Washington, May 3 (EFE).- The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) condemned this Wednesday the police violence registered in Peru during the demonstrations after the failed self-coup by former President Pedro Castillo, and assured that it has found cases of “extrajudicial executions”. in Ayacucho.
“Being perpetrated by State agents, the deaths could constitute extrajudicial executions,” the Washington-based agency said in an extensive report on the human rights situation in the country.
In addition, he added that the violence in the town must be investigated “with an ethnic-racial approach”, and considered that the situation could be considered as “a massacre”.
Ayacucho was the scene last December of a deadly protest in which several demonstrators tried to take over the airport, which caused the military to open fire on them, as can be seen in numerous videos posted on social networks. Eight people died and 26 were injured.
The agency also referred to the events in Juliaca, where 17 protesters died last January in clashes with the Police.
“In that city, situations of excessive and indiscriminate use of force by State agents would have arisen, which would have resulted in serious human rights violations against both protest participants and third parties,” the police said. IACHR in its report.
However, the agency explained that during its investigation, which covers the period between December 7 and January 23, “the response of state forces (to the protests) was not uniform throughout the national territory and that there were serious episodes of excessive use of force in specific cases”.
“From the information received in Lima, Ica, Arequipa and Cusco, it appears that the State’s response was characterized by the disproportionate, indiscriminate and lethal use of force. This is confirmed by factors such as the high number of people killed and injured with upper body injuries,” he added.
In this sense, the IACHR asked the Government of Dina Boluarte to investigate these cases of excessive use of force and do everything possible to make reparations to the victims.
The agency detailed a series of actions that, in its opinion, the authorities should take to overcome the crisis in the country, the first being dialogue with the affected parties, and especially with indigenous groups, who demand greater political participation.
In addition, he called for improving citizen security protocols to avoid future cases of excessive use of force, and advocated fighting impunity by boosting the capacities of the Public Ministry, increasing its resources.
Finally, the IACHR asked the Government to refrain from adopting legislative or constitutional reforms that weaken the autonomy and independence of the National Electoral System or the Judiciary, as well as “to define the figures of constitutional accusation, presidential vacancy due to permanent moral incapacity and unilateral dissolution of the Congress, so that they specify (…) the punishable conducts and their corresponding consequences”.
In its report, the commission highlights that social discontent is not an isolated event, but rather has its roots in “structural inequality and historical discrimination, particularly towards indigenous peoples and peasant communities in the provinces located in the south of the country.” ”.
Social protests in Peru broke out in December after the failed self-coup by Pedro Castillo, who is serving preventive detention in the Barbadillo prison, and against the government of his former vice president, Dina Boluarte.
During the events, which spread throughout the national territory for two months, they left a balance of more than fifty dead and thousands injured.
