Pedro Castillo | “We must create a clean slate”: 3 statements from the protests in Peru (in addition to the return of the former president)

However, the move did not stop protests in departments such as Apurímac, Cajamarca, Arequipa and Ica, where clashes with police, airport closures and blockades of key access roads were reported.

Many are defending the return of Castillo — now held in detention — but there are at least three demands on the streets.

Andahuaylas, in the Apurímac department, was the first town to rise up against the Congress’s decision and Boluarte was named Peru’s first female president. A paradoxical fact considering the cradle of the presidency.

“Boluarte has been cut off from his own land,” 27-year-old Yudith Romero, who took part in the protests in Apurímac, said in a telephone conversation with BBC Mundo. “How she stays calm when her people are bleeding.”

There are not a few who describe the current president of the republic as a “traitor” who has shown himself to be an ardent defender of Castillo. A year ago, when the first vacancy appeared in Congress, the president went so far as to promise to resign if there was a vacancy. The action that many have been waiting for.

“Dina Boluarte has mocked the people,” said Asensio, a 30-year-old independent worker who joined the Cajamarca protests. “We are asking for his resignation to expedite the call for a general election.”

Protesters maintain that Polwart – who was not elected but appointed by Congress – lacks the legitimacy to remain in the presidency until elections proposed for April 2024.

Opponents blame Congress for this political crisis because they see them as responding to vested interests and becoming a stumbling block to Castillo’s administration regardless of the will of the people.

“Peru is being taken over by a mafia that doesn’t care who the people voted for,” said Alex Zapana, a 27-year-old from Arequipa who took part in the demonstrations. “This Congress throws out a leader, regardless of whether he is right or left, they want control.”

Congress has vacated (removed) or forced the resignation of Presidents Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, Martin Vizcarra, and now Castillo in recent years. The current constitution allows for a war between the executive and the legislature because either can overrule the other. This has made the country almost ungovernable.

“Congressmen have imposed many restrictions on the administration of Castillo, who left the Peruvian highlands, with whom we represent. So we are not going to rest until Congress resigns, because we want our votes to be respected,” says Romero.

The demand for early elections includes not only presidential elections, but also legislative elections that allow for the election of a new Congress.

One of Pedro Castillo’s campaign promises was to pave the way for constitutional reform to fix the problems created by the 1993 Constitution.

The current Magna Carta leaves open the possibility of a presidential vacancy with approval of 87 votes and Congress does not hesitate to implement it to remove presidents.

This constitutional evidence, used in the Castillo case, was used to reduce the decree of Vizcarra in 2020 and Alberto Fujimori in 2000.

Likewise, the Constitution gives the President the power to dissolve Congress if the executive is denied confidence on two occasions.

“In Peru, there is no democracy, but rather a power struggle that does not allow governance,” comments Asensio. “We are asking the Constituent Assembly to rewrite a new social contract,” he notes.

Some sectors are also demanding the release of Pedro Castillo. Others are asking, at the very least, that the conditions of his detention be clarified and that due process be opened to him.

“Castillo’s detention is illegal. The prosecutor’s office is not an autonomous body, and this Congress has no morals to vacate it,” says Zapana, from Arequipa. “There are those who demand redemption because they want their vote to be respected.”

“We know Castillo behaved badly,” Romero says. But this Congress turned its back on him and imposed many restrictions. For more than 30 years, the right wing has ruled this country and the left wing has won, which hurts them. For the first time, we felt represented and outraged. They have taken that hope away.”

It has been informed that the protests will continue in the coming days and if the demands of the protestors are not met, a national strike will be called on December 15.

“I don’t see that Dina (Boluarte) is ready to leave office and that will make the crisis worse,” Zapana predicted. “I’m not doing the country any good. We need to create a clean slate.”

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