Peru’s former president calls successor “usurper,” as seven people die in violent countrywide protests

Peru's former president, who was ousted in an impeachment trial last week and arrested by the security forces, has called his successor and former vice president, Dina Boluarte, a usurper.

Pedro Castillo made the remarks in a hand-written letter posted on Twitter on Monday, adding that he has been "kidnapped" and humiliated.

He also slammed Boluarte's plans to bring forward new elections as a "dirty game."

Castillo’s remarks came after Boluarte said earlier on Monday that she would submit a bill to Congress to bring general elections forward two years to April 2024, in an apparent bid to appease protesters who have been holding violent demonstrations across the country since Castillo’s ouster.

Boluarte was sworn in last week after Castillo was sacked by Congress and arrested for trying to dissolve the legislature and prevent an impeachment vote against him.

• Two killed in protests against new government in Peru

Demonstrators, many of them Castillo supporters, have for days demanded Peru hold new elections rather than allow Boluarte to stay in power until 2026, when Castillo's term would have ended. Some protesters also called for Congress to be shuttered and for Castillo to be released.

Castillo, a former teacher and peasant farmer, had gained huge support in rural and mining areas that brought him into office in 2021. However, his administration was mired in allegations of corruption and he faced three impeachment trials.

Protests involving hundreds or thousands of people have been held since last week in cities in Peru's interior and capital Lima, at times turning violent.

Five more protesters died in Peru on Monday as violent demonstrations over the ousting of the former president showed no sign of dying down, despite his successor's efforts to quell the unrest.

Seven people, including three teenagers, have now died in escalating protests since the leftist Pedro Castillo was accused of an attempted coup, impeached and arrested last week.

Some 2,000 protesters smashed runway lighting, burned security booths and forced the closure of the airport in Peru's second-largest city Arequipa for several hours on Monday before police dispersed them with tear gas.

The clashes left one dead, while another four people died as riot police quashed protests in Boluarte's southeastern home region of Apurimac -- where two other protesters died in clashes with security forces during an attempt to storm an airport on Sunday.

"We have seven people reported dead" since Sunday, a source from the public defender's office told AFP on condition of anonymity.

• Peru’s new President Boluarte swears in her cabinet amid protests

The local unit of LATAM Airlines said in a statement that it had canceled flights to and from Arequipa after reports that protesters had invaded the runway of the city's airport.

A Peruvian community also blocked a key mining corridor highway near the city of Cusco amid protests against the country's new president, a source close to the Las Bambas mine said.

Boluarte declared a "state of emergency" in the areas of "high conflict," a measure that would allow the armed forces to take more control if necessary.

Castillo, who has been under preliminary arrest since Wednesday, is being investigated by prosecutors for the alleged crime of "rebellion" and conspiracy.

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