Peru: President Seeks Early Elections Amid Protests

Facts

• Peru's new president, Dina Boluarte, announced on Monday that she plans to submit a bill to bring forward the general elections to April 2024 amid widespread protests that have killed at least two.
• Demonstrations supporting former Pres. Pedro Castillo were reported on Sunday across the country's interior, with a 15-year-old and an 18-year-old reportedly killed during clashes with police in the southern city of Andahuaylas, in the Apurimac region.
• Apurimac's regional governor, Baltazar Lantarón, added on Sunday evening that more than 30 people have been injured in confrontations between protesters and police, while violence has also been reported at the Andahuaylas Airport.
• Boluarte on Monday also declared a state of emergency in the south, where protests have been more intense as local social leaders don't recognize the new president and have announced an indefinite strike.
• Prime Minister Pedro Angulo said the state of emergency will be enforced in areas where conflicts have emerged, citing Apurimac, Chala (Arequipa), and a part of Ica. He stressed that other areas will also be monitored.
• Boluarte was sworn in last week after Castillo was sacked and arrested for attempting to dissolve the legislature in an effort to prevent an impeachment vote against him.

Sources: Guardian, Al Jazeera, Sputnik, El Pais, Andina, and Reuters.

Narratives

• Left narrative, as provided by TeleSUR. Castillo's ousting was part of a classist, racist plot concocted by far-right elites to break the popular will; Boluarte should not have agreed to a truce with these undemocratic coup plotters. Peru needs to return the power to its people, by advancing general elections and convening a Constituent Assembly.
• Right narrative, as provided by Fox NEWS. Castillo and his supporters have been following other Latin American autocrats' coup playbook, demanding Congress to be shut down and trying to subvert Constitutional order. His impeachment and arrest came as an institutional warning that the Peruvian people will not accept attempts to break the rule of law.