Perot’s “forgotten” anger against the political elite after Castillo’s arrest

LIMA (Reuters) – Leopoldo Huamani, 60, a farmer from the southern Peruvian city of Chalhuanca, traveled three days to reach the capital Lima and march in support of ousted and imprisoned leader Pedro Castillo, whose fall triggered deadly protests around the capital. country.

The Huamani is one of Peru’s “forgotten”, marginalized rural groups, which Castillo tried to represent – and often fell short of – who inflamed with his arrest, threatening to derail a fragile new government and a disgraced congress.

In the South American country, voter anger has long run close to the surface over years of turbulent politics that have seen six presidents in five years. Most of the former leaders have been imprisoned or investigated for corruption.

The situation has exploded in the past two weeks. Protesters blocked highways, set buildings on fire and took control of airports in the wake of Castillo’s ouster on December 7, hours after he tried illegally to shut down Congress to avoid an impeachment vote he feared losing. At least 18 people died.

Many of the protesters — some Castillo supporters and others simply angry — said they felt ignored by political leaders. Castillo, a former schoolteacher and son of peasants, was at least one of them, they said, despite his many faults.

“No one represents me now,” Huamani said. Many like him carry banners describing her as a “killer” and calling for her resignation.

Rights groups have accused the police and armed forces of using deadly firearms and of dropping smoke bombs from helicopters. The military says the protesters, mostly in Peru’s southern Andes, used homemade weapons and explosives.

Bulwart, Peru’s first female president and a speaker of the Quechua language indigenous to the Andes, called for calm and implored Congress to advance the election date. She said she would not quit, despite the pressure.

“It represents nothing but the dead,” Huamani added. “We elected a humble country teacher like ourselves, hoping for a revolution that would bring the poor to power.”

Rats nest

Castillo unexpectedly ascended to the presidency last year after a wave of support from rural voters fed up with the status quo and what they saw as a corrupt political elite based in Lima.

“I was chosen by the forgotten men and women deep in Peru, by the disenfranchised who have been neglected for more than 200 years,” Castillo said in a handwritten letter from prison. He is serving 18 months in pre-trial detention while he is being investigated for alleged rebellion and conspiracy, which he denies.

He thanked his supporters for taking to the streets and accused the army and police of committing what he called “massacres”.

“In this difficult context, the coup advocates are exploiting and starving us, and today they want to silence my people,” he wrote.

As a political novice, he gained support with pledges to reform the constitution, redistribute huge copper fortunes, and empower marginalized indigenous groups. He failed on many of these promises, and his star waned before he was overthrown. He and his cronies faced a series of corruption investigations and went through five circuits and more than 80 ministers in just 17 months.

But his arrest quelled some of the disappointment. Hundreds of people from the Amazon jungle, mountainous and rural areas of Peru have flocked to Lima to support him, including to the prison where he is being held.

“The Peruvian people will stand up and defend the popular vote,” Mirena Chavez told Reuters outside the prison. Congress did not allow him to do his job.

Castillo, who ran for the PSP but later shifted to the right, faced a hostile and fragmented legislature, with the conservative party of the candidate he narrowly defeated being the largest bloc.

He has been impeached three times, the last time he was voted out of office by a large majority after his attempt to dissolve Congress, prompting resignations by ministers and accusations of a coup by former allies and constitutional officials.

However, most Peruvians still blame Congress for the political problems plaguing the country. According to polls Datum, the parliament, which is seen as corrupt and self-serving, has an approval rating of just 11%. Castillo was 24% before he was fired.

In a recent poll, about 44% of Peruvians said they supported Castillo’s attempt to dissolve the legislature, even though he attempted to do so outside constitutional limits.

Outside the Lima prison, Kathryn Asto came to support Castillo wearing a white hat with a slogan explaining her feelings: “Shut up Congress, it’s a rat’s nest.”

(This story has been corrected to fix the misspelling of Leopoldo Huamani’s surname in the first, second, sixth, and ninth paragraphs)

(Covering) Written by Marco Aquino, Alexandre Villegas and Liamar Ramos Writing by Adam Jordan Editing by Daniel Wallis and Frances Kerry

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