Just before midnight on Monday, Peruvian President Pedro Castillo appeared on television to declare an unprecedented state of emergency for Lima, the capital. All the city’s residents, he said, were to stay indoors for 24 hours, beginning just two hours after his announcement. The controversial decision, which would later be rescinded after protesters ignored it, came in response to widespread demonstrations by truck drivers and transportation syndicates against the spike in fuel prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Peru’s new crisis came just after Sri Lanka’s president declared a state of emergency in his own country. The Indian Ocean nation has also seen massive protests over a growing economic crisis caused by the government’s mismanagement of the economy and made much worse by a confluence of global events, culminating with the war in Ukraine.
From Peru to Sri Lanka, Russia’s attack on Ukraine is sending out shockwaves of economic disruption that will have major political implications, especially since it comes after two years of an economically damaging global pandemic. Russian President Vladimir Putin may have taken aim at Ukraine, but he is creating instability across the entire planet. The damage is already visible in some cases, but the worst and most lasting impacts of this savage war are still ahead of us.