Here Comes the Peruanazo: Peru Rises Up Against Right-Wing Coup of Castillo

They come down from the hills and mountains, their saddlebags full of hope, but angry after so many years—centuries, in fact—of mistreatment.

by Carlos Aznárez – Dec 21, 2022

On the way to the city, Peruvians encounter other Peruvians, and these others are just as angry as they are, since they have once again been hoodwinked by those in power. They know that their side is the right side. They voted for a teacher, to try to change what was going so wrong in Peru, and suddenly, they realized that the usual actors were not going to allow them to get their hopes up.

They awoke one day to the news that their president had finally decided to take a step so demanded by the people that put him in office: dissolve that rotten Congress. However, the joy was short-lived, as the president was imprisoned and the traitorous vice-president took the opportunity to usurp the position. It is at this moment that tens of thousands decided to get moving—for dignity, for those who gave their lives at different stages, and because everything has its limit and when the threshold is reached, outbreak is unstoppable, and becomes a “Peruanazo.”

The people of the capital and all the regions are writing a new page in their history of rebellion against authoritarianism and betrayal. This national uprising against the right-wing parliamentary coup engineered by Fujimorismo, with the complicity of the Lima bourgeoisie and the high command of the police and the Armed Forces, has demonstrated the decadence of the political class and the repudiated the “democracy” that acts as a hostage of the empire.

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Although Pedro Castillo was almost unable to govern due to the constant harassment of the right, in addition to his own weaknesses, it is clear that by belatedly dissolving Congress, he provided the key to the connection with an old popular claim. His arrest and the permanent attempt to humiliate him clearly demonstrate the class hatred that the Peruvian elite feels for the majority of peasants and workers.

Let us recall that even before winning the second round of the presidential elections, the right wing had Castillo in their sights. They accused him of everything, from being a terrorist to being corrupt; they attempted to smear both his and his family’s past and present with lies. They forced him to change the course of what he had promised to carry out with his campaign commitments to the poor, working, and peasant people.

Nothing was enough for the furious far-right Keiko Fujimori, friends of hers, businesspersons close to her (these were the most corrupt), soldiers with a criminal past, police officers, and paramilitaries at the service of drug-dealing networks. They always asked for more and more, so as not to let Castillo rule.

Behind this palace coup, in which the usurper Dina Boluarte is a typical puppet, are the interests of the US empire, eager to appropriate even more of Peru’s natural wealth. They, with their lobbying embassy, are the original culprits for the ever-widening differences between those who earn millions and the poor. They are insatiable, and they need to control the situation in their favor, repress, assassinate, and militarize the country, as they currently have done, and take over its institutions through their front agents.

However, as has happened on other occasions, the men and women of a spirited and rebellious Peru will have the last word: they demand the closure of Congress, the reinstatement of Castillo, and the formation of a Constituent Assembly where those who never participate in politics—the nobodies, those who with their hands and their sacrifices build the country—can have a voice.

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The temperature is rising yet again, where the barricade closes the street but opens the way forward, and the Peruanazo forces everyone to put themselves in their rightful place. Only the people will save the people.

(Al Mayadeen)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/FV/SL