[News] The return of protests in Peru: the government of Dina Boluarte invokes the "legitimate use of force"

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The stamp of the forces of order in Peru in recent days is that of the Immigration Police, stationed at the main accesses to Lima, asking Peruvians from the regions for documents as if they were foreigners in their own country. In another scene, they have been seen forming massive battalions that go through various avenues of the capital to show off their power, although the uniformed men maintain that they are only practicing for the military civic parade of National Holidays. The third takeover of Lima, a march announced for Wednesday, July 19, will mark the return of social mobilizations and the government of President Dina Boluarte has already shown signs of fear and concern.

Since mid-June, the President of the Republic, her ministers and the Armed Forces have issued a speech to delegitimize the protests that range from economic reasons to insisting on the ghost of terruqueo, that political device that seeks, without evidence, to endorse the political adversaries affinity with terrorist practices and that according to the historian José Carlos Agüero "alienates people and makes them shootable." The escalation began with a phrase that will surely be part of the anthology of Dina Boluarte in the Palace: “How many more deaths do they want? For the love of God!” she said during a visit from her Ecuadorian counterpart, Guillermo Lasso.
Then it was the turn of the Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, who has minimized the indignation of the streets, with an argument that the business community also defends: that the economy should not stop. “More than 90% of the population wants to work. There are organizations that are behind this new takeover of Lima, but the population itself no longer responds. For his part, Jorge Chávez, head of Defense, has resorted to the moral taste of the population to predict his failure: "I am convinced that good citizens are not going to lend themselves to it."

The high command of the National Police have been more radical: on the one hand, they point out that the change to the Constitution is a demand that originally arose from the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso and on the other, they instill fear in those who will express their discontent next week, assuring that they will have infiltrated the mob. “The change in the Constitution, to make it clear, comes out of Sendero. They have been coining that phrase in people's minds. Today many people are demanding it, but they don't know where that comes from," said José Zavala, head of the Directorate against Terrorism (Dircote). In turn, Óscar Arriola, head of the Criminal Investigation Directorate (Dirincri), has communicated his certainties without blinking: “Be very careful for those who are at your side, because the participation of members of Sendero Luminoso has already been proven. . It is not terruqueo, with a lot of professionalism we say it”.

A campaign is circulating on social networks that echoes these statements under the slogan “this 19 caps your terruco. Help your National Police”. In the poster they urge to film and photograph "all the rioters, terrorists, destroyers of state property and private property." But it's also about resources. The transfer of 12.2 million soles (about 3.4 million dollars) from the Ministry of Economy and Finance to the Armed Forces was recently approved to "promote economic recovery." According to the weekly Hildebrandt en sus Trece, it is "an economic injection to pay for the services rendered in the operations related to the marches."

https://elpais.com/internacional/2023-07-17/el-regreso-de-las-protestas-en-peru-el-gobierno-de-dina-boluarte-invoca-el-uso-legitimo-de-la-fuerza.html