Carrier stoppage: how many deaths have been recorded to date?

The rise in prices for various products affected the pocket of Peruvians, causing several to mobilize to demand a response from the government of Pedro Castillo faced with the difficult situation they had to face. Shortly after two weeks of the strike driven by farmers and transporters, not only have they registered clashes with the Peruvian National Police, destruction of public property and looting. Unfortunately, the lives of citizens have also been lost whose causes of death are still to be clarified by the authorities.

The first victims were recorded in Junín during the demonstrations last weekend. Among these is a 13-year-old teenager whose body was found on the banks of the Yacus River, at the height of the Bellavista area, in the district of Ataura, Jauja province. Upon news of his departure, the hypothesis was spread that the minor would have fallen into the river while escaping from the police officers who sought to control the demonstration.

Candy Magaly Hinostroza de la Cruz is the second victim of the demonstrations in Junín. This is a teacher who died after being run over by Hans Oré at the height of the Las Balsas bridge in Concepción. The third victim is an 82-year-old man identified as Jorge Maldonado Landeo from the district of Huaripampa (Jauja), who died because he did not receive his haemodialysis treatment in a timely manner at the Essalud-Huancayo hospital.

On Saturday night, April 2, the Minister of the Interior, Alfonso Chávarry, confirmed the death of four citizens, but stressed that these did not occur as a result of clashes with the PNP. “There are four dead, one who died because he could not be helped, was going to the hospital; a child who falls on the bridge, and two in traffic accidents, they are hit by the same vehicles that were on strike, there has been nothing else, there are four of them,” were the minister's criticized statements.

OTHER VICTIMS

On April 5, when President Pedro Castillo had ordered social immobilization in Lima and Callao to avoid complications, in Huánuco an 18-year-old boy identified as Alexander Trujillo Nolasco was reportedly hit in the head by a tear gas projectile launched by a member of the Peruvian National Police. Trujillo Nolasco was taken on a motorcycle to the Ambo health center, where they certified his death. The exact causes of his death have not yet been determined, according to the Director of Health, Carlos Segovia Maldonado.

The most recent casualty occurred on 6 April during clashes over the blockade of roads in Ica. This time it's about Yhony Quinto Contreras, a 24-year-old boy who received a stray bullet hit in the head causing him to lose his life at that very moment. News reports indicate that despite the presence of members of the PNP, the body of the young man remained lying on the road while the prosecutor arrived on duty to lift the body.

The death of Quinto Contreras brings the number of citizens killed during the period of protests caused by the price hike to six. On the deceased in Junín, the Public Prosecutor's Office will launch an investigation to determine the causes of their departure. So far, the procedures to be followed by the authorities in relation to the other three deaths that occurred in recent days in various regions of the country are not known.

KEEP READING