Pedro Castillo will travel to Huancayo on Thursday, according to Minister Roberto Sánchez

The absence of President Pedro Castillo at the negotiating tables set up over the weekend has been one of the most important criticisms repeated management in the face of the unemployment of carriers and farmers. However, according to statements by the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Roberto Sánchez , said that the head of State would travel to the center of the country to participate in the forthcoming negotiations agreed on Thursday, 7 April.

“We want to highlight the Government's commitment to the Wanka people, the Junín region, the development agenda that the Junín region needs. This is why next Thursday we will have a decentralized meeting of the Council of Ministers. It will be led by our President of the Republic. It will be a space to land and finalize the set of announcements that have been published since today,” said Minister Sánchez.

It should be noted that the first agreements with the demonstrating guilds were reached even with the absence of the president of the republic, although it was repeated on several occasions that his presence was required. During the opening of the negotiations, Cardinal Barreto, when he consulted the negotiators whether his presence as an intermediary satisfied them, they indicated that they did not agree because he wanted the president to come forward to put an end to the crisis caused by rising prices.

Among the measures taken at the dialogue tables is the exemption from the Selective Consumption Tax (CSI) on fuels. “This measure, I am sure that it will help the transport sector and with it will avoid the increase in the price of basic necessities that has been affecting Peruvian families. As you must remember, the increase in fuel prices is not the government's fault, as it is due to external factors, such as the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine,” said President Castillo.

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Not only has Pedro Castillo's absence from the dialogue tables been the target of criticism, but also his comments on those citizens who took to the streets to make visible their unease in the face of rising prices for various products in recent weeks. The head of state referred to the protesters as “paid” people; however, within a few hours he apologized for what he considered a “misunderstanding”.

“I want to clarify the country and I want to make it clear to my compatriots that, when I address the Peruvian people and in some of those statements there has been a misunderstanding and I have to clarify it by apologizing or forgiving the people; I have to do them a thousand times, because I never have bad intentions,” he said during a speech from the San Martín region. “A government that comes from that quarry, we are going to guarantee dialogue and the right to protest, that the leaders who are leading the struggle in the country and who lead a just cause such as transporters, farmers, teachers are no longer persecuted,” he added.

The first week of protests, according to the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Chávarry, left three dead. “When the wave of protests took place, there were protesters who protested peacefully in and around the city, the police handled it very wisely to avoid a social cost; however, there have been three deaths, not by the police, but two from traffic accidents and a child who fell into the river, and that the police rescued. We regret these deaths and my condolences to the relatives,” he said.

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