#indigenous repression

Citizen insurgency and role of Andean women 2023-02-03 

By Linda Lema Tucker .  sociologist

Women are being protagonists of this great story that is yet to be written: the protests of the citizen insurgency. These days, in Lima, great days of democratic struggle are taking place, in which hundreds of women, from the most infinite corners of Peru, with loud and forceful voices, demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte, the closure of Congress and Constituent Assembly.  

They left behind their children, the harvest, the cattle. They have broken the private sphere and have joined political affairs, to propose solutions to old problems that are still unresolved. They have faith that a new dawn in Peru is about to arrive. In protests they are distinguished by their colorful and bright skirts, their woven llicllas that they carry on their backs and shoulders, and their wonderful Aymara or Quechua language. They are not willing to return to their towns until Dina resigns, because her resignation is to fulfill that promise they made to the sixty murdered Peruvians, who would fight until the end, until this dictatorial regime abdicates. They carry in their memory and are the inspiration of their struggles, the story of brave Quechua and Aymara heroines, who preceded them as inspiration. They also know that this is a new time, in which the collective force has to overcome the old that has to lay the foundations for a rebirth of a new state, in which forgotten sectors of the country participate in power in a constitution of a new republic.

Women, the streets and the new leaderships These days, with great intensity and force, women march through the streets of Lima, launch harangues, sing and dance huaynitos, demanding the resignation of "la Dina", as they usually call her. We have walked blocks and blocks with them, until the police surprised us and repressed us with tear gas. The gas suffocated, when I saw that, in their saddlebags, they carried handkerchiefs and vinegar to avoid burning in the respiratory tract. We continued marching and he heard the loudest proclamation, "Dina, murderer, the people repudiate you." Until arriving at Plaza Dos de Mayo, where a commission of women waits for the compañeras to get sandwiches and drinks. That solidarity surprises me. But it is striking to see new women leaders, Quechua and Aymara, who, with braids, flip flops and a Peruvian flag tied around their necks, continue to harangue with surprising force, offer interviews and express their feelings and opinions about the meaning of the struggle. of their communities and towns. They do not stop demanding Boluarte's resignation, saying: “She ordered our children and brothers to be killed and has not asked for forgiveness. She is a ruthless woman, who is militarizing our towns to continue killing us." This energetic political possession with which women speak is an expression that something important is happening in deep Peru.

They continue to protest in the central streets of Lima, in addition, they have done so in districts called exclusive, San Isidro and Miraflores, where, before, some "gentlemen" believed they belonged to them. Let us remember that, not long ago, Andean women were kicked out of Larcomar in rejection of their ways of dressing and customs of a country that, paradoxically, has a multiethnic and multicultural origin. In addition, for many years, the program La Paisana Jacinta was broadcast on television, which constituted an insult and a racist attack on the dignity of indigenous peasant women.

That is why, the insurgency that is developing now against this regime, is marked by the historical accumulation of so many abuses, discriminations and violence against the majority of the population that has an indigenous origin, therefore, the necessary democratic change must come from the original peoples in order to eliminate so much pain and establish a different destiny for millions of Peruvians.

Fighters tied to history  Throughout these days, we have observed that women are united by history, that history that feminist women are now writing and that is being repeated today, by Andean women, university students, workers, housewives, and feminists, who they have joined the historic struggle in the streets, in the relief brigades, in the alternative press, in the aid of food on the highways, the women with multicolored skirts, flip flops and huaraca in hand, confront the police – like we have seen in the networks -, actions, all of women to put an end to a totalitarian regime, anti-women, as Micaela Bastidas did in Cusco, or Rita Puma Justo, in Puno, heroines who, like many others, raised their voice of protest and participated in historical episodes, against domination and gender violence, exercised by patriarchal and oppressive regimes, which considered indigenous women as an inferior race and gender.

9/02/2023   One month after the massacre in Puno🏴 Peru

The massacre in Juliaca was on January 9, 2023. The massacres of the government of Dina Boluarte in Andahuaylas and Ayacucho were on December 15, 2022, the Christmas truce came and there were already 28 murdered. On Monday  9 January  , 17 citizens were murdered in Juliaca in one day of protests.

“ More than 40 dead and Lima continued in silence “

The poster pasted in the vicinity of the Palace of Justice, in the center of Lima, the Peruvian capital, expresses the indignation at the indolence of the national authorities, state powers and political groups opposed to citizen protests, in the face of dozens of deaths in cities in the interior of the country. Photo: Mariela Jara/IPS

Lima – "We are not terrorists, we are women and men from the highlands who want respect and who do not kill us for asking for early elections and a Constituent Assembly," said Rosa Cachi, an Aymara indigenous woman from Puno, in the southern Andes of Peru, where she The protests against the government of President Dina Boluarte are concentrated.

The protests are concentrated in the southern Peruvian Andes and as a result of the brutal repression, 17 demonstrators died due to the impact of projectiles fired by the forces of order, in addition to a policeman who was allegedly burned by protesters.  Adding the 28 deaths that occurred in December in other regions such as Apurímac -land of Boluarte and where the mobilizations originated-, Ayacucho, Arequipa, Junín, Cusco, La Libertad, there are more than 40 victims in the first 34 days of this government of transition, a fact that the National Human Rights Coordinator has described as a massacre.  The 17 deaths of civilians occurred in a single day, on January 9, in Puno, one of the Peruvian regions with the greatest poverty and located at more than 3,800 meters above sea level, with a high Aymara indigenous population.  The government disqualified the protests and, through the Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola, accused them of being financed by illegal activities such as drug trafficking and foreigners, and announced that order would be restored. On Tuesday the 10th, the cabinet he presides over received a vote of confidence from the Legislative Branch despite the deaths in his to have.  For Javier Torres, political analyst and director of Noticias SER, the information portal of the Association of Rural Educational Services, this decision means a political endorsement of the government of Dina Boluarte, whose only response to the protest of the population is indiscriminate repression and the establishment of states of emergency and compulsory social immobilization. This last measure was issued for three days for Puno.  “There is also a kind of total impunity, because we have news yesterday (January 10) that in Puno they are looking for the relatives of the victims to give false testimonies to protect the police officers. In this scenario, what the Congress of the Republic has done seems very serious to me,” he stressed.

