Pedro Castillo spent a year and a half as president of Peru. On 7 December it dissolved the congress, established an exceptional government and announced a constituent assembly. At the end of the day she was detained and Dina Boluarte was appointed president of the government. Since then there have been many protests in Peru calling for the resignation of Boluarte and for a constituent assembly. The protests have suffered strong repression, from the 70 deaths to the thousands wounded.

This interview is against the opinion of the Peruvian embassy. Are you worried about what you
are going to say to us? The right always cares if someone is telling the truth. But because I'm quiet with the truth, who should have nothing doesn't have to be afraid. I speak for the people of origin. Our struggle did not begin on 7 December, but when Castillo was appointed president. It is then that the ill-treatment against him begins, because he is provincial, peasant, producer, and from the beginning he has suffered racism against the indigenous people.

The fight started in July 2021. Since then, the legislature has been removing several articles and laws to achieve the cessation of Castillo. The judiciary, the legislator, the sold press, were all against you. They called him incapable, of course... but they didn't realize that every insult he gave Pedro Castillo was telling us too, and the wound has been widening.

What happened on 7 December?
Pedro Castillo himself will explain to us later that day, the pressures he received and his reasons. But after his impeachment he was locked up immediately. To do so, there must be processes, and that was not the case.

Here you mix mining with the interests of oil. After 30 years, after Fujimori gave all our wealth to big business, the operating authorisations must be reviewed this year. You will therefore understand why our president is in prison.

Why are you protesting on the street? It is a political requirement. We want Boluarte's resignation. For indigenous peoples he is not president. It is usurper, who has also eaten his word. We've seen for a long time that they were trying to dismiss Castillo, and we often asked Boluarte what he was going to do if this happened, being he vice president. He said that he was going to be
next to the people, that he was not going to take office, that we are going to fight together. He betrays the people and accepts the position. He sat down with the US ambassador and set up an emergency situation. Today we have military government in Peru and our brothers are massacred. It was a massacre.

We have five demands. Resignation of Boluarte, freedom for Pedro Castillo, closure of this congress, justice for our 72 heroes and establishment of a constituent, plurinational and joint assembly. We do not demand elections, we demand freedom. We already have our democratically elected president.

The Embassy states that Boluarte has called for peace and dialogue, against corruption and disgovernment. What do you think he's looking for? Let's talk about corruption. Castle's proposal was that all companies had to pay taxes, and that money was distributed among the villages of origin, for example, to build schools. Today, among the legislative applause, they make laws not to pay taxes. If I lie, where have these
72 deaths come from? Why is there the entire army in the Puno region, if not to take care of lithium, to protect white gold?

We want a constituent assembly so that we can say what we want for our people. Enough! We are suffering 200 years of indigenous struggle and 30 years of capitalist heritage from Fujimori. We indigenous peoples are tired of being sustainers, because we are the ones who feed the country, we are the ones who wake up early to water plants or to take care of animals for food at all tables. In this new assembly we not only want our rights to be respected as human beings, but to respect our culture. Respect pachamama, anger, because it's not a commodity.

What was Pedro Castillo for you? Did it open hope? It makes
me so nostalgic to remember how we were in the palace of the president 500 sisters. It allowed us to sit with the ministers to be heard.

What is a mother's desire? Let your children learn. Not only do the wealthy learn, and so we ask Castillo. The president told us that access to university would be free. And what did the legislature do? Delete the proposal. We are also calling for a second agricultural reform which should be the face of women. And the president proposed 30 million to distribute them among women. It is not much, but peasant women have never had the opportunity to have these resources. It wasn't good for the right. That would be to distribute to the peoples of origin the wealth of the right, and they believe it is theirs. Nor did this initiative come about. A total of 74 pro-indigenous proposals were rejected archived.

All the regions asked the president to close the congress, to open a constituent assembly. How can we not hope in such a President, who has gone to the regions, who has listened to us?

And what has it been for the Castillo Congress? How was the arrival to the presidency of a person with this profile? It's
been an obstacle to congress, a stone inside the shoe. The president always met with social movements, and when he met with companies his attitude was clear: he would not betray us. Many left-wing congressmen, including those from the party of Castillo, advocated their expulsion. The president was alone, with popular movements. Congress has done nothing but try to throw it away. Castillo selected his ministers and took congresses one by one. We've had a lot of offenses since Congress. They come to say that the Tawantinsuyu, our flag, was the tablecloth of a bad restaurant, so they despise their people.

This year, mining and oil licences had to be revised. Has it been an important factor? The owners of my homeland right now are five or six rich families. In the last
30 years it has been they who have taken decisions, who have enriched themselves. The areas where mining companies are located are in extreme poverty, where is the wealth that comes out? If a company works here, 80 percent of the profits should stay in Peru because our material wealth is coming out. But since Fujimori has been so generous, it can take 80 and 20 percent. And they don't leave, they don't pay their taxes either.

They say that farmers don’t know how to think, but we realize we don’t have roads, schools, clean water, hospitals… We’re tired of getting so many bumps. Enough. Do you think we're going home when 72 members have been killed? No, we're going to fight. Death has threatened us, but we are not afraid. If we remain silent, within ten years our children will be killed. I like to die a thousand times than they do. But I will die in combat, not on my knees or in drag, standing. We have thrown seeds, we are indigenous creoles. We will die, but the seeds will germinate in spring and we will keep fighting.

They say protests have been reduced, there are now fewer roadblocks. Is movement losing strength? What do you think is going to happen? We are understandable and understandable. People need to fill the food store, breathe.
Our colleagues have returned to their lands to give land to the patron and quinoa, as it now touches. But we'll come back, we won't let Dina Boluarte live easily. If you want to dream that we're tired, that you keep dreaming. If the second reception period of the file arrives, another return. We also have our own strategies, indigenous peoples. We guarantee first to eat, fill the abdomen well, be strong and keep fighting.

What relationship does Boluarte have with big companies? Do you think all this is being done because he wants it? Have you pledged with love to the country to kill so many people? How much money would go there? How much was the Spanish ambassador going to receive? Do you think they do it for free? Why do they
not declare the killings?

I was offered to be a minister for women. But everyone has to know where it is, where the need is. At that time, as I told Castillo himself, I was not willing to cut in my mouth, I was not willing to protocols. We needed strength on the street, we had to mobilize because the congress wanted to eliminate it. And that's what we've done. We have slept in front of the congress, taking care of our votes. If I were so interested in money, I would be a minister, but not. For me, the first is respect and loyalty to oneself.

You are
denouncing in Europe, what do you expect at international level? The problem we have in Peru is not isolated from the problems of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador. It's a geopolitical problem. The right is scared. Now comes the wind. We recovered Peru, and there are Mexico, Colombia, Brazil, Bolivia and Argentina. What power can you imagine? Do you think the arrest of Pedro Castillo was a coincidence? It is not in the interests of the United States to get together. We should not be so afraid. If they come, let them come, but let them catch us standing.

Our parents, our grandmothers, taught us to embroider dreams, to weave, and we have to weave strategic alliances to make this long journey. Yesterday, they asked me to be taken back from the government to Peru. Go ahead, take me. They wait for me.