Dominicans, among the thousands stranded in Peru due to the political crisis

After the outbreak of the most recent political crisis in Peru, due to the self-coup of the now former president Pedro Castillo on December 7, several Dominicans complained that they were stranded in the South American country.

The Creoles were seen protesting with a handful of foreigners who are part of some five thousand people of different nationalities, according to Darwin Baca, mayor of the neighboring district of Machu Picchu, who are asking the Peruvian authorities to enable humanitarian flights to allow them to leave Cusco, in one of the main cities of Peru.

“I have been stranded since Tuesday, we are asking for a humanitarian flight, but the authorities do nothing,” complained Dominican Rosa Cabrera.

Like Cabrera, other Dominicans are suffering the consequences of the state of emergency declared by the new president of that country, Dina Boluarte, which also caused the Alejandro Velasco Astete airport in Cusco to remain closed.

In this regard, Lima Airport Partners (LAP), the airport operating company in the country, informed on its Twitter account that the measure would be lifted “as long as the security conditions for the restart of operations are met.”

“CORPAC S.A. calls for calm and serenity of the population, as well as the unions and civil associations, considering that these violent acts do nothing but harm the development of the region itself, affecting tourism and putting at risk the transfer by air, in the event of a need to attend a medical emergency,” a statement from the company specifies.

In addition, the company recommended to passengers that any flight rescheduling should be made directly with the official channels of their airline.

Read more: Peruvian Congress removes Pedro Castillo from office for “permanent moral incapacity.”
Peru is one of the South American countries that, since 2017, eliminated the visa requirement for Dominicans.

Why did the political crisis erupt?
Castillo, the recently ousted president of Peru, was detained by the authorities moments after the Congress, which he dissolved. Removed him from office. According to reports, the arrest was made possible thanks to the blockade of several police vehicles that intercepted him after he left the presidential palace with his family through the back door.

This led hundreds of thousands of Peruvians to take to the streets in protest for new presidential elections after Congress appointed Boluarte as the nation’s president. Before this, the nation’s first president declared a 30-day emergency.

Boularte, on his side, listened to Peruvians and requested that the country goes to the polls early.

What Castillo did
“The following measures are dictated: temporarily dissolve the Congress of the Republic and establish a government of exceptional emergency; summon in the shortest term a new Congress with constituent faculties to elaborate a new Constitution in a term no longer than nine months,” Castillo had said hours before in a speech that was rebroadcast on television.

In the same message, he announced that he would govern using decree laws until the new Congress was installed. In addition, he decreed a curfew in the country and the reorganization of the justice system, the Judicial Power, the Public Ministry, the National Justice Board, and the Constitutional Tribunal.