As Peru unrest ebbs, stranded tourists make way to safety
- About 4,500 tourists rush to international airport in Cusco to catch flights, with all stranded travellers expected to be able to leave latest by Sunday
- Peru President Dina Boluarte vows not to step down, says protests were ‘overflowing’ with violent elements that were coordinated and not spontaneous
Some 4,500 tourists, many of them European and North American, rushed to the international airport in Cusco to catch flights after being stranded much of the week by simmering political unrest.
“By Sunday at the latest, all the stranded tourists will leave,” Tourism and Commerce Minister Luis Fernando Helguero told the Andina state news agency.
The state human rights ombudsman reported 70 roadblocks around the South American nation, and the toll from the unrest rose to 19 dead and 569 injured.
But the minister of defence and the head of the armed forces both said protests were diminishing in intensity.
“We have gradually been recovering normality along the roads, at the airports, in the cities. Normality is returning but it is not yet achieved,” said General Manuel Gomez de la Torre, head of the military joint chiefs of staff.
Defence Minister Alberto Otarola cautioned that “organised violent acts” were aimed at damaging airports, highways, natural gas pipelines and hydroelectric installations.