The country is rocked by protests by supporters of former president Pedro Castillo, arrested for trying to dissolve parliament. Dozens have already died in the clashes
Peru is in chaos. In mid-January there were already fifty victims of the clashes between anti-government demonstrators and security forces that are shaking the Latin American country. It was the morning of December 7 when the incumbent president of Peru, Pedro Castillo, had a television crew called to inform the nation of some of his forthcoming provisions: dissolution of Congress (the equivalent of our Parliament, which holds the legislative power) and new elections to form another with also the task of drafting a new Constitution; reorganization of the justice system; imposition of martial law with a curfew from 10pm to 4am.
To understand the content of his press release, it is necessary to take a look at the events of the last year and a half. Pedro Castillo, a primary school teacher from the sierra, with no political experience behind him other than a past as a trade unionist, manages to get to the ballot in the 2021 presidential elections as a candidate for the leftist Peru Libre party. His contender is Keiko Fujimori, daughter of former dictator Alberto and member of the right-wing Fuerza Popular party. The latter, in its third consecutive ballot, loses again and on July 28, Peruvian independence day, Castillo assumes the office of president. However, his government is characterized by being rather fragile: in 16 months, 78 ministers alternate, about one a week! Not only that: in recent months the Fiscalía (the Public Prosecutor) has launched several trials against him, with accusations ranging from corruption to even being the head of a criminal organization. Congress tries to dishearten Castillo twice, but to no avail. A third vote of no confidence was scheduled for December 7, with a good chance of success. With his message on television, therefore, the president tried to anticipate the move of Congress (according to a power granted to him by the Constitution) as well as aiming to reset the Justice system which, according to him, had not allowed him to govern by inventing repeated accusations and legal cases against him.
Following the self-coup declaration, within two hours 19 ministers resigned while the third motion of no confidence was approved by Congress, dismissing the president for “moral incapacity”. Castillo, together with the prime minister, tried to reach the Mexican embassy to obtain protection but was betrayed by the men of his escort who handed him over to the army.
Today, therefore, the now former president is in prison, with an 18-month preventive sentence on charges of rebellion and attempted coup d’état. His deputy Dina Boluarte took his place, a lawyer who thus became the first female president of Peru and the sixth person to hold this role in as many years, since 2016. And the Peruvian people, as reacted? From the day after the autocoup, in some areas of the country, especially in the sierra and in the Lima region, people began to take to the streets to show their support for Castillo. The crowds are clamoring for the release of the former president, the dissolution of Congress – long considered corrupt and no longer representative of the people but of the interests of economic lobbies -, early elections (the mandate of parliamentarians would expire in 2026), changes to the current constitution. The latter represents the twelfth in 200 years of independence for the country and was written by Alberto Fujimori in 1993, with the intention of legitimizing his coup and the continuation of his dictatorship. The free market is placed as the foundation of the constitutional order, favoring a vision of social and political relationships based on economic dynamics, which, over the years, has produced practices of corruption and fueled social inequalities. Since 2000, that is, since Fujimori is no longer in government, Peruvians have been trying in vain to change this constitution.
The popular voice calls to go and vote in 2023. However, the anticipation of the elections is not foreseen by the current Constitutional Charter, which for this reason should be reformed. However, a process that does not require short times: once the new text has been written, it must be approved by the absolute majority of Congress and then submitted to a popular referendum. Only then can the date of the elections be decided. While the parliamentarians do not seem willing to leave their seats (in recent weeks they have voted by majority vote for elections in April 2024) the popular protest, which took the form of marches and roadblocks, is getting worse every day, with the police also reacting very hard.
In Pucallpa, a city in the Peruvian Amazon where we currently live and work as lay missionaries, the mobilization was limited and did not cause serious damage. Instead, we are already seeing the consequences of the roadblocks: fruit and vegetables are scarce both on the stalls of the local markets and in those of the two supermarkets in the city; the petrol stations begin to close and those who still dispense fuel are besieged by multiple motokar drivers, with lines tens of meters long. Inevitable consequence of a totally centralized system in which every procurement starts and is controlled from Lima.
The hope is that the government and the people will be able to find themselves halfway: the first must speed up the times of constitutional reform and elections, the second must know how to be patient and accept the bureaucratic times necessary to finally be able to express their democratic power: the vote.