Peru rejects the coup!

Jan. 28 — Close to a hundred people gathered in Manhattan’s Union Square this afternoon to protest the coup in Peru and the bloody police terror there. Peru’s President José Pedro Castillo Terrones was overthrown on Dec. 7, 2002.

Since then, at least 66 people protesting the coup have been murdered by police and the army. President Castillo continues to be jailed along with hundreds of protesters.

Pictures of dozens of people who had been killed were displayed at the rally. Long paper banners were taped to the ground.

One called for freeing President Castillo. Another demanded a new constitution.

A person carried a sign with a picture of Christian Rojas. A student who came from a farm family, Rojas was 19 years old when he was killed.

Speakers denounced Vice President Dina Boluarte, who has presided over the terror by the military and cops. A sign read, “Dina is a murderer of innocent people.” A man spoke eloquently about the brutality of the police.

One of the speakers was Lucy Pagoada-Quesada, a New York City schoolteacher who’s the coordinator of D19/Partido Libre de Honduras.

As in Peru, Honduras President José Manuel Zelaya was overthrown in 2009 at the direction of the U.S. State Department. Both presidents, Zelaya and Castillo, were elected by the poor.

After years of struggle and hundreds of people being killed, Xiomara Castro—the candidate of the Partido Libre de Honduras — was elected president last year. One of her first acts was to call for free electricity for poor people. We need that in the United States!

Steve Millies spoke for Struggle-La Lucha newspaper. He pointed out that behind Dina Boluarte were the U.S. government and U.S. mining companies.

Millies said that since the 16th century, the wealth of Peru has been plundered by world capitalism, beginning with its silver mines.