MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Peru's President attacked by indigenous women

Boluarte had returned to Ayacucho for the first time since 2022 when demonstrations resulted in some 50 people dead nationwide

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte was attacked this weekend by a group of indigenous women who wanted her to step down and call for fresh elections and a Constitutional Assembly, among other measures, it was reported from Lima.

Boluarte was laying the first stone for the asphalting of a road in the Chiara district in the Ayacucho region, some 570 km. southeast of the country's capital when she was pulled by two women, one of whom was determined to be related to one of the victims of the repression during the protests against her accession to power in 2022 December of 2022 when then-President Pedro Castillo Terrones was impeached, resulting in the promotion of the then-Vice President. The move was regarded by popular sectors as a coup d'état although Castillo had dissolved Congress.

Este video es increíble: Dina Boluarte lanzando caramelos en la ciudad donde ordenó matar a ciudadanos peruanos.

Pero lo más aterrador es cómo sonríe de oreja a oreja, incluso cuando la empujan. Como si viviera en un mundo irreal, delirante de poder. pic.twitter.com/zLl9MBUJz4

— Fernando VR (@elaguainmovil) January 21, 2024

The president was alongside Ayacucho Governor Wilfredo Oscorima throwing candies at the crowds as part of the ceremony when Ruth Bárcena stealthily entered the scene together with another woman who pulled her from her hair, triggering a response from law enforcement officers to restore normalcy, according to video footage of the events.

Bárcena accused Boluarte of being responsible for the death of her husband, Leonardo Ancco, one of those killed in the protests in Ayacucho last December 15, 2022. “They killed my husband. Am I going to be calm?” Bárcena cried when she was arrested.

“I condemn and reject the aggression suffered by President Dina Boluarte today in Ayacucho, during an official activity. This unfortunate event endangered the integrity of the head of state and this is extremely serious. With violence, we all lose as a country,” Prime Minister Alberto Otárola said on X.

Boluarte had returned to Ayacucho for the first time since the demonstrations left some 50 people dead nationwide, many of them at the hands of the authorities, according to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). In Ayacucho, l0 deaths were reported during the Dec. 2022 demonstrations.

On Sunday, Boluarte attended a convention of Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) foreign ministers in Lima during which an “Action Plan” to fight transnational organized crime was signed.

All four top diplomats agreed to work on 13 points, including the strengthening of border surveillance activities and increasing cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking. Peru's Foreign Minister Javier González-Olaechea insisted it was a “very detailed, complex and binding plan.

”Interpreting the feeling of the great majorities of Peru, the Government, once again, responds with actions, not with declarations; with deeds, and it is going to commit itself, as of tomorrow, to progressively make what has been subscribed today a reality, with the greatest commitment and seriousness,“ he added.

He also explained that a ”24/7 Andean Security Network“ had been set up round-the-clock service ”to provide and receive information“ from the other member countries regarding the activity of transnational criminal groups. Joint training programs for their government officials and police, military, and national security officers were also launched in addition to creating an Andean Regional Observatory to ”compile, process and analyze” information on this type of crime in the sub-region.