LIMA, Peru тАФ The government of Peru said on Wednesday that it would declare a nationwide state of emergency as it sought to control widespread violence resulting from the ouster of the countryтАЩs elected president, an extraordinary measure even in a country accustomed to political upheaval and protest.
The measure, which has not yet been published into law, would suspend the rights of assembly and freedom of transit, among other civil liberties, for 30 days, said Alberto ├Уtarola, the countryтАЩs defense minister.
The move is the most significant government response to a crisis that erupted last Wednesday when the president, Pedro Castillo, tried to dissolve Congress, which he had been feuding with since taking office last year.
Within hours, PeruтАЩs Congress impeached him and Mr. Castillo was arrested, setting off waves of angry protests by supporters who believe his removal was illegitimate.
Several political analysts said that while past governments have declared states of emergency in certain parts of the country, the measure had not been used this widely since the 1990s, when the country was brutalized by a Marxist terrorist group called the Shining Path.
Speaking to reporters outside the presidential palace on Wednesday, the countryтАЩs new president, Dina Boluarte, who took office just a week ago, called for calm.
тАЬPeru cannot overflow with blood,тАЭ she said, and then referenced the Shining Path days. тАЬWe have already gone through that experience in the 1980s and тАЩ90s and we do not want to return to that painful story that has marked the lives of thousands of Peruvians.тАЭ
The state of emergency was announced by Ms. BoluarteтАЩs defense minister on Wednesday. It is expected to go into effect after the president signs it later on Wednesday.
Mr. CastilloтАЩs attempt to dissolve Congress and install a government that would rule by decree was denounced by both opponents and many of his allies as a coup attempt. Ms. Boluarte, the former vice president, was sworn in that same day.
The public reaction to the swift transition was at first relatively muted. But in recent days protesters have emerged en masse, mostly in rural areas, staging attacks against police stations, courthouses, factories and airports, among other targets.
At least six people have died, most of them young protesters, and more than 100 police officers have been injured, according to Peruvian authorities.
PeruтАЩs police recently said that since last Wednesday 71 people have been arrested in the departments of Lima, Apur├нmac, Arequipa, Ica and La Libertad, accused of disturbing the public peace.
Mr. Castillo, a former schoolteacher and union activist from a poor rural family, galvanized many Peruvians like him with his leftist platform during last yearтАЩs election. Many of his supporters said they were frustrated by a system designed only to help the elite class.
But after taking office, he struggled to govern, his government marred by allegations of corruption, incompetence and mismanagement.
After Mr. CastilloтАЩs arrest last week, his supporters accused the political elite of driving him toward political suicide, and said the establishment never gave him a chance to govern successfully. In interviews, some said they felt they had been robbed of their vote, pushing them to the streets.
Jos├й Godoy, a Peruvian political scientist, was critical of the decision to declare a state of emergency.
тАЬIt verifies that measures for force come before dialogue with the citizenry,тАЭ he said. тАЬThis diminishes BoluarteтАЩs credibility.тАЭ
Mr. Godoy added that the decision, if accompanied by a curfew, which the government said it was considering, would also be a blow to the economy.
тАЬIt seems disproportionate to me,тАЭ he said. тАЬI think it should only apply in places where thereтАЩs really convulsion.тАЭ
Mitra Taj reported from Lima, Peru, and Julie Turkewitz from Bogot├б, Colombia.
