MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

State of emergency in Peru following farmers' protests

Police were working to reopen major transport routes [AFP]

The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency in several coastal provinces after a farmers' protest left at least four dead and more than 700 under arrest.

The Armed Forces were given control over the departments of Lima, Ancash and La Libertad in a bid to free about 1.000 stranded buses after protesters battled police and blocked roads and railway lines, Cabinet Chief Jorge del Castillo said on Tuesday. "The state can't remain impassive faced with this situation", del Castillo told reporters in Lima. "These measures are severe (suspension of constitutional rights, inviolability of homes the right to assemble), but absolutely necessary to safeguard order in the country". Farmers called the nationwide protest to push for state subsidies as part of a free-trade agreement with the US, for lower prices for fertilizers and for a halt to farm seizures by banks. Peru, the world's largest exporter of organic coffee, asparagus and paprika, boosted agricultural exports to the US and China by 10% to 2 billion US dollars last year. "The agreements we've reached don't establish amounts or deadlines" said Enrique Malaga, president of the National Irrigation Board, which is organizing the protest. "The government has lost all credibility". Protesters in the southern Andes blocked the railway line to the Inca citadel of Macchu Pichu, Peru's biggest tourist attraction forcing the suspension of the service. Thousands of passengers were stranded around the country without food or water, according to footage broadcast by Lima- based television station Canal N. The most serious incidents reportedly happened in Pativilca to the north of Lima where thousands were stranded in hundreds of buses and cars blocked on the Panamerican highway by protestors. One protester was killed in a shootout with bus passengers on the north coast, and three others died during fighting with police in the southern Andes, Lima-based Radioprogramas reported. The protests won't cut off food supplies to Lima, Peru's capital, as the coastal Pan-American Highway and central Andean highway are open, Agriculture Minister Ismael Benavides told reporters in Lima.