Peru declares investigation for “genocide” for deaths that occurred in protests

At least 56 dead and more than 900 injured have been counted so far due to the protests taking place in Peru, according to information from the Ombudsman’s Office. The Peruvian Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola, declared this Monday in a preliminary prosecutor investigation for “genocide” regarding the victims, who are mostly civilians.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights condemned the violence of the demonstrations, as complaints by citizens with shots to the head and thoraxand last week urged the Peruvian government to conduct an impartial investigation.

Eviction and detention of hundreds of university students in protests in different Peruvian cities against President Boluarte

This investigation will be carried out by the Attorney General Patricia Benavideswho will target former Prime Minister Pedro Angulo and other former ministers.

The president Dina Boluarte she will also be investigated for her role in the protests. The president ascended to the position after the attempt to Self-coup by Pedro Castillo last December 7th.

Since then, social groups demand the resignation of Boluartecall for early elections and create a Constituent Assembly. The General Confederation of Workers of Peru (CGTP) called a national strike on January 19, which caused thousands of Peruvians to mobilize in the capital.

“The national people have been developing peaceful, civic democratic struggles,” said the General Secretary of the CGTP, Gerónimo López

“We are experiencing one of the highest levels of violence of all recent times.After the 1980s, however, I believe that the capacities that our police are showing have been spectacular,” argued the Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero, on the state television station TV Perú.

“The social protests are still going to continue, we are working intensively with the Minister of Defense on how to solve them,” Romero declared. (YO)