Peru begins evaluation of human rights report on protests

The Government of Peru has initiated a process of evaluating the report released by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) on the protests that plagued the country between January and last March. Foreign Minister Ana Cecilia Gervasi announced Wednesday.

“The Government has initiated a process of evaluation of the report, which has just been issued and is quite voluminous. And, according to this internal evaluation process, the guidelines for the follow-up of the report will be proposed”, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs in statements to the press.

From the Government Palace, the official assured that the President of the country, Dina Boluarte, has given a political response that ratifies the “firm commitment with the promotion and protection of human rights” which “are the most fundamental basis of democracy and the rule of law”.

Gervasi made his pronouncement shortly after the IACHR issued a report on the anti-government demonstrations that have affected Peru since December 7, after Boluarte took office constitutionally due to the removal of then President Pedro Castillo.

The document, entitled “Human rights situation in Peru in the context of the social protests”, states that this day of demonstrations “was characterized by the disproportionate, indiscriminate and lethal use of force”, in addition to having registered “serious human rights violations”.

In the case of the southern Andean city of Ayacucho, he added, “the deaths could constitute extrajudicial executions”, which could “be qualified as a massacre”.

On the other hand, during the press conference, President Boluarte rejected “the alleged existence of extrajudicial executions and the qualification of the massacre, even when it is mentioned conditionally in the events that occurred during the protests”.

After clarifying that the corresponding agencies are investigating the deaths that occurred within the framework of the demonstrations, Boluarte defended that both the National Police and the Armed Forces “will always be at the service of society to protect its integrity”.

He recalled that the IACHR delegation arrived in Peru in January at the invitation of the Government itself and that, having been in Peruvian territory for a limited period, he does not believe “that they have been able to reach conclusions”, so these are expressed in “conditional”.

On the other hand, the President positively valued that the same report was firm in rejecting the attempted coup d’état by Pedro Castillo, who wanted to dissolve the Congress without constitutional basis on December 7, an event that led almost immediately to his vacancy.