Puno, a city on the edge of the Titicaca side in southern Peru, welcomed me a few weeks ago with the explosion of color and music that the festival of the Virgin of Candelaria brings.
The streets were flooded with thousands of people, including hundreds of tourists attracted by this sample of Andean culture.
It was an atmosphere totally opposite to the conversations full of indignation and suffering that I had there last year, after the police violently repressed the massive protests that began in late 2022. Normality has been slowly returning to Puno in recent years. months, largely due to the need to return to activities that generate income, including tourism.
Some civil society activists want to take advantage of this moment to build spaces for dialogue that find answers to a dissatisfaction that has deep roots.
It is essential that they receive all our support.
Puno, a historically rebellious department, was the focus of the anti-government demonstrations that paralyzed much of Peru.
On December 7, 2022, then-president Pedro Castillo attempted to close congress and establish an emergency government, what many in Peru called a “self-coup” (a term invented decades earlier, when former president Alberto Fujimori did the same in 1992). ).
Castillo's attempt to monopolize power lasted a few hours, and during the day he was dismissed by Congress and arrested.
Dina Boluarte, his vice president, took office shortly after and to this day she remains in office.
Castillo's removal triggered a strong wave of protests, especially in the south of the country.
Many residents of Puno had voted for this teacher and left-wing union leader, of humble mountain origin, who came to power in a surprising way in a very fragmented political scenario and in the midst of the devastating covid-19 pandemic, which had as tragic result more than 200,000 deaths, the highest mortality rate in the world.
For them, despite Castillo's undemocratic moves, his dismissal was further proof that the power based in Lima was determined to perpetuate the historical exclusion of rural communities and indigenous populations from national politics.
In these demonstrations, the president's defense soon gave way to a general rejection of the political class, perceived as opportunistic, and to a demand for a fundamental transformation of Peru's political and economic model.
The violent government reaction to the protests left 49 dead and thousands injured throughout the country.
Of them, 19 people died in clashes with state security forces in Juliaca, the commercial center of Puno.
This intensified indignation and widespread rejection not only towards the Government and Congress, but also against a system that has stopped responding to citizens.
As a peasant leader told me: “The State has not supported us at all, we are forgotten.
Our vote is useless.
We do not exist for the greats.”
It is natural to wonder, seeing the obvious abandonment, if the State has ever responded to the needs of this region.
In Juliaca informal work is the norm, with more than 90% of the population dedicated to family farming.
Most live off their farms (small crops), a form of subsistence that has become increasingly difficult as changes in the climate have brought less rain.
In the midst of poverty, the walls of Juliaca bear witness to political confrontations: there are miles of electoral propaganda, a constant reminder of unfulfilled promises, but there is also an abundance of graffiti calling for Boluarte's resignation and the closure of Congress.
The walls also remind us that, despite the calm, “Puno does not forget.”
Their primary demand is justice for the victims of state violence.
Even a symbolic gesture of asking for forgiveness from national authorities for the lives lost, Puno residents say, could serve to generate greater confidence.
“The fact that we are not in the streets does not mean that we are pacified.
There is an open wound,” a human rights defender told me.
The path to rectifying the failures that continue to fuel discontent is winding.
This area experiences the same polarization that exists in the rest of Peru: political positions have become more antagonistic and extreme, leaving the country without moderate and pragmatic voices that have a chance of winning at the polls.
This antagonism was obvious during a recent brief visit by the culture minister to Puno, who was booed, accused of being “murderous” and “corrupt,” and she was forced to quickly leave.
In this difficult context, civil society groups have shown interest in engaging in dialogue that seeks solutions both to the daily problems that affect communities, and to generate consensus on long-range political and electoral reforms.
To do this, they examine several initiatives that show promising signs.
For example, in Arequipa, another city in the Peruvian mountains, representatives of various sectors, grouped in a “promoting group” and supported by international organizations, managed to convene dozens of leaders of local organizations in July 2023 for two days to debate and propose solutions to the country's critical problems.
The idea is to replicate this type of initiative in Puno, and eventually in other departments, adapting them to the specific circumstances of each place, and putting together an agenda of reforms and demands for changes that is agreed upon and has popular support.
It will not be easy.
For now, the communities of Puno refuse to allow government representatives to participate, civil society lacks mechanisms to articulate consensus with other regions and the state entities that could coordinate have few resources and personnel.
Therefore, the international community will be key to establishing an effective dialogue, providing financial and technical support to the organizations that lead these processes.
Peru urgently needs to overcome the distrust that leaders and communities have in the political class, the parties, Congress and the Executive.
An agenda of possible political reforms supported by the majority of citizens is vital to avoid the detonation of endless cycles of conflict, each one more harmful than the last.
This is the time to support those who try to build it from below.
Glaeldys González
is Giustra Fellow for the Andean Region at the International Crisis Group.
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