Peru - January 4, 2023

From Puno to Cusco, from Arequipa to Ayacucho, from Apurímac to Lima...
With blockades, strikes, and massive mobilizations...

The working class and the exploited masses resume the fight against the coup of the armed forces, the Fujimori regime and imperialism

As the cry echoes in the streets:
"Out with the murderous Boluarte!" "Out with the Congress!"
"The dictatorship will fall!"
"The bloodshed will never be forgotten!"
"Coast, highlands and jungle, national strike!"

Today, Peru was once again the scene of huge mass struggles. Faced with the call to restart the indefinite strike in the south of the country, from first thing in the morning, there were multiple actions by the exploited in more than 10 regions of Peru, defying the state of emergency decreed by the government of Dina Boluarte, by order of the officer caste of the Armed Forces and the US bases settled in the country.

While the army concentrated their forces in the airports, public institutions and guarding the big properties of the capitalists and transnationals, to prevent the masses from attacking them, as happened in December, with sure class instinct, Puno was one of the departments where the strike was the strongest. There were more than 18 blockades, including the border of Peru with Bolivia, the Llave international bridge, and the inter-oceanic road linking the regions of Puno to Cusco and Madre de Dios. Mobilizations took place in several cities, such as in Juliaca, where people marched to the Plaza de Armas.

In Cusco the masses also raised their picket lines, carrying out more than 15 roadblocks, public transport strikes and numerous protests with the participation of several organizations and unions, such as the civil construction workers' union. Peruvian flags dyed black and cardboard coffins to pay homage to the fallen comrades were present in the demonstrations in the streets of Cusco.

In Arequipa, in addition to mass marches, the Añashuayco bridge, which is the main exit to Puno and Cusco, was surrounded. The military and the police tried to clear it, but the workers and exploited quickly blocked it again.

Ayacucho, the department where the army killed 10 exploited people in one night, was also part of this new day of struggle. In Huamanga, a militant mobilization took place which was led by the families of the deceased comrades, who formed the "Association of the families of the murdered and wounded on 15 December in Ayacucho" to demand truth and justice.

In other departments such as Apurímac, Madre de Dios, Moquegua, etc., blockades, strikes and demonstrations also took place.

Despite the terror of the military and repressive forces and despite the conspiracies of the leaderships that seek to prevent the struggle of the regions from breaking out in the capital, Lima did not remain indifferent on this new day of struggle. A massive mobilization of workers, students and the exploited, together with different organizations, arrived at the Plaza San Martin, which was completely besieged by the police, who prevented people from entering the square.

But none of this managed to prevent the righteous hatred of the masses from being expressed on the streets of Lima: the demonstration resolved to march towards the Congress, against this rat nest of corrupt politicians, servants of imperialism. With this aim in mind, they marched down the Avenida Abancay in the Cercado of Lima, chanting against the Boluarte government, the Congress, the military, and the police, and for justice for the 30 martyrs who were murdered.

At the height of Nicolás de Piérola street, four blocks from the Congress, dozens and dozens of police officers were stationed to form a cordon so that the mobilization could not go on.

It was there that the CGTP leadership took the floor. The CGTP had called for this mobilization in Plaza San Martin "in support of the struggle of the South," refusing to call a national strike to make the masses’ demand of overthrowing the Fujimori regime and its government come true. Not only did they fail to mobilize the rank and file of the different trade unions, but in their speech today, the leaders of the CGTP (in the hands of Patria Roja and the Communist Party) replicated this same policy, announcing that they are "organizing" the national strike without setting a date, giving precious time to the bourgeoisie and imperialism so that they can set up their counterrevolutionary coup while leaving isolated the regions that are up in arms and at the mercy of the army's ferocious massacre.

No sooner had he finished his speech than the CGTP bureaucracy, with a giant loudspeaker, turned down Nicolás de Piérola Street, seeking to force the march to stop. None of those present paid any attention to them and, shouting "To the Congress!" they disobeyed the policy of this collaborationist leadership.

When the grassroot of the mobilization refused to leave and the maneuver of these traitors of Stalinism failed, the order was clear: crackdown was soon unleashed. More and more police arrived, many on motorbikes, but their cruel repression was bravely resisted until, with the help of tear gas bombs, they managed to disperse the mobilization, which until the last moment did not stop chanting its deepest feelings: "Dina murderer, the people repudiate you," "The dictatorship will fall," and "The blood shed will never be forgotten."

Tomorrow, the blockades and demonstrations will continue at various points in the south of the country, while in Lima more and more delegations from the regions are expected to arrive, struggling to centralize the fight in the capital, demonstrating the enormous combativeness of the masses of deep Peru, who are not giving up their rightful struggle.

Out with Boluarte, the Congress, the military murderers, and the US military bases!

General Revolutionary Strike until they are all gone!

Justice for our fallen and freedom for those imprisoned for struggle!

Correspondent from the mass combat in Peru