One of the protesters’ demands is the dissolution of the current Congress and the call for new elections.
The legislative body already had an acceptance of less than 10% in the polls since before the current crisis.
Images on local television early showed the blockade of a section of the main highway on the Peruvian coast, 300 kilometers south of Lima, by hundreds of farmers demanding to advance the elections, the Archyde.com agency reported.
In Peru’s capital, Castillo supporters rallied outside Congress to demand the resignation of lawmakers. There were some clashes with the police there.
image source, Getty Images
Castillo supporters clashed with police in Lima.
image source, Getty Images
One of the demands of Castillo’s supporters is that a constituent Congress be called to draft a new Constitution.
Other protests with similar requests and in support of Castillo had also been registered on Thursday, although moderate, in some streets of Lima and cities in the interior of the country such as Puno.
During her swearing in, Boluarte -who until before was Castillo’s vice president- declared that He would be in office until the end of the constitutional presidential term, in July 2026.
When asked regarding an early election on Thursday, she had said she was not considering it as an option. But this Friday she opened the possibility of it happening “if the situation warrants it.”
“I want to call the sisters and brothers who are coming out in protest, surely with reason or without reason, I want to call them: let’s calm down,” said the president.
“I have not been the one who has caused such a situation, here I am alone fulfilling the constitutional role (…) let’s look for a peaceful solution.”
image source, Getty Images
Regarding requests from some leftist parties and a sector of the population to convene an assembly draft a new constitutionthe president said that it is a postponed claim that she should not abandon.
“But I think this is not the time, right now Peru is going through a political crisis and the economic and food crisis must be solved,” said Boluarte.
Meanwhile, Castillo remains detained in a prison in Lima, where former President Alberto Fujimori is also being held.
Castillo has requested political asylum in Mexico, whose government said it would receive it. But it is not clear if he will be able to leave the country given the preventive detention that weighs once morest him until December 13.
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