The UN affirms that Peru resorted to excessive use of force in protests that left more than 60 dead

The United Nations rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, Clément Voule, said on Wednesday that the Peruvian government used excessive force that led to the death of more than 60 Peruvians during demonstrations for three months calling for the resignation of President Dina Boluarte.

In early May, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights reported in a report that the Army and the Peruvian police would have committed massacresextrajudicial executions, serious human rights violations, as well as the disproportionate and lethal use of force during protests.

“The excessive and disproportionate use of force led to the deaths and injuries of protesters and bystanders during the protests that began in December,” Voule told reporters at the end of a 10-day working visit that included meetings with the president, protesters and relatives of victims.

Voule, a Togolese-born lawyer and diplomat, added that Peru must “guarantee access to justice, remedies, reparation and compensation to the victims, even assuming the cost of medical treatment for the injured.”

“Peru is in a very, very critical situation… there is a lack of confidence in its institutions,” he said at another time.

He indicated that after visiting prisons, talking with government ministers, police, military, prosecutors and judges, he has not received evidence that the protesters “are terrorists.”

“They are protesters,” he added. Peruvian justice confirmed in May 18 months in preventive prison for four protesters while they are investigated for the alleged crime of affiliation or belonging to a terrorist organization.

“This stigma of being a terrorist should not be used,” he commented. Four other protesters in the city of Cusco were sentenced in January to nine months in pretrial detention for the crimes of riots and hindering the operation of public services.

The rapporteur said he did not receive “any evidence” that the protesters used firearms.

The demonstrations against Boluarte began on December 7 when he assumed power after Congress removed his predecessor Pedro Castillo, now imprisoned for three years while is investigated for corruption and rebellion. The protests that culminated in February left 49 civilians dead by actions of the security forces, according to the Ombudsman’s Office. Another 11 civilians died in traffic accidents or roadblocks by protesters. Seven uniformed officers also died.

Voule indicated that trying to find the causes of the protests Initiated in the southern Peruvian Andes, it found people who “feel overwhelmed by corruption in the country and are calling for a real fight against corruption,” precisely in areas where Peru’s wealth is produced, including copper mining, a metal that goes to China and of which the country is the second world exporter.

The United Nations official indicated that his full report will be presented in 2024.

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