QCOSTARICA – Costa Rica began on Friday to repatriate Costa Ricans who are stranded in Peru due to the blockade of roads in the framework of the anti-government protests in recent days.
The Cancillería de Costa Rica (Costa Rican Foreign Ministry) reported that a group of 21 people, of which 14 are students from a secondary school, who were on vacation in Cusco and who had not been able to leave area, were returned on Friday.
“We had detected 100 Costa Ricans who were in Cusco, between tourists and residents in Peru, who could not leave the area due to roadblocks. Of that total, about 21 will travel to Costa Rica today,” the consul in Peru, Eduardo Cubero, said in a statement.
The consul said that the evacuation of Cusco is being carried out by Peruvian authorities by air and that it is expected that more Costa Ricans will be able to be mobilized.
Peru has been going through social and political tension since last December 7, the day of the failed self-coup of former president Pedro Castillo, when Congress dismissed him and, shortly after, he was arrested. Peruvian justice has decreed for him 18 months of preliminary preventive detention.
Read more: Peru’s President impeached and arrested!
Dina Bolaurte, vice-president in the Castillo administration, immediately took office as head of state, and since assuming the new role, Boluarte’s administration has been rocked by political turbulence and widespread protests, which have left 20 dead, with six more killed after incidents related to road blockades, authorities said.
The protests, the worst to hit Peru in years, threaten to disrupt the country’s economy and political stability and hurt investor confidence in the world’s No. 2 copper producer.
Agencia EFE
