DailyExpertNews
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Peru’s new president, Dina Boluarte, has proposed postponing the general election by two years to April 2024, in a televised address delivered early Monday morning amid ongoing protests across the country.
“Interpreting the will of the citizens… I have decided to take the initiative to reach an agreement with the Congress of the Republic to bring forward the general elections to the month of April 2024,” Boluarte said in the televised address.
Boluarte became Peru’s first female president last week after lawmakers impeached her predecessor Pedro Castillo.
She initially ruled out early elections last week, but protests calling for political change have erupted across the country, leaving at least two people dead.
“As violence escalates as protests continue in Peru, we are deeply concerned that the situation will escalate further,” said her spokesman Marta Hurtado. “Given the number of protests, including strikes, planned for this week, we call on all involved to exercise restraint.”
Since last week, protests have erupted in cities across the country in support of Castillo, who is currently in pre-trial detention for seven days on orders from Peru’s Supreme Court.
According to the radio and television station Radio Programas del Perú, protesters have called for new general elections, the dissolution of Congress and the creation of a new Constituent Assembly.
On Saturday, protesters also demonstrated in the city of Andahuaylas, injuring at least 20 people, including four police officers, according to Peru’s ombudsman.
Peru’s health ministry said on Sunday evening that two people have died and three have been hospitalized in the Apurímac region, where Andahuaylas province is located, as a result of the protests.
On Monday, the Alfredo Rodriguez Ballon Airport in Peru’s largest southern city, Arequipa, was temporarily closed over protests, according to a statement from Peru’s Andean Airports tweeted by the country’s Ministry of Transport and Communications.
“Our Alfredo Rodriguez Ballón airport in the city of Arequipa was invaded by a group of protesters who broke through the perimeter fence, destroyed the security infrastructure and set fire to the security gate, endangering the safety of passengers, our team and the air brought. operations at risk,” the statement read.
Footage from the scene showed smoke in the distance as protesters walked on the airport runway.
The airport evacuated those in the terminal and later on Monday, officials told local media the situation was “under control”.
“The situation in Arequipa is under control, the police have the airport (inside) under control. We ask citizens to exercise their right to protest, but in a peaceful way and not to endanger people’s lives,” said Angel Manrique of the Arequipa Ombudsman’s Office in an interview with local radio. RPP on Monday.
Footage from the southern city of Ica shows a vehicle overturned and protesters blocking the streets. Police were seen clashing with protesters, who threw stones at the troops.
On Sunday, at least 50 people, including police officers and airport staff, were also held as “hostages” following attacks and “acts of vandalism” by protesters at the Peruvian Corporation of Airports’ Huancabamba de Andahuaylas Airport in the city of Andahuaylas. and commercial aviation said in a statement.
The airport has been closed as a result, the organization said, adding that they have asked the national police for support and reinforcements and to help “protect the lives of the people being held hostage”. The organization did not provide any information about the condition of the hostages.
Peru’s Corporation of Airports and Commercial Aviation accused protesters of setting fire to the airport’s transmission room and fuel room and surrounding the terminal with “acts of violence,” it said in a statement. It also said the runway and essential equipment had been “severely compromised”.
The country has been on the brink since Castillo’s impeachment last week.
Many Peruvians have called for a change of political guard, according to a September poll by the Institute of Peruvian Studies (IEP), which found 60% of those polled favored early elections to refresh both the presidency and the congress .
Boluarte’s ascendancy to the presidency doesn’t necessarily ease Peru’s toxic and bitter political landscape.
Fernando Tuesta Soldevilla, a political science professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), told DailyExpertNews that Boluarte “has no recognized political career. And without partisan support, political party or social organization behind her, she is weak from the start.”
“Everyone knows when Dina Boluarte’s government started, but nobody knows how long it will last,” he said.