Peru’s President Dina Boluarte called Tuesday for a “national truce” to end weeks of nationwide unrest, while a major march in the capital calling for her resignation and fresh elections again resulted in violent clashes with police.
Thousands of Peruvians from Andean regions, many in traditional dress, marched in central Lima chanting “Dina assassin,” blaming her for the deaths of 46 people, mainly demonstrators, since protests broke out last month.
The march turned violent Tuesday evening when protesters, some carrying metal shields, threw stones while police responded with tear gas, according to AFP journalists on the scene.
Multiple people were arrested and several were injured, including two photographers, one with AFP, who were hit by pellets and stones.
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Many Peruvians remain angry at the December 7 ouster of then-president Pedro Castillo, who was arrested after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree.
Boluarte, the vice president under Castillo, immediately assumed power.
Protests quickly broke out, largely fueled by anger in poor rural regions in the south where inhabitants — mainly Indigenous — felt that Castillo, who has Indigenous roots himself, represented their interests rather than those of the Lima elite.
Demonstrators have kept up weeks of protests and roadblocks and are also demanding the dissolution of Congress and the rewriting of the constitution.
Another day of protests was already planned for Wednesday in numerous cities throughout the country.
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Earlier in the day, Boluarte called for “a national truce to allow for the establishment of dialogue, to fix the agenda for each region and develop our towns.”
Speaking at a press conference with foreign media, a visibly emotional Boluarte apologized several times for those killed in the protests, but ruled out resigning.
“I will go once we have called a general election… I have no intention of remaining in power.”
Under Peru’s current constitution, the president cannot run for immediate reelection.
No ‘truce’
Boluarte said she was sure Congress would agree in February to advance elections, currently scheduled for April 2024.
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Asked about her possible resignation, Boluarte scoffed at the idea that it would “solve the crisis and the violence.”
On Tuesday evening, authorities announced that the Cusco airport, a gateway to the country’s famed Machu Pichu tourist site, was once again closed due to protests in the mountainous region.
Back in Lima, 35-year-old protester Carlos Avedano said Boluarte’s message was “pitiful.”
“The Peruvian people, all of us, we are not going to have a truce,” he said.
“The only thing that the people want is that she resigns and that there are new elections.”
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Police fired tear gas to repel demonstrators heading towards Congress, AFP journalists saw.
At least one person was bleeding from their head and an injured woman was heard screaming near an ambulance.
One protester carried a big doll with a bloody knife in its hand and a picture of Boluarte attached.
Boluarte is due to have a video meeting with the Organization of American States (OAS) on Wednesday to discuss the situation in Peru.
Her government has come under fire from rights groups over alleged repression of protests and the disproportionate use of force by security forces.
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Castillo ‘no victim’
Boluarte has called a state of emergency in Peru, allowing the army to assist police in maintaining order.
“I will appear before the OAS to tell the truth. The Peruvian government and especially Dina Boluarte have nothing to hide,” she said.
Boluarte claims some of the protesters were killed by ammunition that is not used by the police.
The president said the deaths “hurt me, as a woman, a mother and a daughter.”
She also hit out at her predecessor Castillo, saying he sparked unrest by trying to broaden his powers in a bid to avoid an impeachment vote and stave off corruption investigations.
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“It suited him to stage a coup d’etat so he could play the victim and mobilize all this paramilitary apparatus so as not to answer before the public prosecutor for the acts of corruption that he is accused of,” said Boluarte.
“There is no victim here, Mr Castillo. There is a bleeding country because of your irresponsibility.”
Boluarte is from the same left-wing party as Castillo and was his running mate during his successful 2021 election campaign. She served as his vice president before replacing him.
The Pope’s funeral procession through the center of Rome worries the Italian authorities
The complexity of the transfer of Pope Francis’ coffin through the center of Rome, from St. Peter’s Vatican to the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, where he will be buried, is the main concern for the Italian authorities, the head of Civil Protection, Fabio Ciciliano, acknowledged on Thursday.
That part of the device, which will take place on Saturday after the funeral, presents important logistical, infrastructure and security challenges, the official admitted at a press conference, in which he also said that the number of faithful who will pass through the burning chapel before, about 61,000, will increase in the coming hours.
On Saturday, after the funeral, his body will be taken in a vehicle in a solemn passage to the Roman basilica of Santa María La Mayor, to be buried in a chapel, as the Argentine pontiff arranged in life, which will collapse the center of the Italian capital.
“I remember that the burial ceremony will be a private ceremony, while immediately after the faithful will be given the opportunity to reach the side of their holiness, and obviously the sustained concentration of faithful must be taken into great consideration,” said Ciciliano.
The route of this funeral procession, which will extend over six kilometers, will be analyzed today in a meeting by those responsible for the organization, who are carrying out a “complete evaluation”.
