A police officer on patrol was attacked and burned alive by protesters in Peru’s Puno region as the death toll from demonstrations following the ouster of former President Pedro Castillo rose to 47, authorities said Tuesday.
José Luis Soncco Quispe, 29, was on patrol with a fellow officer in Juliaca, a city near the Bolivian border and Lake Titicaca, Monday night when they were attacked by a mob who then set their vehicle on fire, according to reports. police. .
Soncco’s partner on the patrol, Ronald Villasante Toque, said the men were “detained and physically assaulted by about 350 protesters,” according to reports.
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Villasante was taken to a Lima hospital with multiple head injuries after being beaten. He said that he was not aware of what was happening to his partner.
Prime Minister Alberto Otárola confirmed Soncco’s death in a session of Congress and said the men were attacked by protesters.
José Luis Soncco Quispe, 29, was on patrol when he was attacked and burned alive by Peruvians protesting the removal of President Pedro Castillo. The death toll caused by the riots now stands at 47.
(AP Photo/Jose Sotomayor)
“The police arrived at the scene and found that one officer had been beaten and tied up, and the other, Luis Soncco Quispe, had unfortunately died,” he said. “They burned him alive in his patrol car.”
Otárola announced a three-day curfew from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. in Puno, and a day of mourning for the fallen on Wednesday.
Peru’s Ombudsman’s Office said that since the protests began in early December after Castillo’s removal, 39 civilians have been killed in clashes with police and another seven have been killed in traffic accidents, in addition to the fallen policeman.
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The death of the police officer came after the murder of 17 people on Monday in Juliaca as protests seeking immediate elections resumed in abandoned rural areas of the country that are still loyal to Castillo.
The riots began after Castillo’s removal and arrest following a widely condemned attempt to dissolve Congress and avoid his own impeachment trial.
Castillo’s successor, his former running mate Dina Boluarte, supported a plan to move up to 2024 the presidential and legislative elections originally scheduled for 2026. She also voiced support for judicial investigations into whether security forces acted with excessive force.
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But such measures have so far failed to quell the unrest, which after a brief respite around the Christmas and New Year holidays has resumed in force in some of Peru’s poorest areas, where support for the unorthodox government of Castillo had been stronger.
A political novice who lived in a two-story adobe house in the Andean highlands before moving to the presidential palace, Castillo won a narrow victory in 2021 elections that rocked Peru’s political establishment and exposed deep divisions. among the residents of the capital. , Lima and the long forgotten countryside.