In a telephone interview with IPS, Torres stated that the government of President Boluarte rests on two pillars: the armed forces, which are her main support, and the parliamentary majority, which has granted a vote of confidence to her ministerial cabinet.

The congressmen who voted in favor are mostly from benches such as Fuerza Popular, which represents Fujimorismo, Renovación Popular and Avanza País, who are from conservative and extreme right positions and have installed the discourse that the mobilizations are instigated by terrorism and they must be totally suppressed.  These groups were joined by three others such as Acción Popular, Alianza para el Progreso and Somos Perú. who also defended the argument of the recovery of public order.  Faced with this decision, Torres considered that the political class does not recognize the demands of the population.  “In Ayacucho, Cusco, Puno, Apurímac, political demands are raised and they are the most democratic that can be given. They ask for an electoral process and a referendum, which is what is behind asking that the president leave and that they close the congress. It has nothing to do with secessionism or with communism or with Evo Morales”, he stated.  But that -he added- the political class does not want to see it because the protest is a questioning of the central power, the way in which the elites of this country govern and make decisions, that is what is in question.  In his opinion, the only viable way out of the current crisis is the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, the immediate convocation by Congress of general elections and that these be held in the shortest possible time, which would be six months, as he has stated that the National Elections Jury could be possible.  “That would lower the pressure on the country. There are other measures that could help, but at this moment it is the institutional solution that we have left, because the other thing is that this government continues to maintain a repressive policy that what it is going to bring is more deaths and it is not going to solve the problem ”, warned.  We continue in the fight  Rosa Cachi, a Puno artisan from the Quilca peasant community, responded to the IPS call while participating in a citizen mobilization through the streets of downtown Puno demanding justice for the deaths that occurred in her region and rejecting the position of the main authorities of the country that seek to delegitimize their fight.  

“They tell us that we are terrorists, that they finance us from another country, that drug traffickers give us money. It is not like this. We are men and women from the highlands, we are natives, we want respect for our native people. They can't treat us this way," he exclaimed.  And he continued: “I am in the streets of the city right now because we do not agree with what Mrs. Boluarte says that elections cannot be brought forward this year until 2024, what they want is to stay in power with this Congress that the people reject”.  In addition to the advancement of elections, it also demands that a constituent assembly be installed to elaborate a new Constitution.  “We live from our pachamama, from our water and look, so many resources from our land that they take away and it is not left for the town or for the countryside. Only at the time of the elections do they arrive saying, brothers and sisters, vote for me. Then they forget. We don't like that, it shouldn't be like that anymore," she questioned.

In addition to the advancement of elections, it also demands that a constituent assembly be installed to elaborate a new Constitution.  “We live from our pachamama, from our water and look, so many resources from our land that they take away and it is not left for the town or for the countryside. Only at the time of the elections do they arrive saying, brothers and sisters, vote for me. Then they forget. We don't like that, it shouldn't be like that anymore," she questioned.  Cachi, who is also dedicated to family farming, lamented the indolence of the powers of the State in the face of the deaths that occurred in his region, Puno.  “We are mobilizing for our dead who are not recognized by Mrs. Dina Boluarte, the ministerial cabinet or Congress. It is an indignation for us, that is why we have come here in mourning, with black clothes. They don't have to kill us for protesting and demanding what is fair," he insisted.  In Lima, citizen vigils have been held in front of the Palace of Justice, in the center of the capital, to express rejection of the government's repressive policy, show solidarity with the families of the victims and demand justice.  On the 10th, the National Prosecutor's Office announced the start of a preliminary investigation for the alleged crimes of genocide, qualified homicide and serious injuries against the Peruvian president, the head of her cabinet and the defense and interior ministers, the latter responsible for the actions of the armed forces and the national police respectively.  The investigations will cover the deaths during the demonstrations in December and January.  Filed in: Featured Cover, Governance, Report, Latest News Latin America and the Caribbean, Crime and justice, Democracy and Politics

Demonstrations across the country have called for her resignation, but Boluarte has responded with hostile rhetoric and a heavy-handed crackdown. So far, at least 60 people have been killed in the upheaval.

The situation in the country is quite complex. To understand what is happening, we have to look at old rural-urban, racist, and classist faultlines which are currently feeding the growing polarisation in Peruvian society.

Deep faultines

These protests have highlighted issues of racism, classism, and centralism which have created significant divisions within society and which have remained unaddressed for decades. Tensions between the rural poor and Indigenous people and the rich elites in Lima have historically run high – and for a reason.

Illiterate people in Peru did not have voting rights until 1979; this meant that the rural and Indigenous population was overwhelmingly disenfranchised for most of the 20th century.

“Brothers and sisters, right now our Peru needs us more than ever,” Nilda Mendoza Coronel, a 35-year-old farmer, told hundreds of strikers who had gathered under a ferocious morning sun.