Social protests: Political and social democratization opposing neoliberal elitization in Peru

Abstract

The article argues that Castillo’s coup address, his imprisonment without due process, the counter-coup by the Congress and Boluarte succession form a knot of events that sparked massive protest movements in Peru, particularly in the Southern Andes. These protests are a popular response to the re-elitism installed in the State by the neoliberalism, capturing it, and in the political system, challenging popular sovereignty through various forms and mechanisms: unjust electoral processes; false claims of election fraud; pressure, blackmail and corruption of center-left elected presidents to turn them into neoliberals; congressional coup d’états to replace elected presidents for others that implement the programs of the loser ones, and the intent of capturing electoral bodies. It argues that protests are an undeniable movement of social and political democratization which dominant ruling elites stigmatize in order to repress it with violence. Lastly, it hypothesizes that the knot of events has open the doors to a critical juncture critical for the neoliberal model.