Antigovernment mobs in Peru have been blocking highways, setting fires on agricultural land, destroying infrastructure and attacking police stations for more than a month. Organized gangs have made multiple attempts, sometimes simultaneously, to take over airports and halt railroads. Authorities had to close the important tourist destination of Machu Picchu last week.
It isn’t clear who is coordinating and financing the chaos. But the objective is unmistakable: to destroy democratic capitalism and replace it with authoritarian socialism. Freedom-loving Peruvians are in a fight for their lives.
This latest chapter in Peru’s long war against leftwing terrorism began with the Dec. 7 impeachment and removal of President
Pedro Castillo
for his attempt to dissolve Congress and seize the judiciary. He also tried to arrest the attorney general, who was investigating allegations of corruption against him.
For all the talk of dysfunctional politics, Peru’s semi-parliamentarian system, designed to check one-man rule, worked well. Neither the military nor the national police went along with Mr. Castillo’s power grab and he ended up in jail. Under the constitution, Vice President
Dina Boluarte
was immediately sworn in as president.
By law, President Boluarte is supposed to finish Mr. Castillo’s term, which runs until 2026. But in an effort to quell the violence she has promised to move up the next election to 2024. That’s not good enough for the extreme left. It wants her to resign immediately, close Congress and hold elections for a constituent assembly to write a new constitution. The official death toll from what is essentially a terrorist response to Ms. Boluarte’s embrace of the rule-of-law now tops 50.
Activists accuse national police of using indiscriminate force. Those allegations should be investigated. But during hundreds of peaceful marches in Lima and the south of the country, there have been no clashes.
Police have, however, used force to defend life, liberty and property—and paid a price. A Puno policeman was burned alive. Fifty-seven policemen were injured in Ica when they tried to open a blocked thoroughfare. One was savagely beaten and is clinging to life.
A sick baby in Cusco died when the ambulance he was in was unable to reach the hospital. It was the third reported…
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