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    Demonstrators clash with riot police in Peru

    A New Crossroads for Peru's Fragile Democracy

    Autocracy threatens to take hold if a more stable democratic renewal is not found.

    Inés M. Pousadela
    Feb 04, 2023

    On 25 January, roughly six weeks after being sworn in following her predecessor’s removal, Peruvian president Dina Boluarte finally recognized that elections were the only way out of political crisis. Elections were rescheduled for April 2024, much earlier than the end of the presidential term she’s been tasked with completing, but not soon enough for thousands who’ve taken to the streets demanding her immediate resignation.

    Boluarte’s call for a ‘national truce’ has been met with further protests. Their repression has led to major bloodshed: the Ombudsman’s office has reported close to 60 dead – mostly civilians killed by security forces – and 1,500 injured.

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    Opinion
    peru
    Police arrest a demonstrator during a protest in Lima

    House Dems Push Biden to Cut Off Security Aid to Peru Over 'Violent Repression of Protests'

    Peruvian security forces have met protests against unelected President Dina Boluarte with "indiscriminate violence," the U.S. lawmakers wrote.

    Jake Johnson
    Jan 31, 2023

    Twenty House Democrats on Monday pressed the Biden administration to immediately halt the flow of security funding to the Peruvian government over its vicious crackdown on protests against unelected President Dina Boluarte, who rose to power following the arrest of leftist President Pedro Castillo last month.

    Since Castillo's arrest and imprisonment—which drew vocal opposition from political leaders in the region—mass demonstrations have broken out and spread across Peru as largely low-income and Indigenous supporters of Castillo mobilize to demand his release, Boluarte's resignation, and sweeping constitutional reforms. Peru's security forces have swiftly and violently cracked down in an unsuccessful attempt to quell the uprising, killing more than 50 people and injuring hundreds more.

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    Peru
    Residents of the Uros and Taquile islands in Lake Titicaca, border with Bolivia, protest in the city of Puno, Peru

    Crisis in Peru Is What Happens When Popular Aspirations Ripped Away

    Peru is far from the only democracy where the political system is increasingly divorced from the problems of its people.

    Maria McFarland Sánchez-Moreno
    Jan 24, 2023

    With all eyes on the fight for democratic government in Brazil, with its obvious parallels to events in the United States, it’s easy to miss another equally alarming struggle in the region. Peru has been shaken by protests and violence since the Peruvian Congress removed President Pedro Castillo from office on December 7 following his own attempt to shutter Congress. As of this writing, 55 people have died so far in the unrest, with 18 killed in the town of Juliaca on January 9 alone.

    The deepening crisis is a cautionary tale about the risks of democratic governments’ failure to do their jobs and deliver for ordinary people.

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