The US government-funded Peace Corps agency has evacuated its volunteers from Peru amid the escalating political crisis in the country, spokesman Troy Blackwell told the Politico newspaper
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 31st January, 2023) The US government-funded Peace Corps agency has evacuated its volunteers from Peru amid the escalating political crisis in the country, spokesman Troy Blackwell told the Politico newspaper.
"Peace Corps/Peru has temporarily evacuated all volunteers to another Peace Corps post. The safety and well-being of Peace Corps volunteers is our top priority. We are closely monitoring the security situation with local partners on the ground and the U.S. Embassy in Lima," Blackwell wrote in an email cited in the report.
He confirmed that the volunteers had been evacuated but did not specify the destination. Meanwhile, a person familiar with the matter told Politico, on the condition of anonymity, that the volunteers were transferred to the Peace Corps' post in Ecuador.
The Peace Corps volunteers are the first group of workers to be evacuated when there is unrest in the country, since they work in remote areas and have less protection than US diplomats, according to the newspaper.
At the same time, there are currently no signs of US officials or government agents leaving Peru, the report said.
On December 7, 2022, Peru's parliament impeached former President Pedro Castillo. Then-Prime Minister Dina Boluarte took an oath as the country's new president within two hours of the impeachment vote, vowing to serve out the rest of Castillo's term, until July 2026. Castillo, who had tried to dissolve the parliament before the vote, was arrested after the impeachment procedure and the Peruvian prosecutor's office later launched a criminal case against him on charges of a coup attempt and crimes against the state.
These events have sparked a wave of protests across the country. Demonstrators denounce the post-impeachment government, and call for an immediate presidential election and termination of the country's parliament. At least 53 people were reported to have died since the start of the protests.
