Peru's embattled president could have eased the crisis. What happened? (CNN - 1/28/2023)
(CNN) When Dina Boluarte was anointed Peru's sixth president in five years, she faced battles on two fronts: appeasing the lawmakers who had ousted her boss and predecessor Pedro Castillo and calming protesters enraged by the dethroning of yet another president.
She called for a "political truce" with Congress on her first day of her job — a peace offering to the legislative body that had been at odds with Castillo and impeached him in December after he undemocratically attempted to dissolve Congress.
But nearly two months on, her presidency is looking even more beleaguered than Castillo's aborted term. Several ministers in her government have resigned while the country has been rocked by its most violent protests in decades. She was forced to once again call for a truce on Tuesday -- this time appealing to the protesters, many of whom hail from Peru's majority-indigenous rural areas, saying in Quechua that she is one of them.
Boluarte, who was born in a largely indigenous region in south-central Peru where Quechua is the most spoken language, might have been the leader to channel protesters' frustrations and work with them. She has made much of her rural origins, and rose to power initially as Castillo's vice president on the leftwing Peru Libre party ticket, buoyed by the rural and indigenous vote.
But her plea for mutual understanding with protesters now is likely too late in what analysts are calling the deadliest popular uprising in South America in recent years. Officials say 56 civilians and one police officer has died in the violence, and hundreds more have been injured, as protesters call for fresh elections, a new constitution and Boluarte's resignation. (more)
Tags: #Peru #Protests #DinaBoluarte
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