“The People are not Afraid any More”: Young Peruvians Rise up to Demand Change

After a tumultuous week in which Peru saw three presidents – and a brutal police backlash against massive pro-democracy protests– a nascent youth movement has emerged with a clear message to the country’s politicians.

Under the rallying cry “They messed with the wrong generation”, the non-partisan group is warning Peru’s elected representatives that they will not tolerate a return to the business-as-usual world of dirty tricks and backroom deals.

The grassroots movement claimed another victory on Tuesday, when the caretaker president, Francisco Sagasti, announced an overhaul of the police force, appointing a new police chief and sacking more than a dozen top brass officers.

In a televised address to the nation, Sagasti also expressed his “deep regret” for the heavy-handed police repression in which two young people died and others were gravely injured. He also apologized for incidents in which police humiliated young women, allegedly forcing them to strip naked.

But the 76-year-old engineer and his caretaker government must tread a fine line between maintaining legitimacy with a newly awakened, social media-driven, political movement, and an opposition-dominated congress, which could use impeachment powers to remove him, as it did with former president Martín Vizcarra.

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“It’s not just one generation marching here, it’s everyone, because we feel outraged that [congress] is carving up the country,” he said.

“The people are not afraid any more,” said Erika Ríos, a 47-year-old lawyer who wore the red and white colours of the Peruvian flag. “This congress doesn’t represent us.”

The scale of the pro-democracy protests took Peru’s political class by surprise, said Kenneth Roberts, a professor of Latin American politics at Cornell University.

“It also sends a powerful warning sign against the abuse of congressional impeachment powers, which lies at the heart of the current crisis,” he said. “Like legislatures in Brazil and Paraguay, Peru’s congress ‘weaponized’ the impeachment tool for transparently self-interested political goals – and Peruvian society has risen up to hold the ringleaders accountable.”

Nine out of 10 Peruvians opposed the ousting of Vizcarra, and 83% believe the decision to do so was motivated by the lawmakers’ political and personal interests, according to a recent poll by the Institute of Peruvian Studies.

With more than half the 130-member chamber enjoying parliamentary immunity from criminal investigations – ranging from murder to money-laundering – Peru’s citizens have long regarded their elected representatives with a mixture of fear and loathing.