Ciciliano focused on the exceptional fact that Francisco’s death has coincided with the Jubilee year, and that this is also a time when Rome is usually full of tourists, so it is difficult to estimate the number of people who will attend to follow the funeral.
Despite warning that parallels cannot be established with the death of John Paul II in 2005, Ciciliano reiterated that “we are estimating around 200,000 people, although we do not know if they will be deployed in St. Peter’s Square or along the funeral procession” to Santa María la Mayor.
Meanwhile, the number of faithful who will pass through the burning chapel of Pope Francis, which until 1:00 p.m. this Thursday already amounted to 61,000, will rise significantly in the next few hours, until Friday it closes at 19.00 (17.00 GMT) for the ceremony of closing the coffin before the funeral on Saturday, he anticipated.
The person in charge drew attention to the significant drop in temperatures at night, so he called on the faithful to dress like “an onion” to be able to add or remove layers as needed.
Regarding the arrival of new faithful in Rome, he said that there are 260,000 seats available to travel by train, and that on the day of the funeral about 500 buses to the Italian capital are expected to arrive.
“There will be state, commercial and private flights that will arrive at Fiumicino and Ciampino airports. We have also maintained Pratica di Mare as an airfield,” he added.
He also referred to the reception of the hundreds of world leaders and authorities who will be in Rome to attend the funeral, including the president of the United States or the kings of Spain, which he considered “very complex.”
The preparations “are being developed in close collaboration with the Prefecture of Rome for those aspects related to security, since there are elements that overlap,” he said.
This difficulty grows due to the fact that after the funerals most of these leaders will return immediately, but others prefer to stay in the city.
After the funeral, the second phase of the Civil Protection deployment will be activated, which includes the conclave to elect the new pope, when the forecasts point to an even greater number of faithful, which will also coincide with other massive events such as the final of the Soccer Cup on May 14.
A group of the poor and a delegation of migrants will participate in the funeral and burial of the pope on Saturday
A group of poor and needy and a delegation of migrants and rescuers will be present at the funeral and burial of Pope Francis this Saturday, April 26, as a last tribute to the pontiff, who was always close to the most disadvantaged and homeless people.
“A group of poor and needy people will be present on the steps that lead to the Papal Basilica of Santa María la Mayor to pay the last tribute to Pope Francis before the burial of the coffin,” the Vatican reported in a statement on Thursday.
The Arab League supports Hamas handing over control of Gaza and weapons to the Palestinian Authority
The Arab League expressed on Thursday its support for the Hamas Islamist group handing over control of the Gaza Strip to the Government of the Palestinian National Authority (ANPA), of President Mahmud Abbas, who assured that he must be the only one who controls weapons and represents the Palestinians before the international community.
The pan-Arab organization expressed its position on Thursday in a statement issued after the Arab ministerial meeting held on Wednesday at the headquarters of the Arab League in Cairo, coinciding with a claim by Abbas that the ANP assumes political control of Gaza, and that Hamas releases the 59 Israeli hostages it still holds and lay down their arms.
“The Council of the Arab League affirmed its support for President Mahmoud Abbas’ vision regarding the importance of achieving national (Palestinian) unity based on the commitment to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO),” the main member of the ANP that governs in small areas of the occupied West Bank, said the statement of the organization composed of 22 states.
In the note, the agency avoided mentioning Hamas by name, although it stressed that the PLO is the “only legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”, and invited all Palestinian factions to “comply with the political program and international obligations” of the ANP.
He also insisted that the different Palestinian factions “comply with the principle of a (only) system (of government), a law and a legitimate weapon, and allow the Government (of the ANP) to assume the responsibilities of governance in Gaza within the framework of the political and geographical unity of the Palestinian territory occupied (by Israel) in 1967”.
On the other hand, the statement “categorically rejected any form of displacement of the Palestinian people from their land, under any name, circumstance or justification, considering this part of the crime of genocide” against the inhabitants of the strip, where more than 51,000 people died in Israeli attacks since October 2023.
The Arab Foreign Ministers expressed, on the other hand, their support for the conference that France and Saudi Arabia plan to hold next June under the auspices of the UN to support the “two-state solution”, one Palestinian next to the Israeli.
They also showed their support for the Egyptian plan, supported last March by Arab and Islamic countries, for the reconstruction of Gaza, and “urging countries and financial institutions to quickly provide the financial support necessary for its implementation.”
Hamas has controlled Gaza since its militiamen expelled the forces of the ANP Government from the Strip in 2007, controlled by the secular group Fatah, also from Abbas and majority within the PLO.
The enmity between Hamas and Fatah resides, in addition to ideological differences, in the discrepancies that when facing the defense of a Palestinian State, since while Islamists advocate armed struggle and “resistance” against the Israeli occupation, the ANP opts for politics and negotiations.
