Wake of Rosalino Florez, who died from the impact of 36 pellets fired by the National Police in Cuzco.Angela Ponce
A couple of weeks after completing its first semester in the Palace, the Government of Dina Boluarte continues to be in check by a new report from a human rights institution that digs into the way they faced the protests against them since they assumed office. Amnesty International on Thursday released another valuable document helping to shed light on the deaths of 49 civilians. It's called Lethal Racism. Extrajudicial executions and unlawful use of force by Peru's security forces, and document events between December 7, 2022 and February 9, 2023. His fieldwork focused on the cities with the highest number of injured and deceased: Ayacucho (Ayacucho), Juliaca (Puno), Andahuaylas and Chincheros (Apurimac), and also Lima, the capital.
After analyzing 92 pieces of audiovisual information, accessing folders of the Prosecutor's Office, scrutinizing medical certificates, autopsies, forensic expertise, and interviewing relatives of the victims, public officials, including President Boluarte, representatives of civil society organizations and journalists, Amnesty International claims to have found five main findings: First, "the Peruvian National Police and the Peruvian Army used the lethal force (bullets) and prohibited weapons for public order control tasks (pellets) in an unlawful manner and less lethal force (tear gas) excessively, disproportionately and sometimes unnecessarily." Second, "far from being isolated incidents of individual police and military excesses, it would point to a deliberate and coordinated state response."
The third finding focuses on racism: "There was a marked racist bias on the part of the Peruvian authorities, targeting historically discriminated populations" because "the use of lethal force was used exclusively in the regions outside Lima." Fourth, "the President of the Republic and the Presidency of the Council of Ministers intentionally stigmatized protesters as violent and radical, and publicly failed to hold the police and army accountable." And finally, "ongoing criminal investigations have lacked rigor, promptness, impartiality and effectiveness and have failed to comply with key diligences of their investigative mandate."
Amnesty International accessed 23 autopsies, 22 of which the cause of death was reported as a "firearm projectile". However, in three of them it was due to lead pellets, multiple projectiles designed for hunting purposes. They point out that this was concealed by the police. "The pellets carry a great risk of inaccuracy, easily penetrate the skin and are not designed for this type of function, so their use in these scenarios of protests or demonstrations should be prohibited," they remark. The victim who illustrates this misuse is the Julian Gabriel Omar López Amanqui, a 35-year-old cargo driver who died in January of 72 pellets. It is also bolded that the armed forces used Galil (Ayacucho), FAL (Juliaca) and AKM rifles (Juliaca and Ayacucho), all of which had lethal ammunition.
Protests in Peru during the crisis triggered by the arrest of Pedro Castillo in January. Europa Press/Contact/Carlos Garcia Granthon
Amnesty International therefore has a request for the Spanish government: "To uphold the decision of last February to suspend the sale of riot control equipment to Peru until those responsible for the violence that caused the death of 49 people are brought to justice and accountability is offered for what happened." The request emphasizes that this suspension be extended to the sale of any ammunition and light weapons "since there is a high risk that they could be used for the Peruvian armed forces or police to commit human rights violations."
The report also denounces that the weapons used by the Police and the Army were not seized and, therefore, were not examined which would have served to identify the perpetrators of the deaths. They also point out that the police and military personnel were not interviewed and that several mourners or injured had not yet given up their demonstration three months after the events. "Peruvian security forces may have engaged in cover-ups by failing to report the use of ammunition during the protests and obstructing the presentation of other key pieces of information," they conclude.
Amnesty says it has requested a meeting with senior police officials, but that the institution canceled the meeting twice. In addition, together with the Ministry of Defense, they were the two State entities that rejected requests for access to public information to prepare this document, excusing themselves in that it is "reserved information" or "confidential".
The investigation also includes an anonymous testimony of a police officer from the Apurimac region that will surely ignite the debate about the actions of the forces of order. "One thing nobody tells you in training... But what we usually talk among police is that, if there is a violent group, a person is shot, because as long as there are no deaths people remain inflamed, when they see a fallen one they are appeased ...".
As for criminal investigations, it is emphasized that at the end of March all criminal investigations were transferred to Lima. "This came just as the military was about to offer their statements to local prosecutors in Ayacucho, according to several lawyers and human rights organizations. This would have been an important milestone in the investigations in Ayacucho, which have now been blocked by the decisions of the Lima Prosecutor's Office." But there is a more serious fact: how the chain of custody of key evidence would have been broken. "In Andahuaylas, Ayacucho and Juliaca many bullets were extracted from the bodies of patients in hospitals, but they were thrown away, misplaced or not delivered to the staff of the Prosecutor's Office."
The report was presented on Thursday morning by Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International, other authorities of that institution and Raúl Samillán, president of the Association of Martyrs and Victims of January 9 in Juliaca, Puno. Agnes Callamard concludes: "The use of lethal firearms against protesters shows a blatant disregard for human life. Despite government efforts to portray them as terrorists or criminals, those killed were protesters, observers and bystanders. Almost all of them belonged to poor, indigenous and peasant backgrounds, suggesting a racial and socioeconomic bias in the use of lethal force."
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