By Sofía Martínez
Puno continued the struggle without stopping even for a single day. With Puno, the entire south began a new journey to Lima, opening a new stage to defeat the government of Dina Boluarte. South delegations are already in Lima; and together with them, there are several delegations that have arrived from the departments of the Peruvian jungle such as Madre de Dios and Loreto; also the Central Unica de Rondas Campesinas del Peru has managed to bring more than 4 thousand ronderos to Lima to join the protests.
Since last week, heavy load carriers announced the beginning of a national strike from March 2 to 8; health unions affiliated to the General Workers Central of Peru – CGTP, are also fighting for labor demands.
The northern macro region announced that delegations would also be arriving to participate in the struggle in Lima. In the north some ministers and congressmen were rejected by the population and the same happened after Boluarte’s visit to Chiclayo, with general repudiation of the Peruvian people.
In Lima, activists are preparing for a new stage of the struggle, artists’ collectives carried out fundraising activities to support the delegations in the interior, the front line deactivators also carried out a fundraising poll, brigadistas have provided first aid training and the alternative press has improved its coordination to continue reporting in real time and live, which has also helped to document police abuses.
The alternative press is an important factor for recording and reporting
The narrative of hegemonic media continues to favor the government; there is no objective criticism, oversight or monitoring of the authorities. Dina Boluarte has missed the summons of the prosecutor’s office three times, and expressing complete support has been rescheduling her appointments. The Prosecutor of the Nation; Patricia Benavides, has been denounced for covering up for her sister who is also a judge and who is facing an investigation for receiving money from drug trafficking. Another reference states that the prosecutor’s mother was also under arrest warrant for corruption cases and that she used a series of tricks to get out of jail. Benavides’ trajectory and her career development in the Judiciary is marked by many stains such as questionable appointments and alliances with the worst of Fujimorism.
It is the alternative press that through social media has been publishing various allegations described in detail by investigative journalism; IDL Reporteros described in detail the murders that occurred in Huamanga – Ayacucho, the Semanario Hildebrandt en sus trece has published the lists with the names of the military and police who participated in the massacre of Juliaca – Puno, Convoca has published an extensive investigation on cases of police abuses and arbitrary detentions, demonstrating that the detainees are imprisoned without evidence and in some outrageous cases, the only evidence is the testimony of a policeman. It has also been shown that they have not respected due process, and that torture has occurred during arrests. La Mula published a video documentary on the situation of the wounded, including a child in Juliaca who has been left disabled. The case of the wounded is extremely serious because they are not receiving the necessary support for medical attention and many, for fear of being arrested, do not go to health centers. The precariousness of the Peruvian health system is shaking social media and once again indignation is at its peak.
The government has not even had a hint of sensitivity towards the victims of the massacre, both the deceased and the wounded. There are several children who are orphaned, widows, and the most appalling case: the death of Mrs. Apolonia Huarancca, who suffered from cancer and survived only supported by her son Henry Mendoza Huarancca (35), killed in the massacre of Huamanga on December 15.
In a video published by RT in Spanish, Mrs. Apolonia mourns the loss of her son and between sobs says: “I am sick, they should have shot me, not my son… Now who will give me anything? He gave me my medicine, he made me sit down, he made me eat. I don’t eat so well, I don’t eat, and he forced me to eat. In the mornings I go out to wait for him and he doesn’t arrive until now, until this moment he doesn’t arrive. He told me ‘I’ll be right back’ and he hasn’t come back until now, I’m waiting…”.
Mrs. Apolonia died without justice.
Television continues to serve the dictatorship, not a single one of its channels reports objectively. Had it not been for the alternative press, the Peruvian people would never have known the truth: “intelligence reports” were nothing more than reports full of lies, racism and discrimination. Those were not excesses, they were assassinations. Those were not terrorists, they were peasants, workers and people from the most humble villages. There was continuous overkill and now we see that everything is coming to light. After the first day of protest in January, people of Lima were able to see what was really being reported on social media. They were able to see firsthand the social inequality and injustice with which our people are subjected.
The wiphala walks the streets of Lima again.
To date, there are several struggle committees in the different areas of Lima (mainly North Lima and East Lima, which are the most mobilized, we know that there are also in South Lima). At the national level, there are also several struggle committees and additionally, regional defense fronts.
The enormous challenge facing the struggle of the Peruvian people is to STRENGTHEN the organization and UNIFY all the struggles. The committees are coordinating separately, each one in an autonomous way and they are not managing to articulate a committee where the struggle is centralized and all the sectors that are struggling are united.
Electoralist and opportunist interests to overcome
It is inevitable that this will happen, we know that there are political organizations behind this, seeking to take better advantage of the situation in the face of a possible electoral context.
Mobilization demands the Constituent Assembly and some political organizations are thinking more about elections. That is why we understand that it is indispensable that the articulation of the different fronts of struggle be the one who assumes the government and who calls for the Free and Sovereign Constituent Assembly that defines a course of real, anti-capitalist and socialist change.
This is not a novelty either, people have already suffered several electoral disappointments. Including the last one with Pedro Castillo, whose biggest mistake was to distance himself from the people who elected him and end up sticking to the right wing giving them concessions so that they would let him govern… we have already seen the outcome of that.
Organization and unity are key to victory.
The right wing knows our weaknesses, knows that there are serious organizational problems that will not be overcome in our immediate reality. That is why they are also going to change their strategies of repression. We are entering a new stage of struggle, with lessons learned from the previous stage, but with the same problems of organization and leadership that have not been overcome.
Let us hope that coherence can break through and that all the spaces of struggle converge and unify, there is no other solution. If all these committees are able to organize and achieve UNITY, perhaps there is hope of achieving victory. In the meantime, we revolutionary socialists who adhere to the ISL, will continue to organize so that sooner rather than later we will advance in the construction of an alternative that will fight for these proposals and this program.
Kill the sadness, poets.
Let us kill sadness with a stick.
Do not mention the romance of the lilies.
There are higher things
than mourning lost loves:
the rumor of an awakening people
Is lovelier than the dew!
The gleaming metal of their wrath
is more beautiful than the foam!
A Free Man
Is purer than diamond!
[Epistle to the poets to come – Manuel Scorza].