Agribusiness workers in Peru re-established roadblocks on the country’s main road on Saturday, despite parliament’s repeal of a law dating from 2000 that they contested.
They had started to raise the roadblocks Friday evening, installed for five days, but their movement continues to satisfy wage demands.
“We want a solution on the issue of salary (..) we are waiting for a salary increase,” said one of them, a member of a group that is blocking the so-called Pan-American road near the city of Ica, to 275 km south of Lima.
The way is blocked by rocks, flaming tires and an old minibus. Dozens of riot police took place near the roadblock but without intervening for the moment.
Dams were also erected again on Saturday in the La Libertad region, 490 km north of Lima, according to local media, to protest the death on Thursday of a young 19-year-old worker killed during an intervention by the police to clear the road.
In addition to the repeal of the Agrarian Promotion Law which had been approved under the presidency of Alberto Fujimori (1900-2000), the demonstrators demand that their wages be increased from 11 to 18 dollars per day.
This law, which had made it possible to strengthen the Peruvian agricultural export sector – with a turnover of 5 billion per year – granted tax advantages to companies but deprived workers of certain rights and limited their wages. It was extended a year ago until 2031.
The new government of President Francisco Sagasti, inaugurated on November 17, had sent the bill to repeal the law to Congress.
The deputies repealed the controversial text by a very large majority, after five days of blocking sections of the Pan-American, a route that crosses the country from north to south, from the Ecuadorian border to that of Chile.
Immediately, hundreds of workers blocking the road in Ica celebrated the good news, shouting “Yes, it was possible,” AFP journalists noted. Some 2,000 trucks and dozens of buses had been stranded in Ica.
In the region of La Libertad, two people were killed during the actions on the roads: a 19-year-old, killed Thursday by shooting attributed by workers to the police, and a 23-year-old man hit by a motorcycle on Friday.
Peruvian police had previously been criticized for cracking down on protests in Lima which left two dead when parliament ousted popular President Martin Vizcarra on November 9.
Mr Vizcarra had been replaced by Manuel Merino, who had to resign five days later under popular pressure and was replaced on November 17 by Francisco Sagasti, 76.
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