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Protests in Peru face brutal crackdown

AUTHORITIES in Peru unleashed a brutal crackdown on demonstrators continuing to protest against the coup against president Pedro Castillo in December last year.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Peru’s capital on Tuesday and were met with volleys of tear gas and pellets just hours after President Dina Boluarte called for a “truce” after almost two months of protests.

The latest anti-government protest was the largest — and most violent — since last Thursday, when large groups of people, many from remote Andean regions, descended on the capital to demand Ms Boluarte’s resignation, immediate elections, the dissolution of Congress and the release from detention of Mr Castillo.

The ousted president has remained in detention since being removed from power in December and former vice-president Ms Boluarte installed by Congress to replace him.

The latest crackdown followed a plea for a ceasefire from Ms Boluarte.

But protester Blanca Espana Mesa said of the appointed president: “We can’t have a truce when she doesn’t tell the truth. The fact that a lot of people came today shows they have woken up.”

Before last week, most of the large anti-government protests that followed the ousting of Mr Castillo took place in remote regions of Peru, largely in the country’s south, exposing deep division between residents of the capital and the long-neglected countryside.

Some 56 people have died during the protests with all of the deaths in the south of the country. 

After earlier calling for a truce, Ms Boluarte blamed protesters for the political violence that has engulfed the country.

She claimed that protesters who died with bullet wounds were shot by other demonstrators, claiming investigations will show their injuries are incompatible with the weapons officers carry. 

But human rights activists criticised the response of Peru’s neighbours to the crisis in the country.

National Human Rights Co-ordinator Jennie Dador said: “None of the states in the region have done anything concrete.”

“The international community has expressed concern, but really I think it could be more forceful,” said Cesar Munoz, associate director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International Peru executive director Marina Navarro said: “Peru has managed to fly under the radar.”

“Given the gravity of the situation, with this number of people who have died, we don’t see as much said about it as there could be.”

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