Peru’s congress failed once again on Tuesday to agree on an election plan in a bid to end weeks of deadly protests that have brought parts of the South American country to a standstill.
Peru has been embroiled in a political crisis with near-daily demonstrations since December 7, when then-president Pedro Castillo was arrested after trying to dissolve the Congress and impose a decree.
During the seven weeks of demonstrations, 48 people, including one police officer, were killed in clashes between security forces and protesters, according to the office of the human rights ombudsman.
New clashes between protesters and government troops erupted Tuesday evening, prompting police to fire tear gas as demonstrators demanded the dissolution of Congress, a new constitution and the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, who became his vice president after Castillo left.
Last month, lawmakers pushed back elections originally due in 2026 to April 2024, but as protesters hit their heels, Boluarte called for a vote this year instead.
On Tuesday, lawmakers again failed to reach an agreement on a potential vote in 2023 and postponed the meeting until Wednesday, after first rejecting Boluarte’s proposal on Friday and then on Monday.
As lawmakers debated Tuesday, demonstrators gathered for more protests in downtown Lima, just blocks from Congress.
During the so-called Great March, called by union leaders and village organizations, protesters chanted and waved banners reading “Dina resigns now.”
“No political will”
For union leader and protest coordinator Geronimo López, the impasse at the political level is evidence that the Congress is “clinging to stay in power.”
“There is no political will to listen to the platform of the struggle of the people,” he said.
Roadblocks erected by protesters have caused shortages of food, fuel and other essentials in several regions of the Andean nation.
And early on Tuesday morning, the police gathered in large numbers to prevent protesters from entering the capital’s airport.
The unrest is fueled mostly by poor southern Peruvians who have seen Castillo, who is also from the region and has indigenous roots, as an ally in their fight against poverty, racism and inequality.
Nelson Calderón, a 30-year-old student from the southern city of Puno, told AFP that early elections alone would not satisfy protesters’ demands.
“What do we decide by holding elections if people don’t want to have anything to do with Dina Boluarte?” he asked in Lima.
elections 2023?
A poll by the Institute of Peruvian Studies showed that 73% of respondents want elections this year.
If lawmakers again refuse to hold early elections, Boluarte said she would propose constitutional reform allowing for a first round of voting in October and a second round in December.
The main disagreement holding back the vote is whether a referendum to convene a constituent assembly to write a new constitution should be included in any electoral bill, a measure favored by left-wing lawmakers.
According to the ombudsman’s office, in addition to those who died in the clashes, 10 civilians, including two babies, died when they were unable to receive medical care or medicine due to roadblocks.
The protest movement has also affected Peru’s vital tourism industry, forcing repeated closures of the world-famous Inca stronghold of Machu Picchu.
Peru’s Las Bambas copper mine, which accounts for about two percent of the world’s metal supply, said on Monday it would have to halt production from Wednesday if roadblocks were not removed.
