The president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, has officially presented herself this Wednesday before the Organization of American States (OAS) assuring that she will fulfill her obligation as president and that she will remain in office despite the protests.
During the meeting, the first with the organization since Boluarte has been the Peruvian head of state, the president said that she does not intend to «surrender» to «authoritarian groups» that want to impose her exit from power in an unconstitutional manner, as reported by ‘Correo’.
«Peru sees with great concern that in the region there are a series of events promoted by authoritarian movements of various kinds that seek to besiege the political, institutional and democratic processes», added the Peruvian president during her speech, which has been virtual.
In this sense, she highlighted the «firmness» in the response of democracy, the Congress and the rest of the national institutions to the «failed coup d’état of the then President Pedro Castillo».
If the «attempted coup by Pedro Castillo» had prospered, according to Boluarte, the country would be «in a dictatorship». Likewise, he defended his decision to bring forward in the Peruvian Congress a law to bring forward the general elections after the request of the population in the protests, by which the elections would be held in April 2024, as reported by RPP radio station.
The intervention of the Peruvian president comes a few days after a rapporteur of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) affirmed, after an observation visit to the country this month, that Peru was the scene of «violence» during the protests.
«There has been violence, both allegations of violence by security forces that are in the process of investigation, allegations that we received from testimonies of family members, and also violence that has affected a series of public and private property,» said IACHR Vice President Stuardo Ralón in a statement.
Peru is in the midst of a deep political crisis following the dismissal by Congress of former President Pedro Castillo, who announced on December 7 the dissolution of the Andean Parliament and the establishment of a government of exception.
Following the arrest of the former president, tens of thousands of people came out to protest in various parts of the country to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the dissolution of Congress and the urgent calling of presidential elections. Since then, more than 60 people have lost their lives in riots between demonstrators and security forces.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
