26.8 C
Accra
Tuesday, December 24, 2024
WorldMachu Picchu's primary airport in Peru closes as protests intensify

Date:

Machu Picchu’s primary airport in Peru closes as protests intensify

The airport in Cusco, which served as the entrance to Machu Picchu, Peru’s most famous tourist destination, has been shut down for safety reasons.

Authorities have shut down Cusco International Airport, a busy entry point to the mountaintop Incan citadel of Machu Picchu, one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, as anti-government demonstrations spread across the country.

Numerous airports in Peru have been the target of weeks of protests that have claimed dozens of lives nationwide.

The Alejandro Velasco Astete International Airport in Cusco was preemptively closed due to safety concerns, according to the transport ministry of Peru on Thursday.

“This action is being taken to safeguard peoples’ wellbeing and the safety of aeronautical operations,” the ministry said in a statement.

Clashes in Cusco – an arrival point for people visiting the country’s tourism crown jewel of Machu Picchu – broke out on Wednesday with protesters attempting to enter the airport, while others torched a bus station, attacked shops and blocked train tracks with large rocks.

Peru’s rights ombudsman said one person died in Cusco and more than 50 people, including 19 police officers, were injured in the turmoil, while police said they had arrested 11 people.

Protests continue to escalate across Peru since first erupting in early December after the removal of former President Pedro Castillo, who was thrown out of office for attempting to dissolve Congress and rule by decree in a failed bid to prevent an impeachment vote against him.

Supporters of Castillo have marched for weeks demanding new elections and the removal of current leader Dina Boluarte, who replaced Castillo as president. Boluarte, 60, was Castillo’s vice president but took over once he was removed on December 7.

Castillo, who was being investigated in several fraud cases during his tenure, has been remanded in custody for 18 months, charged with rebellion.

Clashes between protesters and security forces have left at least 42 people dead, including a police officer who was burned alive in a vehicle, while hundreds more have been injured.

Almost half of the victims died in clashes on Monday night alone in the southern Puno region, where 17 people were due to be buried on Thursday. Gathered in a circle around a coffin, relatives of one of the victims held posters reading: “Dina corrupt murderer” and “we are not terrorists but citizens who demand justice”.

Also on Thursday, trade unions, left-wing parties and social collectives marched through Lima, the capital which has largely been spared of violence thus far, to denounce a “racist and classist… dictatorship”.

The social unrest has laid bare the deep divisions between residents of the affluent capital and populations in Peru’s long-neglected countryside. Castillo was a political novice who lived in a two-story adobe home in the Andean highlands before moving to the presidential palace after winning a narrow victory in elections in 2021. The result rocked Peru’s political establishment.

Al Jazeera’s Mariana Sanchez, reporting from Lima, said the atmosphere was tense at the marches in the capital following days of clashes between protesters and police in different parts of the country which had seen demonstrators killed by the gunfire of security forces.

“People have been marching around the centre of the capital demanding the resignation of President Dina Boluarte. They are calling her an assassin and saying that she is responsible for the deaths,” Sanchez said.

“Prime Minister Alberto Otárola has said that Dina Boluarte will not resign, that she is solidly conducting the country and that her resignation would be like opening the door to anarchy,” she said.

The prime minister weighed in on behalf of Boluarte in “response to a statement put out by governors in different parts of the country saying that, and urging her, that she must resign because that’s the only way to resolving the crisis”, she added.

In addition to demanding Boluarte’s resignation, protesters want Congress to be dissolved and a new body set up to rewrite the constitution – which was adopted in 1993 under the mandate of Alberto Fujimori.

The former president is serving a 25-year prison sentence for crimes against humanity committed during his time in power.

Source: Aljazeera.com
[forminator_poll id="710479"]

Latest stories

NPP to set up committee to review defeat in 2024 polls

The New Patriotic Party (NPP) has revealed its intention...

We cannot release results with GHS25m – WAEC to govt

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has expressed frustration...

Govt misses T-bills target as interest rates near 30%

The government narrowly missed its treasury bills target as...

NPP issuing last-minute appointments to sabotage us – NDC

The National Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC),...

280 NPP members, including Cynthia Morrison expelled for violating party ethics

The Agona West Constituency of the New Patriotic Party...

Ruto expands cabinet to include more opposition to secure national unity

Kenya’s President William Ruto has brought more opposition leaders...

OB Amponsah makes history with 4,000-seat Comedy Show

Ghanaian optometrist and comedian OB Amponsah made history by...

Related stories

Biden grants full pardon to son Hunter amid criminal sentencing

US President Joe Biden has granted a full and...

Court issues 2-year suspended death sentence to former Bank of China Chair for bribery, others

Former Bank of China chairman Liu Liange on Tuesday received...

Ghanaians among UN peacekeepers injured in Southern Lebanon attacks

The UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon has reported...

Russia denies Trump told Putin to restrain Ukraine war efforts

The Kremlin has rejected media reports suggesting that US...

More than 100 detained as protesters defy Amsterdam’s ban on protests

Dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters were arrested in Amsterdam on...

Traffic jam erupts as cyclists from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng for dumplings

A social media trend that began as a lighthearted...

Adin Ross wins $1.6m on Trump election bet after public endorsement

American streamer and social media influencer Adin Ross scored...