After the impeachment of ex-president Pedro Castillo in Peru, an airport in the city of Andahuaylas was paralyzed and partially set on fire during protests. According to the police, one person was killed. According to the Corpac airline, quoted by Peruvian media, 50 police officers and Corpac employees were held hostage at the airport on Sunday.
In many Peruvian cities, numerous demonstrators had called for Boluarte’s resignation and new elections over the weekend. They demanded the release of Castillo, who has been in custody since Thursday, and threatened a nationwide strike.
As reported by the operator, the fuel depot and the communications room at the airport were set on fire. The runway and important equipment were also badly affected by violence and vandalism, it said. The airport in the southern city with around 50,000 inhabitants was closed – according to the police, it was secured by an elite unit.
Clashes also broke out in other parts of the city of Andahuaylas in Boluarte’s home region of Apurimac in the course of the protests. Two people were killed in the process. Demonstrators attacked police officers with stones. The forces fired tear gas. On Saturday, 16 civilians and four police officers were injured in protests in the city. In Huancabamba, another town in Apurimac, a police station was set on fire, according to radio station RPP.
According to media reports, demonstrators blocked highways in other parts of the South American country. There were demonstrations in other cities, including the capital Lima. At a session of the congress on Sunday there was a fight. A deputy from ex-President Pedro Castillo’s former left-wing party, Perú Libre, slapped a colleague in the face, videos showed.
Peru’s president has now spoken out in favor of early elections. Recently sworn-in President Dina Boluarte said in a televised speech on Sunday that she would submit a bill to Parliament that would bring the general elections forward from 2026 to April 2024.
She understood “the will of the population” and decided to “take the initiative,” Boluarte said in her televised speech. She also announced the declaration of a state of emergency in the areas hardest hit by the protests in order to “restore public order”.
Interior Minister César Cervantes had called on the population to calm down on the radio station RPP. “No Peruvian should have to sacrifice his life for political interests,” wrote Boluarte on Twitter. “I call again for dialogue and renunciation of violence.”
The previous Vice President Boluarte replaced Castillo as head of state and government on Wednesday. Shortly before a vote of no confidence in himself, he announced the dissolution of the congress. Parliament then removed him from office, and on Thursday the former left-wing village school teacher was taken into custody on charges of rebellion. On Saturday, Boluarte, Peru’s first female president, sworn in her cabinet and made the ministers swear they were not corrupt.
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