Peru: Parliament refuses early elections despite unrest, 5,000 tourists stranded
The Peruvian Parliament, widely discredited in public opinion, refused Friday to advance the general elections, while the country is shaken by a serious political crisis, with demonstrations severely repressed which left 18 dead, and that 5,000 tourists are stranded in the famous Machu Picchu region.
The failure of the bill, introduced by a party that was once in opposition to the president deposed on December 7, Pedro Castillo, places the new president Dina Boluarte in a difficult situation, and risks exacerbating the demonstrators including two of the main demands were an immediate general election and the dissolution of Parliament.
The proposal to advance the ballot from April 2026 to December 2023, won only 49 votes when it needed 87. A total of 33 deputies voted against and 25 abstained, according to the count. Its approval would have shortened the mandate of the deputies.
Mrs. Dina Boluarte – former vice-president who succeeded Mr. Castillo -, had announced that she wanted to bring forward the elections to try to stem the dispute.
This and its repression are worsening in Peru with now 18 dead, according to the Ministry of Health.
Several victims were killed by bullets fired by the police and the army. 147 people were arrested, according to a human rights NGO.
“Peru must end violence against children during protests and investigate such violence,” urged the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. Several miners have lost their lives during rallies.
“I regret the tragic events which have cost the lives of several compatriots in various regions of the country, this must stop”, launched Friday the president who calls “once again for calm”. “Let us think of our families, of our children, of all the Peruvians who need to live in peace in order to continue working”.
– “Tense shots” –
On December 7, the ousted radical left president Pedro Castillo, 53, ordered the dissolution of Parliament, which shortly after voted by a large majority for his dismissal for “moral incapacity”. He had tried in vain to find refuge in the Mexican Embassy and was arrested. Placed in pre-trial detention for 7 days, the Supreme Court extended his incarceration to 18 months.
The demonstrations continued Friday in particular in Arequipa (south), Huancayo (center), Cuzco (south-east), Ayacucho (south) or Puno (on the Bolivian border).
In addition to the dissolution of Parliament and the elections, the demonstrators demand the release of Mr. Castillo and the resignation of Ms. Boluarte.
Overwhelmed, the government declared a state of emergency on Wednesday throughout the territory.
“The state of emergency does not make it possible to protect the right to life”, worried Friday with AFP the Defender of the People (Ombudsman of the republic) Eliana Revollar, who deplored “eight deaths in one day (Thursday) of demonstrations and clashes with the army”, in Ayacucho.
Thursday, the demonstrators had tried to invest the airport but had been repelled by the army, authorized to intervene because of the state of emergency.
The soldiers “were surrounded by the approaching crowd. They were ordered to threaten to shoot, then to shoot in the air but later there was heavy shooting,” she said. . “It deserves a criminal investigation, there are people who died of gunshot wounds.”
In addition, six deaths were recorded as a result of events related to road blockages, including the inability to reach a hospital.
Some 400 people were injured. According to the Defense Ministry, more than 300 of them are law enforcement personnel.
– Stranded in Machu Picchu –
Five airports were closed Friday morning in the south of the country, Andahuaylas, Arequipa, Puno, Ayacucho and Cuzco, the country’s tourist capital, where the latter reopened in the early afternoon, according to the Ministry of Defense.
This allowed the start of the evacuation of tourists stranded by the crisis, according to images released by the ministry.
In the morning, Darwin Baca, mayor of Machu Picchu, told AFP that “5,000 tourists” were stranded in Cuzco.
At the site of the world-famous Inca citadel, some 200 tourists, mostly North Americans and Europeans, had to leave the area on foot, walking along the railway line to reach the town of Ollantaytambo, 30 km away. , where buses were waiting for them.
The train between the stone citadel and Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, located 110 km away, is indeed the only modern way to get to the jewel of Peruvian tourism.