'I am Inca blood': Peru protests fire up a divided nation

FILE PHOTO: Protesters clash with police officers during an anti-government demonstration following the ouster of Peru's former President Pedro Castillo, in Lima, Peru January 24, 2023. REUTERS/Angela Ponce

LIMA/DESAGUADERO, Peru (Reuters) - In the Peruvian southern border town of Desaguadero, indigenous protester Adela Perez is defiant after almost eight weeks of deadly clashes that have roiled the Andean nation, hit its huge copper mines and strained the country's democratic institutions.

The country of some 34 million people has been in the throes of its worst unrest in decades since the abrupt Dec. 7 ouster and arrest of center-left President Pedro Castillo after he tried to illegally shutter Congress to avoid impeachment.