New Article Spotlights Indigenous Women’s Leadership in Peru’s Crisis

December 9, 2025 – A new scholarly article by Dr. Luz Huertas Castillo, associate professor and coordinator of the Latin American Studies Program at Fairleigh Dickinson University, examines the rising political visibility of Indigenous women during Peru’s 2022–2024 crisis. Published in the academic journal The Global South, the study explores how Aymara and Quechua women emerged as influential political actors following the failed self-coup by former president Pedro Castillo in December 2022.

Dr. Luz Huertas Castillo

Drawing on historical context, participant testimonies, and reports of state repression, Huertas Castillo argues that Indigenous women, especially from the southern region of Puno, have become emblematic voices of resistance and democratic renewal. The article situates their leadership within Peru’s long history of inequality, marginalization and mistrust in government institutions, noting that regions with strong Indigenous populations faced the most severe state violence under President Dina Boluarte.

A central focus of the study is the active participation of Indigenous women in the three major national mobilizations known as the Tomas de Lima. Their presence, Dr. Huertas Castillo writes, challenges colonial stereotypes that have long rendered Indigenous women politically invisible. Their message, courage, and organizational strength, she argues, signal an important shift in Peru’s political imagination and point to the early markers of long-needed democratic change.