Peru is in a dire situation: Six members of the Peruvian military drowned when they were swept away by river water on Sunday as they tried to escape anti-government protesters who surrounded and threw stones at them in the Puno region (south), according to the latest information on Monday from the Ministry of Defense countries.

According to him, their bodies were found in the frozen waters of the Java River, which originates in Lake Titicaca on the border with Bolivia.

“With the discovery of the body of Corporal Carlos Quispe Montalico, the investigation, launched after the conclusion of unfortunate events, does honor and glory to our courageous soldier and his five fellow soldiers,” the Ministry of Defense said on Twitter.

General Johnny Leon, head of the military command of southern Peru, said his men were attacked by the “population”.

Soldiers were trying to avoid protesters demanding the resignation of President Dina Bolluarte, the military said.

“We crossed the river (…) because we had no other choice. Between 800 and 900 people surrounded us and started throwing stones at us (…) They called us corrupt and murderers,” said a soldier covered in a blanket in a video released by the ministry.

According to him, the soldiers tried to make a human chain, but “we were swept away by the current, and some began to sink.”

The Defense Ministry video shows 15 soldiers sitting in a semicircle wrapped in blankets and reporting to their superior.

On the eve of Sunday, the Puno health authorities announced that they had treated five soldiers suffering from hypothermia and were rescued by the villagers.

An army patrol was heading to the town of Juli, Puno, where 16 people, ten civilians and six military personnel, were injured in incidents on Saturday.

Peru is still in the midst of a major political and social crisis that erupted on December 7 following the removal, arrest and pre-trial detention of former left-wing President Pedro Castillo, who was replaced by his then vice president, Dina Bolluarte.

Mr. Castillo, 53, is accused of attempting a coup d’état when he tried to dissolve a parliament that was preparing to remove him from office. He remains in a pre-trial detention center in Lima after being sentenced to 18 months of pre-trial detention.

The ombudsman said his fall after seventeen months in office sparked protests and violent incidents that left at least 54 people dead, including six soldiers, and more than 1,300 injured, half of them in uniform.

The protesters demand, in addition to the resignation of Ms Bolluarte, the dissolution of the Congress and the holding of early parliamentary and presidential elections during 2023.

Source: RES-IPE