PanamaTimes

Tuesday, Jul 01, 2025

Peru ministers visit protest zone as families bury their dead

Peru ministers visit protest zone as families bury their dead

Peru's newly installed President Dina Boluarte sent three ministers to Ica, one of the regions at the heart of recent protests on Monday, in an effort to placate public anger as families in nearby Ayacucho held funerals and mourned for the people killed in the unrest over the last fortnight.
The Andean country has been torn apart by protests since the Dec. 7 ouster and arrest of former leftist leader Pedro Castillo, hours after he tried to dissolve Congress to avoid an impeachment vote. At least 20 people have died - including many teenagers - with around half being from Ayacucho, the largely rural, impoverished and indigenous communities in the country's south.

The police and armed forces have been accused by rights groups of using deadly firearms and dropping smoke bombs from helicopters. The military says protesters, most in Peru's Andean south, have used homemade weapons and explosives.

The protests, the worst to hit the country in years, threaten to disrupt Peru's economy and the political stability in the world's No. 2 copper producer where many have lost faith in government institutions in recent years.

The delegation, including the ministers of farming, development and housing, comes after days when many families in nearby Ayacucho held funerals for those who were killed in clashes with police and security forces.

Reuters images on Sunday showed relatives and friends, wiping away tears as they carried a white coffin in the streets of Ayacucho. Others came with flowers and placards reading "Justice!"

Housing minister Hania Pérez de Cuellar, one of the trio in Ica, told radio station RPP the government wanted dialogue and was giving property titles to residents in Ica, some 300 km (186 miles) south of Lima, where many blockades had started.

"In this crisis today where families are mourning and in pain, where basic public infrastructure is destroyed... I reiterate that dialogue is our main way to return to normality," Boluarte said in a speech at a naval school.

While many protesters have called for Boluarte to resign, Magali Vivanco Hernandez, one local resident, supported her efforts, saying she needed more time and that people should remain calm.

A recent Ipsos Peru poll showed that 52% of people who live in Peru's south supported Castillo's attempt to shutter Congress, while nationally only 33% approved with 63% against it.

Among the protesters are Castillo supporters who say the former teacher and union activist is the democratically elected president, while many others are Peruvians simply angry with the opposition-controlled Congress and the Lima-based political elite, seen as corrupt and self-serving.

"The situation is sad, rights have been trampled on," Alcides Taquiri Barboza, a resident of the town of Tierra Prometida in the Ica region, told Reuters.

"This area is forgotten by politicians and rulers."
Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
OpenAI Secures Multimillion-Dollar AI Contracts with Pentagon, India, and Grab
Brazilian Congress Rejects Lula's Proposed Tax Increase on Financial Transactions
Landslide in Bello, Colombia, Results in Multiple Casualties
Papa Johns pizza surge near the Pentagon tipped off social media before Trump's decisive Iran strike
Juncker Criticizes EU Inaction on Trump Tariffs
Minnesota Lawmaker Melissa Hortman and Husband Killed in Targeted Attack; Senator John Hoffman and Wife Injured
Wreck of $17 Billion San José Galleon Identified Off Colombia After 300 Years
Sole Survivor of Air India Crash Recounts Escape
Coinbase CEO Warns Bitcoin Could Supplant US Dollar Amid Mounting National Debt
UK and EU Reach Agreement on Gibraltar's Schengen Integration
Israeli Finance Minister Imposes Banking Penalties on Palestinians
U.S. Inflation Rises to 2.4% in May Amid Trade Tensions
Trump's Policies Prompt Decline in Chinese Student Enrollment in U.S.
Global Oceans Near Record Temperatures as CO₂ Levels Climb
Trump Announces U.S.-China Trade Deal Covering Rare Earths
Smuggled U.S. Fuel Funds Mexican Cartels Amid Crackdown
Protests Erupt in Los Angeles with Symbolic Flag Burning
Trump Administration Issues New Travel Ban Targeting 12 Countries
Man Group Mandates Full-Time Office Return for Quantitative Analysts
JPMorgan Warns Analysts Against Accepting Future-Dated Job Offers
Builder.ai Faces Legal Scrutiny Amid Financial Misreporting Allegations
Japan Grapples with Rice Shortage Amid Soaring Prices
Goldman Sachs Reduces Risk Exposure Amid Market Volatility
HSBC Chairman Mark Tucker to Return to AIA as Non-Executive Chair
Israel Confirms Arming Gaza Clan to Counter Hamas Influence
Judge Blocks Trump's Ban on International Students at Harvard
Trump Proposes Travel Ban on 'Uncontrolled' Countries
Panama Port Owner Balances US-China Pressures
Trump Administration Accused of Obstructing Deportation Cases
Trump’s China Strategy Remains a Geopolitical Puzzle
Eurozone Inflation Falls Below ECB Target to 1.9%
Call for a New Chapter in Globalisation Emerges
Blackstone and Rivals Diverge on Private Equity Strategy
Mayor’s Security Officer Implicated | Shocking New Details Emerge in NYC Kidnapping Case
Bangkok Ranked World's Top City for Remote Work in 2025
Denmark Increases Retirement Age to 70, Setting a European Precedent
Netanyahu Accuses Western Leaders of 'Emboldening Hamas'
Escalating Trade Tensions and Market Reactions
OnlyFans Reportedly in Talks for $8 Billion Sale
JBS Gains Shareholder Approval for U.S. Stock Listing
Booz Allen Hamilton to Cut 2,500 Jobs Amid Federal Spending Reductions
Trump Signs Executive Orders to Accelerate Nuclear Energy Development
Harvard Temporarily Blocks Trump Administration's International Student Ban
Nippon Steel Forms Partnership with U.S. Steel, Headquarters to Remain in Pittsburgh
Trump Expands Tariff Threats to Apple and Samsung Devices
Oracle and OpenAI Plan $40 Billion Nvidia Chip Purchase for AI Data Center
Trump Threatens 50% Tariff on EU Goods, Markets React
The Daily Debate: The Fall of the Dollar — Strategic Reset or Economic Self-Destruction?
Former FBI Director James Comey Questioned by Secret Service Over Social Media Post
×