Stop the Bullets, Stop the Massacres!

BAYAN stands with the people of Peru who continue to resist the right-wing coup d’etat that deposed President Pedro Castillo on December 7, 2022. We strongly condemn the rising death toll and brutal repression perpetrated by members of Peru’s national army who shoot down civilians with tear gas, grenades and live bullets. We honor the Peruvian people’s fortitude as they bravely fight for democracy against right-wing oligarchic rule.

Castillo’s 17 months in power was strongly challenged by impeachment complaints mounted by the Peruvian oligarchy whose rejection of the Castillo presidency is described by the Peruvian people as the economic elite’s expression of hatred towards the working people’s aspirations for change. In the course of the mass protests against the coup, protesters have been tagged “terrorists,” “criminals,” “vandals,” and “drug traffickers” by mainstream media. In truth, they are self-organized citizens who participate in vigils and street marches as they also take turns in sharing their long and arduous struggle for land, employment and education.

 

Violent responses to the people’s reasonable demands are not new in Peru. The U.S.-backed counterinsurgency program by the Peruvian state from 1980-2000 resulted in killings and disappearances of 26,000 people by state actors in the city of Ayacucho alone. To this day, thousands of refugees who fled during the conflict demand justice for their loved ones.

 

Majority of the Filipinos suffer poverty, state terrorism, corruption and U.S. imperialist control and plunder. Our struggle against these dire conditions are inspired by the painstaking work of peoples’ from different parts of the world to install a democratic government that will truly serve the people. Castillo worked as a teacher and union leader and maintained strong ties with farmers and the indigenous peoples of Peru. His rise to the presidency is a reflection of the people’s clamor for change. His overthrow and capture by the right-wing elite are blatant attacks against the people.

 

Due to the worsening global crisis, people across Latin America are supporting anti-imperialist governments that promote the right to self-determination, national sovereignty while rejecting the neoliberal economic order, oligarchic rule and US foreign policy. The countries of Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Brazil and Peru where people rose up against their puppet governments through democratic elections deserve our utmost respect, support and solidarity.

 

We call on Filipinos as well as our friends and allies abroad to join the global call to stop the brutal repression of the fighting Peruvians and support their struggle for peace and social justice. We call upon all anti-imperialist and anti-fascist formations to act upon our role as solidarity movement organizers to expose and oppose US involvement in regime change and the long history of war on the people of Peru through “counterinsurgency” and the rest of Latin America and the world through sanctions, economic blockades and militarism.