Marches in Peru: poverty and inequality in the protesting regions (La República [Spanish] - 2/6/2023)
Marches in Peru: poverty and inequality in the protesting regions (Spanish)
There is a historical debt of lack of economic progress and integration in the regions that demand President Boluarte's resignation and a new Constitution. The political crisis and repression were the straws that broke the camel's back.
Thousands of protesters have come to Lima from their regions to demand the resignation of Dina Boluarte after the violent response that this government has had to the protests (photo AFP)
Matia Morales
"We are the forgotten ones," claims Ronald Oré, from Ayacucho, who arrived in the capital more than a week ago for the 'Toma de Lima' (Taking of Lima). Like Oré, hundreds of protesters moved to the center of the city to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte. The more than fifty deaths during the marches do not daunt them.
But it is not only about demanding the resignation of Boluarte. The demands are also due to historical inequality and isolation: “The State does not count us,” says Oré, a farmer.
Most of the protesters currently in Lima come from Cusco, Apurímac, Huancavelica, Puno, and Cajamarca. This is precisely the part of the country that registers high rates of poverty and informal jobs, according to reports from the National Institute of Statistics and Informatics (INEI) as of 2021.
Specialists maintain that these regions have lower levels of economic and state integration. In addition, they point out that, with the self-coup of Pedro Castillo and the subsequent political crisis, these impoverished areas observed that resolving their problem of lack of development was diluted. That dissatisfaction triggered the demonstrations at the national level.
Peru's Regions in poverty
To understand the discontent of the population, it is necessary to look at its socioeconomic context. For this reason, LR Data analyzed the latest INEI bulletins on monetary poverty in the country (2010-2021). The numbers were not encouraging.
In 2021, Peru registered a poverty rate of 25.9%. In other words, the population is in a period similar to 2012, with a developmental setback of eleven years. The figure is even more discouraging in rural areas, where it is double and well above the national average: close to 39%.
According to Javier Herrera, a specialist from the French Research Institute (IRD), poverty at the national level was significant reduced between 2004 and 2016. However, he adds, the figure has stagnated in recent years and worsened in regions of the south, where a group of regions remain constantly in economic deprivation.
Indeed, Ayacucho, Huancavelica and Puno exceed the national average with poverty levels that range between 36.7% and 40.6%. This figure also includes Cajamarca, which is in the north of the country. Although their number has varied in recent years, they have remained in the group with the highest incidence for more than ten years, according to official data. This implies that, in these areas, the expenses of Peruvians are insufficient to satisfy their food and non-food needs, understood as health, education, clothing, transportation, among others.
This, according to Herrera, is expressed in the periphery, not in the large regional cities, because there is heterogeneous progress in each of them. Based on the census, the economist also emphasized that there was a loss of population in favor of the capitals. “Right where the problems, the blockades or mobilizations are being generated, are the secondary towns that are forgotten about [in] public and regional policies. They are claiming problems from behind, from the absence of the State,” he emphasized.
Along these lines, Efraín Gonzales de Olarte, an economist at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), affirms that the protesting regions are the least developed and most rural in Peru, dedicated to agriculture and livestock.
“They are the ones with the lowest levels of integration into the market economy and the state, therefore, the high rate of informality, which translates into low productivity, low income (poverty) and weak integration into State services (roads, education and health)”, Gonzales de Olarte adds.
Vulnerable and informal jobs
That poverty manifests itself in employability. Vulnerable jobs in these areas exceed 70%, according to INEI figures. Huancavelica leads the figure with 75%. Then follow Apurímac (69%), Cusco (69%) and Cajamarca (68.1%). Most people support themselves financially as unemployed members of families or in self (informal) employment.
With respect to the informal employment rate, the data reaches its total percentage close to 100%. Thus, once again the regions Huancavelica, Apurímac, Cusco, and Cajamarca appear first. For example, Huancavelica ranks first with 94.8%. Meanwhile, Apurímac and Puno continue with 90.6% and 90.4%, respectively. These three exceed the national average (74%).
The informal economy reaches its highest levels in these regions because they are rural, and since residents are independent workers and without social benefits. Gonzales clarifies that its growth is the result of the "shrinking of the state", that is the tax pressure - the contribution of companies to the State - on GDP is 15%, one of the lowest in Latin America. In addition, there is less investment in sectors such as agriculture, industry, and services.
In this regard, the economist also deepens that informality does not generate a social fabric (unions, associations, political parties, among others), because they maintain precarious jobs, are independent or have family micro-enterprises.
“The social density is diluted and perhaps the only way to be taken into account is to take roads, cities. "Obviously, there is a criminal and illegal minority that takes advantage of the discontent for their own benefits”, Gonzales adds, referring to the demonstrations.
For Herrera, informality is a structural problem linked to the lack of development of the productive forces in rural areas.
These factors contribute to having a low salaried employed population in this part of the country. In Huancavelica, the figure barely reaches 23.5%, almost half the national average (45%).
The outlook is exacerbated by the low wages in these regions. Huancavelica and Puno report that their remuneration is less than the minimum wage. Men get an amount of 937 and 900 soles, respectively.
But there is also a gender wage gap that shows the unequal amounts between men and women, the latter being the least paid, at just over 600 soles. Again, both figures are below the national average. Thus, according to Gonzales, the population is not being integrated into the labor market.
Slow social progress
Although the INEI figures are for 2021, the Government warned that there were no significant variations for this year. In other words, poverty and labor vulnerability remain. This also reflects the social progress of each region. With those figures down, the demands cannot be met.
The study "Regional Social Progress Index 2022", by Centrum PUCP, reveals that the regions show slow progress in well-being and opportunity for their citizens. Huancavelica, for example, registers 53% in the coverage of basic needs and 48% in well-being fundamentals. This means that there is a high dispersion to satisfy fundamental aspects (water, housing, and security) and others linked to education and health.
Hence, these regions have high rates of anemia, child labor and low educational quality. Likewise, not all of them have drinking water or a connection to a public sewer.
These problems have been reflected in social conflicts. For Herrera, “this has always been a powerful factor of social mobility. But what is new is the gap between the expectations generated and the non-resolution of them, both by the regional and central governments”.
In the same way, Gonzales adds that Castillo demagogically offered improvement of the lack of development in these regions, but with the ex-president's self-coup, the population understood that Congress would not fulfill these promises. "It seems that their hopes of improvement were annulled, as a consequence they began to protest and then to demand the resignation of President Boluarte, the closure of Congress and new elections," he reflects.
That inequality triggered the current political crisis against the government of Dina Boluarte. In this scenario, specialists reiterate the need and opportunity to rethink development policies, the economic model, and the participation of the State.
Meanwhile, a group of protesters calls for a constituent assembly to address their unmet social demands. But far from addressing the proposals on the table, the President has militarized Puno - one of the impoverished regions - with the Armed Forces and pointed out that "it is not Peru." Discontent is growing.
Reactions
Javier Herrera, French Research Institute: “Right where the problems, the blockades or mobilizations are being generated, are the secondary towns that are forgotten about public policies. They are claiming problems from behind”.
Efraín Gonzales, PUCP economist: "(The regions that protest) are those with the lowest levels of integration into the market economy and the State, therefore, the high rate of informality, which translates into low productivities."
Tags: #Peru #Protests #Poverty #EconomicJustice
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