Peru’s youth are rallying for another round of protests against President Dina Boluarte yesterday, a week after demonstrations in the capital led to clashes with police, leaving over a dozen police officers, protesters and journalists injured.
The protests erupted on September 20 following reforms to the country’s pension system that required all Peruvians above the age of 18 to join a pension provider, but were also fuelled by longstanding anger against Boluarte and Congress.
“There’s been a low, simmering level of discontent in Peru and it’s been that way for actually quite some time,” said Jo-Marie Burt, a visiting professor at Princeton University’s programme in Latin American studies who has researched Peruvian politics for decades.
The discontent, Burt said, has been fuelled by corruption scandals, economic insecurity, rising crime and anger over a lack of accountability over dozens of protesters who were killed by security forces when Boluarte assumed power in late 2022 after former President Pedro Castillo was removed from office and arrested.
The Institute of Peruvian Studies’ July report shows Boluarte’s approval rating at 2.5 per cent, with Congress’ at 3pc.
Aside from the unrest in Lima, protests have rattled the country’s mining industry.
Hudbay Minerals said on Tuesday it temporarily shut down its mill in Peru amid ongoing unrest.
Peru is the world’s third largest copper producer and a major producer of gold and silver.
Impact
Peru’s Gen Z protests follow youth demonstrations in Indonesia and Nepal.
A common feature in the demonstrations has been a skull in a straw hat, a symbol from the Japanese manga ‘One Piece’ about treasure-hunting pirates.
According to Peru’s INE statistics agency, 27pc of Peru’s population is between the ages 18 and 29.
“We’re tired of this being normalised. Since when have we normalised death, since when have we normalised corruption, extortion,” said Santiago Zapata, a student protester.
“My generation is coming out to protest now because we’re tired of being silenced, made to feel afraid when the government we elected should fear us.”
The protests, Burt says, are unfolding in a wider context in which democracies across the globe are under pressure, and follow the administration’s efforts to weaken courts, watchdogs and prosecutors.
“It’s very reminiscent of what happened in the 1990s under Fujimori, when the justice system was essentially captured to consolidate authoritarian control,” she said.
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