WEBVTT 00:01.500 --> 00:03.766 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% JOHN YANG: Good evening. I'm John Yang. In the streets of Lima, 00:03.766 --> 00:07.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Peru, demonstrators are vowing to keep demanding the president's resignation, 00:07.966 --> 00:12.966 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% despite a strong police response and a mounting death toll. At least 55 people 00:14.900 --> 00:18.500 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% are dead and 700 are injured. The worst political violence the country has seen in 00:20.500 --> 00:23.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% more than two decades began last month in rural regions and has now engulfed the capital city. 00:26.433 --> 00:30.233 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% Overnight in Lima, more violent clashes between protesters and police. Demonstrators, some waving 00:35.300 --> 00:40.266 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% the Peruvian flag, others pushing and shoving with police, faced a wall of riot shields. Tear gas and 00:42.366 --> 00:47.233 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% smoke from fires clouded the streets. Dozens of people were injured. The protesters, many from 00:49.400 --> 00:53.833 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% Peru's farthest reaches, had arrived in Lima this week by bus and by foot, defying the government's 00:55.833 --> 01:00.466 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% declaration of a state of emergency to demand the resignation of President Dina Boluarte. 01:02.533 --> 01:06.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% JOSE DE LA ROSA (through translator): We want the usurper Dina Boluarte to step down and call 01:08.600 --> 01:11.933 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% for new elections. Protests will continue. The south of the country is riotous at the moment. 01:13.366 --> 01:17.233 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: The protests erupted across the country last month 01:19.233 --> 01:22.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% after former President Pedro Castillo was removed from office and arrested. 01:22.200 --> 01:27.200 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Threatened with impeachment on corruption charges, Castillo had tried to dissolve Congress and 01:29.033 --> 01:32.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% install an emergency government. Boluarte, who was Vice President, became President. 01:34.466 --> 01:37.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% NO NAME GIVEN (through translator): We are headed to Lima to fight. We are here 01:37.800 --> 01:41.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% for the wounded, for the many deaths caused by this de facto government. 01:41.033 --> 01:46.000 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% JOHN YANG: Castillo was Peru's first leader from the rural Andes region. 01:48.100 --> 01:52.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% Campaigning on the slogan no more poor people in our rich country. He promised 01:54.900 --> 01:58.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to address long standing issues of poverty and inequality. His ousters angered his rural 02:00.366 --> 02:04.566 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and indigenous supporters, underscoring their alienation from leaders in Lima. 02:07.100 --> 02:09.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% YORBIN HERRERA (through translator): We have come to defend our country, considering that we are 02:09.100 --> 02:13.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% under a dictatorship, a militarist government which has stained our country with blood. 02:13.233 --> 02:17.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: Protesters want immediate new elections to pick a new Congress, 02:17.633 --> 02:19.866 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% and they want a new constitution. 02:19.866 --> 02:24.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% ALVELIO SANCHEZ (through translator): What we demand is the resignation of 02:24.100 --> 02:29.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% President Dina Boluarte. Also, we want the closure of Congress and new elections for 2023. 02:30.533 --> 02:34.600 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: So far, President Boluarte has been defiant. 02:34.600 --> 02:39.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% DINA BOLUARTE, President of Peru (through translator): That was not a peaceful protest. The 02:42.166 --> 02:45.433 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% violent acts that occurred in December and January will not go unpunished. I will not get tired of 02:47.966 --> 02:52.200 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% inviting those who are protesting, those who have moved from the provinces toward the capital for 02:54.300 --> 02:57.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% dialogue. I will not get tired of telling them, let's work on the vision this country needs. 02:59.100 --> 03:01.833 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: Yesterday, before the latest violence in Lima, 03:01.833 --> 03:06.766 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% I spoke with Julie Turkewitz, the Andes Bureau Chief for The New York Times. I 03:06.766 --> 03:10.200 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% asked her what she saw on a recent reporting trip to southern Peru. 03:10.200 --> 03:14.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JULIE TURKEWITZ, Bogota Colombia: In the last month, I've been to two different 03:14.133 --> 03:19.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% parts of rural Peru. The difference between the situation in Lima and the situation 03:21.133 --> 03:25.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% outside of Lima is pretty stark. The protests were happening outside of the capital. You saw 03:27.000 --> 03:30.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a lot of roadblocks. You saw a lot of parts of the country that were really paralyzed 03:32.600 --> 03:35.766 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% and a lot of anger that is happening outside of the city. And that anger is extremely present, for 03:37.900 --> 03:41.533 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% example, in Juliaca, in Cusco, in Ayacucho, and you really didn't see it on the streets in Lima. 03:43.833 --> 03:48.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: What does that tell us that this difference between the scene in Lima and the 03:50.766 --> 03:52.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% scene on the countryside, what does that tell us about what's going on? 03:52.633 --> 03:57.