In less than a week the Peru still loses his second head of state. At the urging of Parliament the president Manuel Merino he resigned: he took office on 10 November and gave birth to a right-wing government. His mandate it should have ended at end of July 2021, with the general elections. But his presidency only lasted 5 days. The cause lies in the progressive isolation of the president due to street protests (due to the way in which Merino’s predecessor was dismissed, Martin Vizcarra), demonstrations in which the police acted violently. In the clashes that took place on the last day of protests, two demonstrators died, Painted Jack, 22, e Jordan Sotelo, 24. At least 60 were injured, while the police arrested an unspecified number of people. The network of human rights groups reported that at least 112 people are actually injured, while 41 people are missing. Also according to what these human rights activists report, Pintado was hit 11 times also to the head, while Sotelo was hit four times in the chest, near the heart. The police violence was condemned by numerous political forces, the People’s Defender’s Office and the cut Constitutional. And it has stirred the conscience of even the most illustrious citizen, the Nobel Prize writer Mario Vargas Llosa who shared a video statement on Twitter: “I want to apologize to the Peruvian people for sponsoring two corrupt governments – he said among other things – Two young people were absurdly, stupidly, unjustly sacrificed by the police. This repression – which is against all of Peru – must stop ”. Shortly before, Vargas Llosa had explicitly said that Merino had to go.
I want to apologize to the Peruvian people for having sponsored two corrupt governments. And I congratulate Aldo M for his journalistic acumen.
— VargasLlosa,M (@VargasLlosaM) February 23, 2017
A climate that led yesterday, November 14, to the resignation of 13 ministers of the government that he had sworn only three days before and today at “irrevocable resignation“Of the president who in a speech to the nation underlined that” all of Peru is in mourning, nothing justifies that a legitimate defense should cause the death of the Peruvians. What happened must be thoroughly investigated by the competent authorities to determine any responsibility “.
The way in which Congress had thwarted Vizcarra (independent) by using an article of the Constitution in a questionable way, had immediately launched a phase of severe institutional instability, dangerous for the democratic stability of the country. Merino, who had already led a first attempt a couple of months ago to dismiss the head of state, was eventually able to assume the presidency with the support of eight of the nine parties in Parliament. The same ones, however, who today turned around and abandoned him, forcing him to throw in the towel. Moreover, in recent days, the ouster of Vizcarra had produced a wave of popular indignation with marches and demonstrations for several days in Lima and in many other Peruvian cities.
For many hours remained in silence the head of state tried to restore stability and calm, but it was impossible for him so much so that one by one 13 ministers, including those of theInternal and of Defence, they resigned. News sources had also hypothesized that he would flee abroad but this was not the case. As a last step, Merino tried at the last minute to organize one meeting in the Ministry of the Interior with i highest responsible of police and the Armed Forces, which however did not show up. When it also came to him the formal exhortation from Parliament to resign, he understood that there was nothing left to do but spread the message of resignation.
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