Third transport strike in Peru prompts demand for overthrow of Boluarte regime

On Wednesday, October 23, a mass strike took place against the government of President Dina Boluarte and the Peruvian Congress. This is the third strike in a row by public transport workers.

Peruvian army troops mobilize against a transport strike on October 23 in Lima (Photo: ANDINA/Juan Carlos Guzman Negrini)

The immediate catalysts for the strike were transportation insecurity due to organized crime syndicates that extort money and even kill people who do not comply with their demands, and the failure of Congress to fulfill the reform promises it made after the first two strikes. .

Striking transportation organizations – the National Association of Transport Integration (ANITRA), the National Carrier Alliance and the National Coordinator of Multi-Sectoral Struggle – which include transit operators, bus and minivan owners, and bus drivers, are demanding the shelving of bills related to so-called urban terrorism, and Repeal of Law 32108 relating to organized crime.

Law 32108 stipulates that a lawyer must be present when police raid a suspect’s home. It was previously changed in response to previous strikes to allow the presence of a Justice Department-appointed lawyer, but it continues to serve as a protective measure against extortion mobs and corrupt members of Congress.

Compared to previous strikes, the demands of October 23 raised serious political issues. Protesters demanded the resignation of President Dina Boluarte, Prime Minister Gustavo Adriansen, Interior Minister Juan José Santivanez and members of Congress. In addition, there was a demand for early elections.

In addition to the transport organizations that organized strikes on September 26, October 11 and 12, other organizations also joined the strike on October 23. These included the Gamarra and Mesa Redonda business associations, representing micro and small businesses known by their Spanish acronym (mypes), as well as the National Organization of Relatives of the Victims of the 2022 and 2023 massacres.

In working-class neighborhoods, grocery stores, pharmacies and restaurants remained closed due to the current strike, and taxi drivers expressed solidarity with transport workers. University students also joined them.

Protesters gathered in different places: some came from Puente Piedra, others from the Carabayllo area in northern Lima. In addition, marchers came from the Ate district, located east of the city, and from Ventanilla in El Callao.

They all gathered in Dos de Mayo Square, a site of historical significance known for mass demonstrations of the working class over the past century.

Social media showed the demonstrations lasted for several blocks, blocking the Panamericana Norte highway and causing significant traffic chaos. The protesters then continued through the streets of Lima’s historic center on their way to Congress.

On Av. Abancay, where the Congress is located.

The government sent 13,000 police and 800 reinforcements from Puno to prevent any “unrest”. They were armed with live ammunition, batons and pepper spray. The army was also present in Lima’s historic center, blocking many of the streets leading to Congress.

After clashes with the police, the students retreated to Plaza San Martin and remained there until late at night.

Unlike previous strikes, which were primarily focused on Lima, the October 23 strike took place simultaneously in different cities.

On the northern coast it included Tumbes, Piura, Chimbote and Huacho; in the central highlands – Huancayo and Huanuco; in the southern Andes – Arequipa, Juliaca and Cusco; and Tacna, a city near the border with Chile.

In Juliaca, protests were led by the mothers of young men killed following Dina Boluarte’s assumption of the presidency after former President Pedro Castillo was overthrown and jailed in a US-backed parliamentary coup.

Responding to the strike on October 23, Interior Minister Juan José Santivanez said efforts to combat citizen insecurity had already yielded results.

His remarks were quickly refuted the day after the last strike, on October 24, when hitmen in working-class neighborhoods around Lima killed eight people. The mayor of the Ate district blamed the deaths on the interior minister, saying “the state of emergency has failed.”

Workers must realize the enormous danger posed by the reactionary nature of the strike leadership’s policies. In an effort to pressure Congress to take action against the extortion mafia and citizen insecurity, it has remained silent on critical issues underlying the current crisis, such as social inequality, the impoverishment of the working class due to unemployment and low wages, and also a high percentage of failures. meeps).

Rather than promoting any independent working class political struggle, this leadership, dominated by small employers and businessmen, especially in the public transport sector, seeks to strengthen the National Police (PNP) and the military, which will be used to suppress any uprising. workers, students and other oppressed sections of the population.

Even bourgeois political scientists admit that a state of emergency, the presence of armed forces on the streets and the repeal of laws against organized crime will not be able to effectively combat criminal organizations.

The question arises: what will be the reaction of the ruling class? The Urban Terrorism Act, inspired by the USA Patriot Act, makes it clear: the repressive apparatus of the bourgeois state will be strengthened and directed against the workers and the most oppressed sections of Peruvian society.

For example, Legislative Decree No. 1589, published on December 4, 2023, which amended Article 315 of the Criminal Code, criminalizes roadblocks and penalizes support for protesters, including the financing of those traveling to Lima for demonstrations.

The rise of the mafia racket, which uses hitmen to force bus drivers, (mostly working-class) passengers, teachers, construction workers and grocery store owners to pay fees, is the result of complex socio-economic processes. This is primarily due to growing social inequality, which most acutely affects young people aged 15 to 29, 40 percent of whom are not in work or school. The resulting feeling of abandonment and helplessness creates an environment in which young people become easy targets for the mafia, seeking to recruit and train people for robbery and murder.

Workers must reject state propaganda that portrays youth abandoned by the ruling class and its state as criminals. This perception arises from the sensationalist way in which the bourgeois press depicts a wave of attacks and murders on the streets, in workplaces and on buses.

Social inequality also contributed to the adoption of the Fujimori Constitution in 1993, which was written to give foreign capital and its national junior partners unlimited opportunities to make profits. To attract investment, this constitution, introduced during the dictatorial regime of President Alberto Fujimori, seriously undermined the rights of the working class by allowing employers to outsource workers to avoid labor costs and giving them the right to quickly terminate workers’ contracts. .

Fujimori’s constitution encourages the worker-to-entrepreneur model, promoting the growth of micro- and medium-sized enterprises (mypes). A micro-enterprise employs from 1 to 10 workers, and a small enterprise employs from 11 to 100 workers. (Mypes) play a critical role in the economy, representing 96.4 percent of all companies and 45.9 percent of the economically active population (EAP).

Instead of calling for the use of police and soldiers, workers must build a leadership based on the strength of the working class.

The three strikes did not involve the mobilization of the industrial working class, with the exception of the construction sector. Builders are extorted from 500 soles ($133) to 1,000 soles ($267) per month, while construction companies are extorted from 1 to 2 percent of construction costs.

Peruvian construction unions themselves often behave like a mafia, competing for representation on construction sites. This rivalry has led to violent clashes in which hitmen are hired to kill union leaders. From 2011 to 2024, 24 construction managers were killed by killers.

According to 2010 statistics, industry in Peru employs 1.75 million workers and, indirectly, 3.55 million workers. The main obstacle facing the industrial working class in mobilizing its independent forces is the treacherous former Stalinist leadership of the General Confederation of Workers of Peru – the General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP).

The CGTU fraudulently supported the strike on October 23, trying to keep it within the framework of the bourgeois state. Instead of addressing pressing issues affecting the working class, he simply criticized “the legislature for failing to improve the legal framework needed to combat organized crime.”

The struggle to mobilize the full strength of the Peruvian working class against increasingly intolerable living conditions requires a break with the treacherous leadership of the CGTU and its pseudo-left defenders and the creation of a new revolutionary leadership, the Peruvian section of the International Committee. Fourth International.

Third transport strike in Peru prompts demand for overthrow of Boluarte regime

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