Tens of thousands of Peruvians took to the streets across the country on Wednesday, July 19, to revive the struggle against the coup-installed regime led by de-facto President Dina Boluarte who took office after democratically elected left-wing President Pedro Castillo was removed in a legislative coup and subsequently arrested in December 2022. Boluarte, who was elected on a progressive ticket alongside Castillo, has been fiercely criticized by the people for betraying them and entering into a political alliance with the country’s right-wing forces to govern.
Workers, peasants, students, members of various Indigenous organizations, social movements, and left-wing political parties mobilized in over a dozen departments of the country. They demanded Boluarte’s immediate resignation, closure of the right-wing dominated Congress, fresh general elections, a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution, justice for those killed and injured by the state forces during the protests, and freedom of those arrested including former President Castillo. The Ombudsman’s Office reported that it recorded mobilizations and road blockades in 64 provinces.
The capital Lima was the epicenter of the new wave of national demonstrations. Thousands of people from all the 25 regions traveled to Lima to participate in the massive march, called the ‘Third Takeover of Lima,’ to press for their demands. The demonstrators peacefully marched from Plaza Dos de Mayo and Plaza San Martín to the Congress, where they were violently repressed by the police officers with tear gas bombs and pellets. The police action left at least 11 people injured. Four were treated at the site by members of health brigades, while seven were taken to nearby hospitals. According to reports, at least six protesters were arrested.
The police also repressed a peaceful protest in the city of Huancavelica with tear gas, to which the participants responded by throwing stones.
According to information from Interior Minister Vicente Romero, some 24,000 police officers were deployed throughout the country ahead of the protests.
The new round of protests began amid an atmosphere of high tension. On July 18, Boluarte deemed the demonstrations called against her government as a “threat to democracy,” and warned that authorities would react to the protests with “legitimate use of force.”
In this regard and considering the deaths and injuries registered during the anti-government demonstrations between December 2022 and February 2023, social leaders from Cusco and Puno regions filed a constitutional complaint against Boluarte for criminalizing social protests and thereby violating the human rights of the protesters. The lawsuit was filed before the Specialized Civil Court of the Superior Court of Justice of Puno by the general secretary of the National Platform for People Affected by Metals, Metalloids and Other Toxic Chemical Substances, Félix Suasaca, and the general secretary of the Departmental Federation of Peasants of Cusco, Salvador Merma.
The protests are expected to continue until the end of the month. At the beginning of July, Jorge Pizarro, representative of the National Assembly of the Peoples (ANP), announced that the new cycle of protests would begin on July 19 and conclude on July 28, on the Peruvian Independence Day.
Así culmina la jornada de la Tercera Toma de Lima #19J. Ciudadanía baila al ritmo de ‘Dina Asesina’ como acto de protesta y rechazo al actual régimen de Dina Boluarte.
Video: @JorgerodRios#TomaDeLima #VocesComunitarias #19J #MarchaNacional pic.twitter.com/DkJlIOjMgj— 🇵🇪 Wayka (@WaykaPeru) July 20, 2023
