The Peruvian agrarian strike of 2018 was a series of initially peaceful protests that took place from January 9 to February 11 in a large part of the

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

vian territory. The strike was performed by medium and small independent farmers who demanded that the government declare the agricultural sector in state of emergency due to serious deficiencies in production and trade, especially in the potato sector. On January 30, 2018 the demonstrations turned violent and expanded to departments that at first did not comply with the strike, until now the clashes between the

National Police of Peru The Peruvian National Police ( es, Policía Nacional del Perú, PNP) is the national police force of Peru. Its jurisdiction covers the nation's land, sea, and air territories. Formed from the merge of the Investigative Police, the Civil Guard, a ...

and the demonstrators left two people dead and serious material damage in the entire area.

Background

Since the rise to power of

Pedro Pablo Kuczynski Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meaning ...

in 2016, Peru was involved in various protests from different areas, such as the education and health sector, the reactions to the

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the ju ...

to former President

Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto ( or ; born 28 July 1938) is a Peruvian politician, professor and former engineer who was President of Peru from 28 July 1990 until 22 November 2000. Frequently described as a dictator, * * * * * * he remains a ...

at the beginning of January 2018 and, at the same time, the resurgence of the

political crisis Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

that plagues the country. The protests germinated when the national

potato The potato is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'' and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern Unit ...

price collapsed tremendously due to the low prices of the same tuber exported from abroad by

free trade agreement A free-trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating states. There are two types of trade agreements: bilateral and multilateral. Bilateral trade agreements occur ...

s (FTAs) signed by

. Farmers called for the renegotiation of the FTAs and economic reparations that are caused by the loss of sales.

Strike

On January 9, the National Commission of Potato Producers announced the start of the strike with quiet protests in several cities of the Peruvian central highlands. After an agreement between farmers and the government, the demonstrations were halted. On January 25, the strikers expected the arrival of government representatives such as the President of the Council of Ministers, Mercedes Aráoz Fernández and the Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, José Arista. On the agreed day, however, they did not arrive, and representatives of each state organization were sent in their place, and the strikers announced that, as a result, the strike would restart on January 30 but in a violent manner. On January 30, demonstrators were blocking motorways and burning state installations in all departments, and in this case two deaths and numerous injuries were reported. On February 2 the main stage of the National Commission of Potato Producers reached an agreement with the government to lift the strike. This measure was only made official in the department of Ayacucho and some districts of other departments, this because the other Departmental proceedings are shown to be in disagreement with the ruling. Later in the same month, Ayacucho and other de facto districts would restart unemployment by a strikers majority that did not know what was agreed with the government. On February 11 the Peruvian government managed to reach an agreement to buy the products exceeded the strikers, both the dissidents and the National Commission of Potato Producers lifted the strike.

Notes

External links

* {{Peruvian political crisis 2018 in Peru Peruvian agrarian protests, 2018 Protests in Peru Irrigation in Peru Labour disputes in Peru

Background

Strike

See also

Notes

External links