Governed by a president with little democratic legitimacy and after two months of brutal police and military repression of the protests with a balance of more than 60 deaths, 48 of them direct victims of lethal firearms, Peru has quickly become " a civic-military dictatorship,” says Verónika Mendoza, the former Peruvian presidential candidate whose left-wing party supported the government of former President Pedro Castillo, in an interview with La Vanguardia.
Given the seriousness of the situation and the danger of a new phase of protests and more lethal repression, it is essential "a more energetic pronouncement from the international community" against the new president Dina Boluarte, as well as "observation missions" to verify that " Even if they are big words, all the components of a dictatorship are being configured in Peru,” says Mendoza, a two-time presidential candidate. To date, the EU has limited itself to condemning the disproportionate use of force in the repression of demonstrations.
Dina Boluarte assumed the presidency after the imprisonment in early December of the left-wing president Pedro Castillo, who had strong support in the Quechua-Aimara Andean communities and whose government was participated in for a few months by ministers from the Mendoza, New Peru party. Fearing removal, Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress in circumstances that have not yet been clarified.
Since then, a wave of protests has shaken the country, especially the southern Andes from Ayacucho to Puno, passing through Cuzco. Although the intensity of the protest has decreased in recent weeks, "if someone thinks that this is going to end, they are very wrong because we are in a deep crisis," says Mendoza, born 42 years ago in Cuzco. "There is some withdrawal to recharge strength and reorganize, but the mobilization will continue.” Amnesty International highlighted the “racist bias” of the repression: eight out of ten deaths belong to the Quechua or Aymara ethnic groups.
Despite the fact that the replacement of Castillo by his vice president was constitutional after the self-coup attempt, the new government has already lost all its democratic legitimacy, Mendoza maintains. "The succession was strictly constitutional," he admits. It is undeniable that Pedro Castillo intended to perpetrate a coup and in these circumstances it is up to the vice president to assume the presidency.
But what has happened since then has not been constitutional and clashes head-on with the wishes of the majority of Peruvians, says Mendoza. Boluarte "had to call new elections as soon as possible." It is not only his constitutional duty, but public opinion demands it. More than 80% of the Peruvians consulted in various surveys support the advancement of the elections. "Despite this, she (Boluarte) in her inaugural speech in December already announced that she would stay until 2026."
This generated immediate protests and repression. “In a matter of days we had six deaths in Andahuaylas, ten deaths in Ayacucho; and in a single day 18 dead in Juliaca,” Mendoza says that she burst into tears twice during the interview held at his apartment in a lower-middle-class neighborhood in Lima.
Boluarte says publicly that he wants Congress to advance the elections. But this is a facade, says Mendoza. “She could have dissolved Congress to call an election or resigned. She hasn't done it."
"Dina is already an occasional puppet" of forces that "from the first day, boycotted the government of Pedro Castillo," he continues. These forces - media, police and corporate oligarchs - are already behind the repression. "It's not just the government and Congress, but almost all state institutions," denounces Mendoza. These “criminalize those who exercise their right to protest; Dozens have gone to jail just for supporting the protests.” An example: a mother of a family from Andahuaylas has received an 18-month preventive detention sentence for making a collection to pay for the transportation of protesters going to Lima.
“The terminology of an anti-subversive war is being used (used in the war against the armed group Sendero Luminoso that left tens of thousands dead during the years of authoritarian President Albert Fujimori in the 1990s); They brand the protesters as terruqueo (terrorists) to dehumanize them.”
The government, instead of seeking a political solution by bringing forward the elections, "is devoting a budget to equipment to repeat the repression," he says. Amnesty International has urged the Spanish government to intervene to ban the sale of Spanish weapons and riot control equipment to Peru. "The declarations of parliamentarians in Brazil, Spain, the US or Ecuador, who have asked their governments to stop supplying, are important but insufficient," Mendoza points out.
In this deterioration of the already worn-out Peruvian rule of law, "the only institution that is saved is the Ombudsman's Office, which is being subjected to a lot of pressure and needs the support of the international community," Mendoza points out. Overall, “stronger condemnation is needed” from international governments. "There should be a consensus in defense of life; the security forces are shooting at the body, at the chest, at the head, at the chest of children and adolescents," he laments.
