Peruvian Youth Raise Their Music Against State Terrorism

Hip hop, rock, reggae, and punk songs are accompanying the protests that thousands of Peruvians maintain firmly against President Dina Boluarte.

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Displaying unprecedented creativity, Peruvian youth have composed songs that reflect the discontent of those who raise their voices against the political class, economic elites, structural racism, and State terrorism.

"This democracy is no longer democracy. Dina, murderer, the people hate you", is the most popular song during the massive marches demanding the resignation of Boluarte, a woman who assumed power on Dec. 7, 2022 after Congress dismissed President Pedro Castillo.

Since then, popular artists have created works that repudiate a U.S.-backed administration whose violence has left hundreds of people injured and over 60 dead in less than two months.

For instance, Pau "The Kid" and Jah Man created a reggae song entitled "Dina Balearte," which plays with the President's first and last name to imply that Dina is ready to shoot you.

"Dina, your culture is murderous. You don't represent the street or life. Genocidal government," the song's lyric points out.

The young people also remember that Boluarte is allied with the fascist legislators who elected her to replace Castillo, the humble rural teacher who won the 2021 elections.

"You betrayed your people and now there is no going back," the Diazepunk band tells the current Peruvian president.

"On television you pretend to ask for forgiveness... In messages to the Nation, you pretend not to understand... Even if you send greetings in Quechua, Chinese or German, you will always be a murderer. Be careful."

Using hip hop rhythm, the Indigenous singer Liberato Kani denounces the Lima City's white, rich people and rejects the Constitution drafted during the dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000).

"Chankas, Inkas, Aymaras, Ashaninkas, we are all rising up," Liberato Kani said, mentioning the names of some of the Indigenous peoples that are coming down from the mountains towards the capital city.

"We are already tired. You issue laws for your own benefit... The people rise up in the face of so much repression."

Hip hopper Pedro Mo uses his talent to reject "Terruqueo", a term used by Peruvians to refer to the criminalization of social protests, which the Boluarte regime wants to present as artificial acts financed by terrorists and drug traffickers.

"It seems that a dead man is no longer worth anything if he is Mestizo or Black... They do not stop firing their bullets of racism and classism. They do not stop stigmatizing us as terrorists."

"We are social fighters... We are not terrorists. You are the terrorists," another song shouts at the Peruvian elites. "The conservatives are the terrucos".