Description: Only a week after Jose Jeri became the country’s new President, after the ouster of Dina Boluarte, anti – government sentiment has reached new heights with protests erupting in Peru’s capital, Lima. Protesters attempted to storm the country’s Congress and clashed with riot police forces expressing their disapproval of the government’s lack of activity in suppressing gang violence, extortion and kidnapping. The most recent uptick in violence left one person dead and dozen protesters and members of the police force injured. Peru has been experiencing extremely high rates of organized criminal activities through extortion, kidnapping and targeted assassinations. Jeri approved the interim cabinet of the government which would remain in a caretaking capability until elections are held in Apr and declared war on organized criminal groups in the country. Day before the protests escalated, Peruvian court denied prohibiting former President Boluarte from leaving the country, drawing further anger and frustration among the protesters.
Impact: The violent outturn of the demonstrations arrives on the back of growing public outrage with the state of governance in the country which has been engulfed in corruption, dwindling employment rates and locked oil and mining economic potential. Jeri’s pledges to combat the organized criminal groups have been renounced by the protesters who branded the current interim government as part of the collaborationist political establishment which propped the current state of crisis in the country. Civil unrest, disorder and instability would further increase in the upcoming period, straining the country’s security mechanisms and pressuring the interim government. The crisis is threatening to deconstruct the interim government, plunging the country into a prolonged period of instability and civil unrest.