The National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH) presented its report “50 days of repression in Peru. Violations of Human Rights during mobilisations” (available in Spanish), which denounces the extremely high levels of repression by the Peruvian government. Up to 26 January, 56 people had died (7 minors), 46 of whom were directly responsible for the repression, and 912 people were injured.
“The report shows that in 50 days of President Boluarte’s government, various types of human rights violations have been registered, which demands a political solution such as her resignation and the calling of new general elections”, said Jennie Dador, executive secretary of the CNDDHH.
The report documents the cases of extrajudicial executions committed during the social protests, the use of prohibited weapons such as AKM rifles by state agents, which denies the official version that “the demonstrators killed each other”.
It also reports the indiscriminate use of force against citizens peacefully demonstrating in the streets; torture by the police, as was the case of a group of 8 people arrested in Andahuaylas on 12 December last, who were brutally beaten during their detention, among other human rights violations.
The CNDDHH warns that mass arbitrary detentions are taking place. In the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos alone, 193 people were detained. Terrorism charges are being used against demonstrators. The report notes that the defence of detainees and journalistic work is being obstructed by the police.
“There is a profoundly racist charge in the actions of the police, it is no coincidence that the deaths have occurred in regions where there is an indigenous population and that so far in Lima there have not been any deaths”, said Mar Pérez, head of the CNDDDHH’s Defenders Unit.
The press conference was attended by María Ysabel Samillan Sanga, sister of Marco Antonio Samillan Sanga, a serumista from Puno who was extrajudicially executed; and Ruth Barcena, widow of Leonardo Hancco who was extrajudicially executed in Ayacucho and president of the Association of the Murdered and Wounded of 15 December 2022 in Ayacucho. The victims’ families recounted the circumstances in which their relatives were killed. Finally, they denied any link with terrorist actions, denounced that they are suffering threats, as are human rights defenders, and demanded justice.
- Original article available in Spanish here.
- See the report here (available in Spanish): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GHVb4rpnCJWOwht1MNvtIkQGXc4A6Pgy/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=117267462117337581816&rtpof=true&sd=true