Protesters, fired up by deaths, march on Lima demanding change

A second protester who was seriously injured in clashes with police in southern Peru on Wednesday has died, the country’s rights ombudsman’s office said yesterday.
After a 35-year-old woman was killed on Wednesday, a man identified as Salomon Valenzuela “died this morning after (suffering) serious injuries”, a source from the ombudsman’s office told AFP.
Both victims had suffered bullet wounds.
Lima was meanwhile on edge yesterday as thousands of protesters were expected in Peru’s capital for an anti-government rally following weeks of unrest that have left 44 people dead, including the latest death.
Demonstrators are demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the dissolution of parliament and immediate fresh elections.
Police said that they are on “maximum alert” and have deployed 11,800 officers in Lima ahead of expected trouble.
The South American country has been rocked by more than a month of protests, mostly in the southern and eastern areas, since the ouster and arrest of Boluarte’s predecessor Pedro Castillo in December.
Thousands of protesters from rural areas are trying to keep up pressure on the government, defying a state of emergency declared to maintain order.
“We have 11,800 police officers in the streets to control unrest, we have more than 120 vans and 49 military vehicles, and also the armed forces are participating,” said Lima police chief Victor Zanabria.
Protesters are undeterred, though.
“We are coming to make our voices heard. We are tremendously forgotten,” villager Edwin Condori, 43, from the Cusco region, told AFP.
One of Peru’s biggest labour unions, the General Confederation of Workers, has called for a strike, though there were no visible signs of such a strike in Lima by late morning yesterday.
On Tuesday, many poor and Indigenous demonstrators made their presence felt in Lima, where police used smoke canisters against marchers who had gathered.
Dozens marched through the capital’s streets to Plaza San Martin, the historic epicentre of demonstrations.
“In Lima the struggle has more weight. When they repress us in our regions, no-one mentions it,” said Abdon Felix Flores, a 30-year-old villager from Andahuaylas in the Cusco region.
Flores said he was ready “to give my life” to ensure change.
Boluarte urged protesters flooding into Lima to gather “peacefully and calmly”.
“We have come in an organised way to take over Lima, to paralyse Lima, to be heard,” said Jesus Gomez, an agricultural engineer from Chumbivilcas in the Cusco region.
However, the president warned protesters that “the rule of law cannot be hostage to the whims” of a single group of people.
“The Peruvian people’s struggle will not end tomorrow,” Geronimo Lopez, the general secretary of the General Confederation of Workers, said in a press conference late on Wednesday night.
“It will continue as long as Mrs Dina Boluarte doesn’t listen to the people,” he added. “This is a fair, democratic mobilisation.”
A rival “march for peace” also took place in Lima on Tuesday, with dozens of members from community groups and political parties wearing white T-shirts in rejection of the protests against Boluarte.
“We do not want violence in our country. I know that now there is a group that disagrees with the current government, but nevertheless it is not the way to carry out a protest,” 56-year-old merchant Cesar Noa told AFP.
Protesters have maintained almost 100 roadblocks across Peru.
Castillo was removed from office and arrested on December 7 after attempting to dissolve the country’s legislature and rule by decree, amid multiple corruption investigations.
Boluarte, who was Castillo’s vice-president, succeeded him.
However, despite Boluarte belonging to the same left-wing party, Castillo supporters have rejected her, even accusing her of being a “traitor”.
The government last week extended a state of emergency in Lima and the southern regions of Puno and Cusco, curtailing some civil rights.
“We do not want more deaths, we do not want more injuries, enough blood, enough mourning for the families of Peru,” Interior Minister Vicente Romero told reporters.
Boluarte has asked for “forgiveness” for the protest deaths but remained firm that she is not going to resign.