We reject repression, state crimes, and political persecution in Peru.
From the CLACSO Working Group on Collective Memories and Practices of Resistance We condemn the indiscriminate repression of social protests by the government of Dina Boluarte since December 2022. In the context of this repression, police and military forces have killed 48 people to date. Likewise, a political and ideological persecution is underway against those who are calling for the president's resignation and the convening of a Constituent Assembly to draft a new Constitution for Peru.
In this context, on January 12, 2023, seven social leaders from the Ayacucho People's Defense Front (Fredepa) who participated in protests against the current government were arrested and sent to the facilities of the Directorate Against Terrorism (Dircote), falsely accusing them of being terrorists.
On February 15, six members of this group were ordered to pretrial detention under the specious charge of belonging to Shining Path, an accusation that is meaningless since the subversive actions of this group ceased more than 20 years ago. The only evidence presented by the Prosecutor's Office were actions in favor of a Constituent Assembly and the call for Boluarte's resignation, in addition to the participation of several defendants, as speakers, in the international colloquium "State Violence."
in Peru. From the Internal Armed Conflict to the Bicentennial Generation” (August 3-6, 2022), the product of an agreement between the University of Le Havre Normandie, France, and the National Association of Relatives of Kidnapped, Detained and Disappeared Persons of Peru (Anfasep), Ayacucho, in co-organization with the present CLACSO Working Group and other universities in the region.
Fredepa was created in 1966, fourteen years before the start of the internal armed conflict in Peru, and represents numerous popular organizations in Ayacucho.
The prosecution's case represents an attack on freedom of thought, opinion, and the exercise of academic activity, and on the right to political participation.
We strongly condemn the Peruvian State for criminalizing social protest and persecuting and imprisoning citizens for their ideas.
We call upon progressive sectors in Peru and internationally, especially human rights organizations, feminist organizations, and academics and intellectuals, to speak out against the criminalization of social leaders in Ayacucho, reject the political persecution and the delegitimization of protest through the 'terrorist' labeling of activists and social movements.
February 22th 2023
CLACSO Working Groups
Collective memories and resistance practices
This text expresses the position of Working Group on Collective Memories and Practices of Resistance and not necessarily that of the centers and institutions that make up the CLACSO international network, its Steering Committee or its Executive Secretariat.
