(C) Common Dreams
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Protesters in Peru Are Demanding Change [1]
['Anahí Durand', 'Anton Jäger', 'René Rojas', 'Astra Taylor', 'Thomas Piketty', 'Clara Martínez-Toledano', 'Amory Gethin', 'Nicolas Allen', 'Denis Rogatyuk', 'Pedro Castillo']
Date: 2023-01
On December 7, Pedro Castillo was removed from the highest office in Peru, bringing to an end a sixteen-month term marred by clumsy administration, sectarianism, and the unrelenting attacks of a hostile, conservative-led Congress scandalized by the very idea of a trade unionist of indigenous background occupying the Government Palace.
For most, Castillo’s downfall came as little surprise, especially given his December 7 impeachment was the third such attempt by the Peruvian right in little over a year. Perhaps the only shock was Castillo’s own desperation and lack of calculation, calling for the closure of Congress as a means to avoid impeachment but inadvertently triggering the needed constitutional pretext for his very impeachment (officially, to prevent what was interpreted as Castillo’s “auto-coup”).
Less expected, however, was the outpouring of indignation across Peru in the days and weeks following Castillo’s removal. On one level, nationwide street protests were understandable: the ongoing legitimacy crisis in Peru, responsible, among other things, for bringing an unknown rural schoolteacher to power, has only grown more severe under Castillo’s watch. Right-wing conspiracy and left-wing infighting under his term further stoked popular disenchantment with the Peruvian political class, which already ranked among the most unpopular in the Western Hemisphere. That Castillo’s replacement, the unelected, some would add illegitimate government of Dina Boluarte, intended to serve out the remainder of a five-year term, was a bridge too far.
But the protests in Peru, now in their third week, are also an expression of the aspirations of the nadies, or “nobodies,” who deposited their hopes in the figure of Castillo. Whatever else Castillo may have accomplished as head of state, however little he managed to advance the struggles of his downtrodden electors, he did embody the popular will of a sizable portion of the Peruvian people. For the protesters, the message of Castillo’s impeachment was clear: the demands of the poor, indigenous, peasant, and precarious are not legitimate.
Anahí Durand served as minister of women and vulnerable populations under Castillo’s government, witnessing firsthand the administration’s frustrated attempts to build a base of popular support in the Peruvian hinterland. She spoke to Jacobin commissioning editor Nicolas Allen about the demands of the protest movement and about how, ironically, Castillo’s greatest legacy may have been to politicize those layers of Peruvian society that have taken to the street, often risking their lives.
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[1] Url:
https://jacobin.com/2023/01/protests-peru-defend-democracy-president-pedro-castillo-dina-boluarte
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