UNPACIFIED People march during a demonstration against the government of Peruvian President Dina Boluarte calling for her resignation and the closure of Congress in Lima on Feb. 4, 2023 (February 5 in Manila). Hundreds of protesters gathered at the accesses to Lima to attend a march Saturday that they promise ‘will be the biggest’ and ‘with all the blood,’ according to the organizers of the protests calling for the resignation of Boluarte and the closure of Congress. AFP PHOTO
A Roman Catholic cardinal voiced dismay Saturday (Sunday in Manila) that the nation’s Congress again declined to advance elections to defuse Peru’s political crisis.
“It hurts our souls that they have [not acted on] a proposal to move up elections,” Cardinal Pedro Barreto said, hours after the church’s highest ecclesiastical body sent a letter to legislators warning them that it is “urgent” to move up elections to later this year.
Thousands of protesters, meanwhile, amassed at vehicular chokepoints around the capital and in a downtown plaza in further demonstrations that have roiled the nation for nearly two months.
“We are not going to end this struggle. The person who must resign is the usurper woman,” said Romina Cuno, a 37-year-old woman from Puno in the high Andes, referring to President Dina Boluarte.
Congress a day earlier slammed the door shut until August on any further debate to bring forward general elections currently slated for April 2024 into 2023 — a key demand of near-daily demonstrations that are crippling the country of 33 million people.
For the fourth time in a week, legislators rejected a bill on advancing elections, blocking further debate on procedural technicalities.
The move dimmed prospects for an avenue out of the crisis, which has claimed 48 lives since December 7, when then-president Pedro Castillo was arrested after attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree.
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By: Miss Cherry May Timbol – Independent Reporter
