On Tuesday, Castillo lifted a curfew in Lima, which he had decided less than a day earlier, in a bid to quell the sometimes violent protests over rising fuel and food prices. But the movement came too late to vent the public’s anger. Protesters in the center of Lima clashed with MATs who responded with tear gas. Vandals and looters attacked buildings belonging to the judiciary, the prosecutor’s office and the national election commission. Shops were also demolished and looted on one of the main streets of the city center. In the last chapter of Peru’s chaotic politics, Castillo came under attack from all sides, amid a growing cry for his resignation. In just eight months in office, he has survived two referral attempts and has shaken four cabinets and more than 45 ministers. “In a country with a weak state, in a country with a lack of reforms, in a country with many social demands, it was able to make things much worse in a very short time,” said Eduardo Dargent, a political science professor at the Pontifical Catholic Church. University of Lima. Fernando Tuesta, a political scientist, argued that the only way out of the crisis would be the resignation of the former teacher, followed by new elections. “His tenure is only a guarantee of instability, bad governance and the maintenance of corruption pipelines,” Tuesta said. “[Peru needs] new elections with political reforms to have a light at the end of this long dark tunnel “. Castillo narrowly won last year’s election with the support of the rural poor, but his support quickly waned after a series of bad decisions and allegations of corruption. At least one protester was killed Wednesday in the Ica district, about 300 kilometers south of the capital, bringing the death toll to six in ongoing protests by farmers and transport workers over rising fuel, food and fertilizer prices. The school was canceled for a second day on Wednesday for security reasons. Students in Peru have just returned to the classroom after two years of distance learning, as the country suffered the worst Covid deaths per capita in the world.
