The tragedy of the Ilave River, in which six soldiers lost their lives, has once again struck wounded Peru and has brought the crisis generated by the failed coup led by Pedro Castillo to the fore. The Ilave is a tributary of Lake Titicaca, which runs largely in the Andean region of Puno, bordering Bolivia and the main epicenter of the protests that have shaken the country.
“We have requested the General Command of the Army and the Unified Command of Puno to thoroughly investigate the circumstances in which the deaths occurred. We recall that it is the responsibility of the military authorities to guarantee the life and integrity of the personnel under their charge,” the Ombudsman announced today. , which requested the immediate action of the Prosecutor’s Office “according to its powers in criminal matters.”
The versions published so far contradict each other. According to the Joint Command of the Armed Forces, one of its patrols was intercepted by radical demonstrators, “abruptly and violently preventing them from passing.” To avoid confrontation, the patrol decided to take an alternate route, including crossing the river, because the bridges were blocked. “Due to the difficulties, the flow of the river and the attack with stones and other blunt objects,” six members of the patrol were swept away by the current.
The search work was concluded after finding the body of the sixth and last of the casualties, a 22-year-old officer.
“Eight hundred people surrounded us and began to throw stones at us and there we began to cross the river. It was the only way out to safeguard our lives. They called us murderers, corrupt, everything,” explained one of the soldiers in a video released by the Forces Armed.
The testimonies of the residents and of some of the soldiers who saved his life provide a different explanation. According to these versions, Captain Josué Frisancho ordered them to cross the river despite the fact that soldiers warned him that they did not know how to swim. The protesters themselves saved several soldiers who were drowning, gripped by the weight of bulletproof vests and ammunition. The officer did not enter the river.
Shouts, laments and accusations against President Dina Boluarte were heard among the relatives who came to rescue the bodies. In different audiovisual documents uploaded to social networks, relatives of the drowned did not hesitate to blame the government for the tragedy that occurred in the Ilave river.
Hours before, the clashes between police forces and protesters ended with the burning of the Juli police station, with 16 injured (ten civilians and six soldiers) as a final balance. Social and community leaders have declared Boluarte, born in the Andean region of Apurímac, as an “enemy of the people.”
“Enough of the confrontations! Let’s prioritize dialogue to find solutions,” claimed José Williams, president of Congress, who will decide in the coming days the last attempt to advance the elections for this year. All initiatives have failed so far in the face of the unnatural alliance between the right and the radical left.
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