Peruvian President Dina Boluarte on Friday called for a multiparty dialogue to help resolve her country’s political crisis, saying two months of at times deadly protests against her government had left the nation a “fragile democracy.”
Boluarte became president on Dec. 7 last year. Her predecessor, Pedro Castillo, was impeached and arrested after attempting to dissolve the Peruvian Congress and rule by decree.
However, since that day she has faced calls to resign by protesters, who are also demanding fresh elections.
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Demonstrations have at times turned violent, and officials on Friday announced a new death, bringing the total number of people killed in clashes between security forces and protesters to 49.
“We are living in a fragile democracy,” said Boluarte, who has refused to resign and failed in a bid to convince Congress to bring forward elections slated for 2026.
“I think it is the most fragile in Latin America, but it is within Peruvians, within us, to strengthen democracy,” Boluarte told reporters at a news conference alongside her Cabinet ministers.
Boluarte is Peru’s sixth president since March 2018 and the first woman to hold the role.
She was Castillo’s vice president before he was ousted and charged with rebellion.
Demonstrations against her rule have been fiercest in poor southern regions with large indigenous populations who view Castillo as one of their own.
Among their other demands are the dissolution of Congress and the formation of a constituent assembly to rewrite the Peruvian constitution, something roundly rejected by the right-wing opposition.
“In search of peace, I openly call all political leaders of every single party, but also the leaders of social and labor organizations, everyone in general, so that we can meet and put the country’s agenda on the table,” Boluarte said.
Boluarte in December called on Congress to bring forward elections, but the parliament rejected the idea in five separate votes, despite an initial vote in favor that was not ratified.
Boluarte said the latest protester who died was a 22-year-old who was on Thursday shot in Apurimac, the region where she herself was born.
“I am very sorry for the death of the citizen in Apurimac yesterday, in that confrontation in which an interprovincial transport bus was set on fire, the toll booth set on fire. My condolences from here to the family,” Boluarte said.
However, she added that some of the street protests rocking the nation “are not peaceful. They come out with sticks, slingshots, rocks, which are also projectiles that cause damage.”
“Not all are marching peacefully,” she said. “They are coming out to generate violence, chaos and terror.”
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