(CNN Spanish) – The government of Peru declared this Thursday a state of emergency for 60 days in 12 of the 177 districts of the provinces of Lima and Callao, given the recent situation of citizen insecurity.
The measure, which implies that the Armed Forces support the Police in maintaining order, is taken to combat crime, whose increase led to the paralysis of transportation in almost the entire capital this Thursday.
Citizen insecurity led the urban transporters of the Peruvian capital to stop work this Thursday, after several companies decided not to operate any of their routes and request the attention of the government of President Dina Boluarte, due to the threats and extortion they denounce. .
“We have declared ourselves on strike for the right and defense of human life. We consider that these acts that are happening: extortion, hitmen, homicides, serious injuries against transport operators, are the consequence of a failed policy on the part of the Peruvian State,” Héctor Vargas, leader of one of the unions that called the meeting, told CNN. unemployment and which brings together 63 of the approximately 300 companies that exist in the capital.
The Peruvian Police made some buses available to citizens to help them get around.
The government also announced that it will present to Congress a bill to classify extortion, contract killings and kidnapping as urban terrorism.
On Monday, the government announced the creation of a special police group to confront cases of extortion that affect transport companies.
Vargas said that criminals extort companies and drivers to let them work “in a calm manner,” and if they fail to comply, they attack them. He pointed out that in September alone they have recorded at least four people killed in events allegedly linked to extortionists.
“When a company has refused to pay or has delayed paying for a few days, these criminals have attacked their lives,” he added.
The authorities have opened investigations into these homicides.
Due to the strike of transporters, in-person classes in public and private schools in Lima were suspended, and some offered them remotely. In addition, the government urged employers to prioritize teleworking.
Already on Monday, some transport lines had suspended operations and reported constant extortion and criminal attacks.
Some transporters marched to Congress this Thursday. Vargas pointed out that they asked the legislators who received them for coordinated work by all State institutions to face the problem.
“Two or three years ago the extortions began. And here we have to make a mea culpa, the companies or drivers, out of fear, did not file complaints,” Vargas said.
The inhabitants of the Peruvian capital have the Lima Metro and the bus system in the Metropolitan segregated corridor – which did operate this Thursday – but the majority of Lima residents also depend on the transport lines that complied with the strike. According to Héctor Vargas, these represent between 70 and 80% of the capital’s total transportation.
