On the morning of May 11, representatives of the Inspection Department of the Municipality of San Isidro arrived at the NGO facilities Venezuelan Union in Peru to proceed with the closure of the premises. Through social networks, the president of the organization, Oscar Perezdenounced that the city officials were abusing their authority and launching xenophobic attacks against those present.
Mirko Hernández Otárola is the worker of the Municipality of San Isidro who reportedly denounced Venezuelan citizens as thieves and criminals, according to Perez. In the broadcast recording, he realizes the repeated occasions in which the representative of the NGO lists him as the author of xenophobic acts. Before the cameras, the defendant preferred to remain silent and warned that he must demonstrate what was indicated.
Perez indicated that the reason for the closure of the Unión Venezolana premises in Peru was due to the presence of children. He stressed that these are the sons and daughters of the collaborators who spend time with the minors once they have left their schools. The president of the NGO called on the Ombudsman’s Office and the mayoress of San Isidro to act on what happened.
In addition, it was denounced that the person who would have initiated the proceedings to close the premises would be an official from the Municipality of San Isidro who appeared at the premises in the morning, although wearing civilian clothes. Óscar Perez indicated that he would have given instructions to the officials before proceeding with the closure of the premises. “They have been harassing the headquarters of the Unión Venezolana all week,” he denounced.
“They want me to sign a document without reading it,” denounced the president of the NGO. The recordings show the insistence of the officials to obtain the paper by signing and the desperation of Pérez to make them understand that he must first read its content. “Xenophobic!” the head of the Venezuelan Union yells at him at some point so that the inspector points out that no one should raise their voices to him.
The arrival of Venezuelans in Peru has angered part of the population, even registering acts of xenophobia. Not only members of the political class have uttered denigrating phrases, but members of the Peruvian National Police (PNP) have come to do violence to some foreigners. On March 18, two Venezuelan citizens denounced that members of the security forces violently evicted them from their lodging.
One of these would have ended with a broken skull and facial injuries. The event was recorded on video by one of the foreigners and uploaded to social networks. According to him, they exceeded the lodging time and ignored the owner of the place, who asked them to leave the room, for which he requested help from the PNP agents. They were detained for 48 hours, according to Brandon Santos, one of the victims.
“In my opinion, (the officer) simply expressed his hatred. Following this, he went to file my complaint and his colleagues immediately detained me, depriving me of liberty for more than 48 hours, without the right to communicate with anyone, ”he said. Likewise, he made public that the prosecutor Sara Doris García Cárdenas “kidnapped” him and prevented him from “receiving legal assistance or making any type of call.”
