Brazil & Peru Plagued By Protests & Riots

Both Brazil and Peru have witnessed riots and protests during the past couple of weeks, with both being connected to the recent changes in the leadership of the respective countries.

In Brazil, thousands of supporters of Brazil’s former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s Congress, the Supreme Court and the presidential palace recently.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, better known known as Lula, narrowly defeated Bolsonaro in October’s presidential election following a bitter campaign, and took office at the turn of the year.

While Lula has previously served two presidential terms, he has served a prison sentence and many Brazilians believe it is shameful for him to return and lead the country after his time in jail.

Many of Bolsonaro’s supporters placed their hope in him being the man who would defeat Lula, whom they consider a communist threat to Brazil, and snapped within a week of Lula taking office on January 1st.

Flyers and announcements spread on social media calling on protesters to come to the capital Brasília to ‘retake power’, before military forces were deployed to take charge of police and security duties in the city.

During the past couple of days the city has remained relatively calm but we may not have seen an end to the protests.

In Peru, dozens of people are believed to have died in clashes between supporters of the former president – Pedro Castillo – and security forces in south-eastern Peru.

The protestors insist that new female president – Dina Boluarte – must go and are demanding a snap election. Much of the rioting has been in the city of Juliaca, located in the Puno region, where thousands of people tried to overrun the city’s airport and a local police station.

Peru has been through years of political turmoil, with the latest crisis coming to a head when Castillo attempted to dissolve Congress in December, before Congress proceeded to vote overwhelmingly to impeach him.