The Albany Gazette - Two more dead as Peru's new leader fails to quell protests

Four people have now died in escalating protests since the leftist Pedro Castillo was accused of an attempted coup, impeached and arrested last week.

New President Dina Boluarte tried to ease tensions on Sunday, announcing she would seek to hold elections two years early and declaring a state of emergency in flashpoint areas. But this had little effect as protesters continued to demand her resignation and fresh polls.

Some 1,500 protesters smashed runway lighting, burned security booths, and forced the closure of the airport in Peru's second-largest city Arequipa for several hours on Monday before police dispersed them with tear gas.

The clashes left one dead, while another person died as riot police quashed a march in Boluarte's southeastern home region of Apurimac -- where two other protesters died in clashes with security forces during an attempt to storm an airport on Sunday.

"There are three in Apurimac and one in Arequipa," rights ombudsman Eliana Revollar told AFP of the new deaths.

Also Monday in Apurimac, demonstrators torched the public prosecutor's office and a police station before riot police broke up a march in the city of Chincheros.

- Call for calm -

Monday saw an escalation in protests as new roadblocks were set up in several major cities, such as Arequipa, in the south, Cusco in the southeast and Libertad in the north.

In Arequipa, protesters also occupied one of the largest factories in the country, owned by the dairy company Gloria.

The new incidents came despite Boluarte saying in a televised address Sunday that she would try "to reach an agreement" with Congress to bring forward elections from July 2026 to April 2024.

She said a bill on moving the poll forward would be submitted in the coming days.

Castillo has been in detention since last Wednesday and prosecutors have charged him with rebellion and conspiracy after he dissolved Congress and vowed to rule by decree.

Boluarte, a former prosecutor who had served as Castillo's vice president, was quickly sworn in to replace him following his impeachment and arrest.

And on Monday, the government fired the 26 regional prefects who had been appointed by Castillo, accusing them of "inciting protests."

Interior Minister Cesar Cervantes has urged calm and Boluarte called for "dialogue and the rejection of violence."

But when the country's right-leaning Congress convened an emergency session on Sunday afternoon to discuss the crisis, it had to be suspended after physical altercations broke out.

In images posted on social media, one man punched another and members shoved each other in the center of the chamber.

In a statement, UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Marta Hurtado warned that "the situation may escalate further" and urged "all involved to exercise restraint."

Hurtado also called on authorities to "allow people to exercise their rights to peaceful assembly and freedom of opinion and expression."

- 'Indefinite strike' -

With his background as a rural teacher and union leader, and with little contact with the nation's elites, Castillo has always drawn his strongest support from Andean regions, while struggling to find backing in coastal Lima.

Rural unions and organizations representing Indigenous peoples have called for an "indefinite strike" beginning Tuesday in support of Castillo, himself the son of a peasant family.

They demanded the suspension of Congress, early elections and a new constitution, as well as Castillo's immediate release, according to a statement from the Agrarian and Rural Front of Peru, which groups about a dozen organizations.

Peru is now on its sixth president since 2016.

(G.Gruner--BBZ)