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JULIE TURKEWITZ: These protests, I think, really demonstrate a rural-urban divide 03:58.900 --> 04:02.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% in Peru that has existed really for generations and generations, 04:02.100 --> 04:07.100 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% where a lot of people in rural parts of the country feel that the government, 04:09.100 --> 04:12.800 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that the country's democracy, is really only functioning for a select group of people. 04:15.833 --> 04:20.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% And so, what you see in a lot of rural parts of the country is that people feel 04:22.766 --> 04:26.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that security hasn't come to them, that economic success hasn't come to them, 04:28.266 --> 04:31.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that opportunities for good education hasn't come to them. That divide, 04:31.833 --> 04:36.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% in many ways, has been exacerbated by the pandemic, which hit the country very hard, 04:39.333 --> 04:43.266 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% by a drought that has also hit the country very hard, by inflation, which has caused prices to 04:45.800 --> 04:49.900 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% rise really fast in the country. And you know, people are frustrated by their current conditions, 04:51.900 --> 04:56.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% poverty, inequality. But more than that, people are frustrated by a democracy that they don't 04:58.200 --> 05:02.166 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% believe is working for them, that they don't believe serves them in the way that it should. 05:03.566 --> 05:05.600 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: What is it that the protesters want? 05:05.600 --> 05:09.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JULIE TURKEWITZ: You know, these protests began as this anger over the arrest and the 05:12.333 --> 05:17.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% removal of former President Castillo. And so, at first, people were asking for his restitution, 05:17.100 --> 05:22.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% and they were asking for, if that didn't happen, new elections as quickly as possible. The sort 05:24.033 --> 05:28.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% of demands have grown from there, and people are asking for a new constitution. You know, 05:30.733 --> 05:35.700 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and when were in Juliaca, we saw in rural Peru, we saw signs that said calling for 05:37.700 --> 05:41.133 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% like (foreign language) like a new homeland. And the frustration has reached such a level 05:41.133 --> 05:46.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% that people are calling for a whole new system. What that new system is not clear. 05:48.266 --> 05:51.900 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JOHN YANG: Is this in any way say anything or tell 05:51.900 --> 05:55.600 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% us anything about democracies across South America, across Latin America? 05:55.600 --> 06:00.600 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% JULIE TURKEWITZ: What we have seen in Latin America in the last 15 to 20 years is definitely 06:02.933 --> 06:07.933 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% a decline in trust individual democracies and a decline in satisfaction with democracies. 06:10.333 --> 06:15.300 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% And the sort of level of dissatisfaction and the level of distrust is particularly acute in Peru. 06:17.800 --> 06:21.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: Peru certainly is no stranger to political turmoil, is it? 06:21.133 --> 06:26.133 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JULIE TURKEWITZ: It's a country that has seen six presidents in the last five years, 06:28.066 --> 06:32.233 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% and I think what that has really led to is -- or contributed to is a real distrust in how 06:36.333 --> 06:41.333 align:left position:20% line:71% size:70% the country's democracy functions. There is a, you know, a study that has been really critical 06:45.100 --> 06:50.100 align:left position:10% line:71% size:80% for us in understanding what's happening in the country that shows that just 21% of Peruvians are 06:52.833 --> 06:57.833 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% satisfied with their democracy. 88% believe that at least 50% of their politicians are corrupt. 07:00.666 --> 07:02.800 align:left position:20% line:77% size:70% Kind of gives you an idea of how people feel about the government. 07:02.800 --> 07:07.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: There have been allegations of human rights abuses in these protests? 07:07.533 --> 07:12.533 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JULIE TURKEWITZ: There are many human rights groups who have accused the police of acting 07:14.733 --> 07:18.633 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% disproportionately against protesters who, in some cases, have been violent. I mean, 07:18.633 --> 07:23.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% they've vandalized, they've burned buildings, but, you know, the police and the military, 07:23.400 --> 07:28.400 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% of course, have guns, and a lot of these people have died from bullet woods. 07:29.600 --> 07:32.133 align:left position:20% line:83% size:70% JOHN YANG: Is there any resolution in sight? 07:32.133 --> 07:35.100 align:left position:10% line:83% size:80% JULIE TURKEWITZ: One of the main sort of asks and 07:35.100 --> 07:39.900 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% demands of the protesters is that the new president resigns. And she, 07:41.766 --> 07:45.433 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% you know, she was initially an ally of Pedro Castillo, but she has really 07:47.500 --> 07:51.300 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% dug in her heels and she is not giving any signs of -- any signs that she will sort of acquiesce 07:54.033 --> 07:59.033 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% to protesters demands. And if that doesn't happen, I think this is going to keep going. 08:01.000 --> 08:02.333 align:left position:10% line:77% size:80% JOHN YANG: Julie Turkewitz of The New York Times, thank you very much. 08:02.333 --> 08:03.400 align:left position:10% line:89% size:80% JULIE TURKEWITZ: Thank you.