The confrontation between protesters and police intensifies over the political crisis in Peru

Women protesters fight with a riot policeman during a protest demanding the dissolution of Congress and the holding of democratic elections in Peru. SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA (REUTERS)

Dissatisfaction with the situation in Peru grows every day.

The protests take place in cities throughout the country, especially in the south, where clashes between protesters and the authorities have intensified.

There are seven deaths and dozens of wounded.

The emergency decree promulgated by the new president, Dina Boluarte, has not quelled the protests, but rather has multiplied them.

The level of violence increases in the streets almost a week after former President Pedro Castillo carried out a self-coup that ended badly: he ended up dismissed, arrested and accused of rebellion.

In a video, the moment in which a young protester receives the strong impact of a tear gas bomb fired by the police has been recorded in the face.

The boy collapses instantly and is carried away by the other protesters in search of medical assistance.

Similar scenes have been repeated in other regions.

Nothing seems to calm things down.

A mob tried to burn down the Camaná City Prosecutor's Office in front of a small group of policemen who had to flee.

In other cities, company facilities have been burned and roads and bridges have been blocked.

In Lima, every night, there are clashes between demonstrators and agents in a downtown square, near the Congress.

Those who protest demand that the chamber that Castillo tried to close to the bravas be closed and that elections be called immediately.

Peruvian politics is summed up in a continuous struggle between the president in office and Congress, which has the power to remove him with the support of two-thirds of parliamentarians.

But this camera ends up being an excessive counterweight that paralyzes governance.

A protester clashes with police during the fifth day of protests in Lima.

SEBASTIAN CASTANEDA (REUTERS)

Castillo's replacement, Boluarte, proposes that the elections be held in May 2024, a date that for some constitutional experts is logical if one takes into account the time needed to organize them.

But on the street the announcement has gone down badly: the protesters believe that Boluarte is clinging to power and refusing to call the polls to govern alongside some of the political groups that harassed Castillo from Congress.

The president has also promised to seek consensus to carry out a political reform that changes the rules of the game.

With the current system, instability has been the most stable thing in Peru: six people have marched for the presidency in the last four years.

Castillo, from his preventive confinement until the Prosecutor's Office determines whether to send him to prison, claims to continue being the legitimate president and calls Boluarte a usurper.

On Twitter, where he has half a million followers, he said: "Given the serious acts of massacre of my people, I urge the National Police and the Armed Forces to lay down their arms in order to stop the bloodshed of my people." .

And he also had a message for his successor: “Señora Boluarte: look at the place you occupy.

I hold you and your entire circle that accompanies you responsible for the ferocious attack on my compatriots.

I call on the people to remain alert and optimistic.

Sincerely, Pedro Castillo, Constitutional President of Peru.

The government hangs by a thread.

If she does not manage to calm the protests without repression, the hours of the president who has not been in office for even a week could be numbered.

Peruvian politics has entered a process of self-destruction that devours almost all its leaders.

The one from Boluarte could be one more name on the list.

Follow all the international information on