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Thousands of workers went on strike across Peru on October 23, followed by nationwide protests on October 24, to demand that Congress repeal laws that favour organised crime and criminalise the right to protest, and calling on the government to take action against worsening extortion and violence.��

Ongoing protests are occurring in the context of worsening violence in the country. While the national strike was originally called by transport workers, workers from other industries, students, small business owners, human rights groups, LGBTIQ rights organisations and community kitchens joined the national mobilisation.��

Organised crime groups are exploiting the level of impunity and government inaction to extort workers and businesses. Many are forced to pay daily extortion payments, and can be threatened, have their property destroyed or killed if they fail to do so.��

Criminal groups have killed at least 10 bus drivers in Lima in the past two months, after the drivers reportedly failed to pay “protection fees”. About 40% of the urban transport system in the Lima and Callao region is subject to extortion, according to public transport union spokesperson David Mujica Castillo.

In Trujillo, a coastal city 500km north of Lima, about 40% of the city’s formal taxi network and 100% of the bus network have been subjected to extortion.

A key demand of the strike was that Congress repeal a law that favours organised crime.

Law 32108 — approved by Congress in August — modified the definition of organised crime in Peru’s criminal code, excluding crimes such as extortion, human and organ trafficking, illegal logging and corruption by officials. Legal analysts say that the law weakens and slows down investigations into organised crime, and actually facilitates its growth.

In response to transport strikes and protests on October 10–11, Congress modified Law 32108 on October 16, but kept exclusions relating to corruption by officials. This is unsurprising, given that more than half of Peru’s congresspeople are under investigation for crimes such as corruption and links to organised crime groups.��

Protesters also targeted the government’s new “urban terrorism” law, which imposes longer prison terms for extortion and kidnapping. However, the law, currently being debated in Congress, contains an intentionally murky definition of what constitutes “urban terrorism”.��
The law could potentially used to further criminalise protests, given that the political establishment — which controls the judicial system — frequently labels anti-government protesters as “terrorists”.

Workers from textile company Gamarra joined the strike, and Gamarra Struggle Committee president Carlos Choque criticised the proposed urban terrorism law. A survey this month found that about nine out of 10 Gamarra workers were victims of robbery, extortion or threats in the past 12 months.

People marched and blockaded roads in the regions of Piura, La Libertad, Ancash and Junín.��

Widespread rejection

Beyond presenting concrete demands, the nationwide mobilisations represented the widespread rejection of Congress — which has an approval rating of 6% — and the Dina Boluarte regime. President Boluarte took power in December 2022 after former president Pedro Castillo was ousted in a legislative coup. She made an alliance with right and far-right parties to govern over an increasingly authoritarian regime.

Boluarte has refused to meet the demands of protesters and strikers, and instead has deployed tens of thousands of police and soldiers to violently repress and intimidate demonstrations.

The government deployed 13,000 police, 4000 army personnel and military tanks to Lima’s centre for the duration of the strike, which is double the number that have been deployed in the Lima and Callao region to supposedly combat organised crime.��

Police detained 26 protesters in Lima on October 24.

Boluarte in hiding

Before calling a media conference on October 22 ahead of the national strike, Boluarte had not fronted the press for more than 100 days. She tried to minimise the strikes and protests, saying that they “would not solve the problem”. Boluarte blamed Venezuelan migrants for the rise in crime, a racist strategy frequently used by Peruvian politicians and corporate media.

Ignoring her 5% approval rating — which makes her the most unpopular president in the world — Boluarte claimed that the Peruvian people receive her “affectionately”.

In fact, nearly everywhere that Boluarte goes, she is met by protesters rejecting her presence in their communities. This is particularly the case in Peru’s southern highlands, with many communities the victims of violent police and army repression during protests rejecting the Boluarte coup government in 2022 and last year.

Going hand in hand with police and army repression, the government has continued to pass laws that further criminalise the right to protest. Congress passed a bill in December last year that makes it a crime to provide support��— financial or otherwise —��to protesters. This particularly targets Peru’s highland communities, which often rely on solidarity to make arduous journeys to the capital, Lima, to defend their rights.��

The modification to the criminal code also made it a crime to protest on or block roads.

Despite the continued criminalisation of protests and police intimidation, unions have signalled that they will strike again in the coming weeks.

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