The extreme actions of an elected mayor in one of the most populous districts of Lima are denying thousands of street vendors of their basic rights and driving them into poverty. But street vendors are fighting back.

The residents of the bustling Chacra Cerro neighborhood in Lima’s Comas district were still celebrating the New Year in the small hours of 1st January 2024 when scores of bulldozers began to tear up and destroy their roads and pavements. The confusion led to dismay later in the day, when a public statement by the local Mayor’s office justified the act of state vandalism as part of a policy to prevent street vendors from plying their trade in the area.

A crusade against street vendors

Local vendors’ associations, which form part of the Federación de Comerciantes y Emprendedores de Comas (Federation of the Traders and Entrepreneurs of Comas) estimate that 2000 street vendors were operating in the approximately six blocks targeted for demolition, now left without the possibility to work with dignity to support themselves and their families. Worse still, the local authority has let it be known that it intends to continue its crusade against street vendors across the whole Comas district, generating fear and stress for this marginalized population.

As is so often the case, street vendors have been depicted by the local mayor as public enemies, responsible for the lack of cleanliness, accessibility and orderly development of the cities. The hate campaign has been led by Comas Mayor Ulises Villegas, who has also publicly accused vendors of threatening him.

Mayor ‘Ulises’ is an ambitious local politician who seeks to use social media to drive his populist agenda, He has a large social media following, and frequently posts videos and messages about his activities and policies, often seeming to determine policy off the cuff. His disdain for street vendors is a common theme of his social media content, often making disparaging, offensive comments.

A New Year’s Eve injustice

Local street vendors leaders told StreetNet of their shock and confusion upon seeing the devastation on 1 January. “When we saw what they had done (on 1 January) I just couldn’t believe they would do that. I still can’t believe it” said one street vendor leader. “At first I felt numb, but we had to react, because they took our livelihoods away. It is so unfair what they have done to us . This is such an injustice! Look at what they have done to our community, just to stop us from doing our jobs, we are only street vendors because we have no other alternative. They think we should just disappear but that isn’t going to happen”.

In the year 2023 two documents were sent to the municipality with the aim of establishing a dialogue and a working table around the issue of street vending. The workers reached out again to the authorities on January 8th, but Mayor Villegas’ administration is yet to reply to their numerous requests for dialogue. Faced with the denial of their rights to work, as well as this attack on their dignity, the street vendors of Comas decided to fight back.

They organized a march back in January, with the hopes of opening a formal negotiation process with the municipality. They invited street vendors associations from all over Comas to participate, and the district responded. The march was a resounding success with tens of thousands participating, ‘one of the largest ever in Comas’. According to another leader, this solidarity was also rooted in the knowledge of the local authority’s plans to extend the evictions to other areas of the district of Comas, and hence the need for street vendors to unite and resist together.

They told StreetNet that they believe the demonstrations succeeded in halting those plans, at least for now: “We know that the march held them back, but we were very happy with the march because we got support from markets all over Comas because they knew that they could be next” they declared. “We didn’t know what to expect, but the march was so big. It showed us that we are not alone, and it showed the authorities that we are not alone. The plan was for them to evict vendors from the public space all over the district, and they still plan to do it, but the march made them realize that we are organized, it worried them.

The backlash after the march

The Federation of traders and entrepreneurs of Comas was founded in 2018 and today it is made up of 16 vendors associations representing around 5300 vendors in the Comas district. Around 2000 of them live in the area of Chacra Cerro. Despite being a relatively new organization, the federation has been consolidated through the struggle and adversity which its associations have faced over recent years, between the Covid pandemic and the more recent struggle with authorities.

Comas is a populous and impoverished district of Peruvian capital Lima. Informality is a widespread reality in Peru. A report released by the Peruvian national institute of statistics whilst the delegation was in Lima found that 29% of Peru’s population, or 9 million people, live in poverty; and almost 2 million live in extreme poverty. Government statistics also show that the level of informal employment rose from 64.8% to 70.5% between 2016 and 2022. The situation of workers is often very precarious, as they turn to vending lacking other employment opportunities.

Owners of formal shops have opened their spaces for vendors, but that seems far from a manifestation of solidarity: the small entrepreneurs are instead asking for high fees to the vendors in exchange for the possibility to occupy their private spaces. “This has left us in absolute financial ruin. I didn’t sell anything for two months. I have got into debt, like so many of us” another vendor leader says “And many vendors are being exploited by shop owners, who are making money out of us by charging extortionate rents to multiple vendors to have a tiny space in their shop, with 5 other vendors crammed in. It is very sad to see the lack of solidarity. Many of the worst affected are elderly vendors”.

Threats to street vendors’ leaders

Members of the organization report being personally threatened by armed men, allegedly taking orders directly from city authorities. People are scared for their safety, the safety of their workplaces and their families.

“You can see the fear on people’s faces” says another worker “You can feel how scared everyone is. They are intimidating us, they are hanging around with their thugs ready to confiscate our things, they are treating us like criminals. And it is even worse for us leaders, we are receiving death threats, I have had threats against me, my kids tell me I should abandon what I am doing because they are worried about my safety, but I will not. But I am very afraid.”

The importance of social dialogue

The situation in Comas serves as a stark illustration of the dangers posed by populist local authorities that stigmatize street vendors, branding them as public enemies and adopting extreme measures to exclude them from public spaces. The administration’s refusal to engage in dialogue with vendors’ organizations underscores the critical need for a social dialogue, something that StreetNet and its affiliates all over the world consider a key factor for inclusion in decision-making. For too long, public policy has been crafted without the voices of street vendors, denying them recognition and rights, including the one to bodily safety and protection from threats.

This case highlights the harsh realities faced by street vendors, well beyond Peru: stigmatization, harassment, and even death threats. The vendors are not merely seeking to survive but are demanding economic alternatives, the right to occupy public spaces, recognition, and, above all, dignity and decent work. As we hope for a quick resolution on the Comas situation, it is imperative to advocate for policies that include street vendors in the conversation, ensuring that their rights and voices are not only heard but respected, at every policy level. Only through inclusive dialogue and policy-making can we hope to address and rectify the systemic injustices all informal economy workers face.

All quotes have been anonimised to protect the identity of the workers
Patrick Kane, organiser for Americas, contributed to this report