International Amnesty (AI) and relatives of the victims of the anti-government protests of Peru accused this Thursday the President Dina Boluarte of stigmatizing the demonstrators in their speeches, which, according to the organization, led to the social legitimization of the 49 deaths in collisions with law enforcement.
“Peru’s executive branch, including the president and the president of the Council of Ministers, stigmatized the protesters as violent radicals and never publicly held the police and the army accountable”pointed out the Secretary General of AI, Agnes Callamard, at a press conference in Lima.
The organization presented its report “Lethal racism: Extrajudicial executions and illegitimate use of force by the security forces of Peru”which analyzes 52 cases of deaths or injuries during the protests developed since December.
The Secretary General of Amnesty International (AI), Agnès Callamard, at a press conference in Lima.
IT MAY INTEREST YOU: Peru’s Prosecutor’s Office requests 35 years in prison against former president for the Odebrecht case
“Although many protests were peaceful, the president deliberately spread disinformation without evidence, and instead of condemning police action, praised law enforcement, calling it ‘impeccable,’ causing significant suffering to victims and families (…) which created the conditions in which the attacks were legitimized in the eyes of society”indicated.
The presentation of the report was also attended by relatives of deceased victims in clashes with law enforcement.
“We have repeatedly heard the president mention that Puno (the southern region) is not Peru, she has branded us as red ponchos (alleged Bolivian radical group), drug traffickers and smugglers. A series of terms that, after the death of our loved ones, has deepened our pain more”said to EFE with tears in the eyes Raul Samillan.
Samillan is brother of one of the 49 deaths and the president of the association of martyrs and victims of January 9, Juliacadate and city in which 18 people lost their lives in clashes with the police.
Raúl Samillán, is the brother of one of the 49 deceased and the president of the association of martyrs and victims of January 9 of Juliaca.
He expressed that the stigmatization towards his people can be clearly seen, because the law enforcement killed to people living in extreme poverty and living in the Andessomething that they have not done in Lima.
“So, why this difference of taking the lives of those of us who are not in the capital and who value the lives of those who live in Lima more?’”he asked himself.
IT MAY INTEREST YOU: Boluarte will testify before the Prosecutor’s Office of Peru for the investigation of genocide
“The narrative of high authorities, including the president, that protesters were violent terrorist groups and eluding armed groups in the history of Peru not only generated a context to legitimize these arbitrary murders and extrajudicial executions, but has also generated a collective stigma of these communities”affirmed the director for the Americas of Amnesty International, Erika Guevara.
In this sense, callamard stated that the Peruvian security forces “They only used lethal force outside of Lima, in areas where there are mostly poor, indigenous and peasant populations”even when the protests were less violent than in the capital or other regions, and this is the reason for the report name.
“We believe that the repression and the murders are part of the systemic racism against these populations“, he claimed.
