Groups of people involved in the production of handicrafts claim to have been left high and dry by government measures and demand to policies to help restore a sector which, like most others, have been pulverized economically as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Representatives of the sector from all 25 regions of Peru are demanding loans to help them through the lockdown as well as reactivation plans to help them market their products. They want to be involved in public policy and to participate in decisions made by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism (Mincetur).

“We are living on our own savings because sales are zero”, a leader from Lurín is quoted as saying. These sentiments are echoed by indigenous communities from the Amazon for whom handicraft production is an affirmation of cultural identity. Leaders from the sector claim they have been left out from the distribution of bonos to vulnerable communities.

Handicraft producers from Piura, Ayacucho and Huancavelica want help in the creation of online platforms to help them sell their products.

According to Mincetur, there are 77,617 registered craft makers in Peru, three quarters of them women.