Tucson, AZ – On December 7, a month of people’s protests was kicked off when democratically-elected President Pedro Castillo, a former union educator and strike leader, was arrested by Peruvian armed forces in a coup by the oligarchy-dominated Congress. Peruvians, from indigenous groups to trade unions, immediately responded with waves of protests, marches and roadblocks. Following the orders of the coup plotters, the military and police cracked down violently on the protests, including firing on protesters from helicopters with bullets and teargas. A loosely agreed-upon truce before the holidays stopped the brutal repression, with the death toll having reached over two dozen with hundreds wounded.
Fight Back! interviewed Cristiano Mayta, a trade unionist in Peru on January 3 to learn more about the situation in Perú after the overthrow of democratically-elected President Pedro Castillo by an oligarchy-dominated Congress. There is a national strike called for January 4 amid violent repression.Fight Back!: What is your organization?
¡Lucha y Resiste! entrevistó a Cristiano Mayta, un sindicalista peruano y un internacionalista, el 14 de octubre para aprender sobre de la lucha de su sindicato.¡Lucha y Resiste!: ¿Cuál es su organización?
On October 14, Fight Back! interviewed Cristiano Mayta, a trade unionist in Peru, to learn more about an upcoming strike of Coca-Cola bottling plant workers.Fight Back!: What is your organization?
Tucson, AZ – After a record six weeks of ballot counting and false claims of fraud by right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori, Pedro Castillo was officially announced the newest president of Peru, on the evening of July 19. Castillo, from a poor peasant background and the candidate of the Peru Libre party, found support in the masses of poor and working Peruvians fed up with the lack of response to COVID-19 and the high rates of unemployment. Equally important is the defeat of “Fujimorismo” the far-right ideology of neoliberalism and chauvinism of former President Alberto Fujimori, Keiko’s criminal father.
Fight Back! interviewed Cristiano Mayta, a trade unionist in Peru on June 10 as the country awaited the official results of the president election.Fight Back!: What is your organization?
Tucson, AZ – In an historic election, former elementary school teacher and union leader Pedro Castillo is winning the Peruvian presidential race. As reported by the Peruvian National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) on the morning of June 9, Castillo is leading over right-wing candidate Keiko Fujimori.
Caracas, Venezuela – The Communist Party of Venezuela (PCV) stated that the recent political conflicts in Brazil, especially the imprisonment of former president Lula Da Silva, should serve as a warning to the Venezuelan working people and popular movement of what can happen to democratic organizations and the people’s achievements when the right-wing and the oligarchy retake political power.
