The protests that began in Peru after the ouster of former President Pedro Castillo have been concentrated in the south of the country, in the region of Puno. This Monday, January 20, roadblocks were reported only in this region, at 35 different points, and the repercussions have been significant. The Puno Chamber of Commerce and Production reported that tourist operations have been completely closed due to the lack of land connectivity caused by the blockades, and 75% of travel reservations have been canceled.
Businesses have also been affected, with merchants closing up their stalls when they see numerous groups of protesters. Martín Ojeda, manager of the Interprovincial Transport Guild, said it is as if there was a parallel system of power where the protesters decide what to do with the highways, and transportation is completely abandoned.
Puno became the epicenter of the protests after the failed self-coup attempt of Pedro Castillo in December last year, when he tried to dissolve Congress. The decision generated strong discontent, especially in the south of the country, a historically marginalized area that had been Castillo’s electoral base.
The police repression was strongly felt in the region, with 17 people killed in one day alone in the department of Puno. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemned the deaths.
Discrimination and poverty are two factors that explain why discontent persists in Puno. The population, mostly indigenous, has historically been the object of discrimination and inequality in their access to political participation, and they remain in a continuous struggle to access the basic rights of health, housing and education. In addition, many voices from the south of the country have demanded that the capital, Lima, on the Peruvian coast, be forgotten.
Puno is part of the regions found in the Peruvian Andes, an area that lives largely from agriculture and its enormous mineral wealth. But many groups in the region denounce that the country’s resources tend to be reserved for large cities, leaving aside the country’s rurality. According to the latest data from the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI), only in Puno four out of 10 people suffer from monetary poverty, with incomes below the cost of a basic basket.
The protests that began after the ouster of former President Pedro Castillo have been concentrated in the region of Puno, in the south of Peru. The repercussions have been significant, with tourist operations and businesses closed due to the lack of land connectivity caused by the blockades, and the population suffering from discrimination and poverty. The police repression was strongly felt in the region, with 17 people killed in one day alone in the department of Puno. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the deaths, and the population remains in a continuous struggle to access the basic rights of health, housing and education. The resources of the country tend to be reserved for large cities, leaving aside the country’s rurality.
