Violent clashes in Ucayali as fuel-price strike turns deadly; police patrol vehicle torched

On the fifth day of an indefinite regional strike over fuel prices — diesel had risen from roughly 11.50–12 soles/gallon in March to 21–24 soles/gallon by August — protesters and police clashed violently at kilometer 30–34 of the Federico Basadre highway in Campo Verde district, Ucayali, after police tried to clear a roadblock. Demonstrators threw rocks, sticks and flares and set a police patrol vehicle ablaze; 14 police officers were injured and 13 people were detained (including one minor), while roughly 10 protesters were treated for tear-gas exposure. Separately, a man with a stroke and hypertension complications died in an ambulance on August 13 after blocked roads delayed his transfer to a specialized hospital in Pucallpa. The unrest, organized by the Frente de Defensa de Ucayali (FREDEU) and transport unions, was the first major social crisis of President Keiko Fujimori's three-week-old government, which responded by announcing a targeted transport-fuel subsidy.