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Castillo supporters rage against Peru’s political elite
STORY: Throngs of protesters – many from marginalized, rural groups – spill onto the streets of Lima, in support of an ousted president who campaigned on representing them. Voter anger has long bubbled close to the surface in Peru, which has seen six presidents in five years. Most former leaders have been jailed or investigated for corruption. But the situation has exploded in the last two weeks, as the fall of former president Pedro Castillo sparked deadly protests across the country. Castillo’s recent ouster has fired up voters like this man, a farmer who traveled for three days to reach the capital Lima to march in support of Castillo. He said Castillo represents the people, and wants him to be reinstated. Many of these protesters – some Castillo supporters and others simply angry – said they felt ignored by political leaders. But Castillo, a former teacher and son of peasant farmers, had at least been one of their own, they said, despite his many flaws. Now, the anger among many marginalized people is threatening to derail a fragile new government – with President Dina Boluarte – and a reviled Congress. Some Castillo supporters blame Boluarte for protest deaths. They carry banners calling Boluarte a “murderer” and demand she resign. But the president on Saturday (December 17) rejected that demand, and implored Congress to bring forward elections. “I’m only fulfilling the constitutional mandate. There’s a group saying ‘Dina step down.’ But what will be solved by my quitting? Is the problem solved? The problem won’t be solved. We will be firm until Congress approves to bring forward elections.” Castillo rose unexpectedly to the presidency last year on a wave of support from rural voters fed up with the status quo and what they saw as a corrupt Lima-based political elite. In a recent handwritten letter from jail, Castillo said (quote) “I was chosen by the forgotten men and women of deep Peru, by the dispossessed who have been neglected for over 200 years.” He’s serving 18 months of pretrial detention while being investigated for alleged crimes of rebellion and conspiracy, which he denies.
