The regime simply cannot bring itself to understand why or how this is happening — as representatives of old-school ways of doing politics, they keep looking for responsibility across political parties and groups, and they keep chasing shadows and denouncing some non-existent left-wing conspiracy of some sort. But the protests are already completely somewhere else: they’re self-organizing through social networks like Twitter, Instagram, and increasingly TikTok. Groups are quickly coming together and sharing information and resources without any sort of central coordination. Merino, Flores-Aráoz and their cabinet have no idea what’s going on, and they’re befuddled by how much energy is brewing up so quickly.