The president of Peru, Gustavo Petro, has raised the need to convene the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) in response to the police assault on the University of San Marcos in Lima that ended on Saturday with more than 200 detainees.
“Raid universities. Shout Death to intelligence! The Permanent Council of the OAS must be summoned to examine the case of Peru,” Petro said on his Twitter account.
In response, the president of the Peruvian Council of Ministers, Alberto Otárola, has summoned Petro to take care of his business. “Take care of his business, Mr. Gustavo Petro”, he has published.
“The Permanent Council of the OAS could also examine massacres that occurred during your government. The last one in Putumayo. Govern for yours, assist the victims, improve your universities,” Otárola also added on Twitter.
Petro has already criticized the detention of President Pedro Castillo “without a judge and without a defense” after he ordered the dissolution of the Peruvian Congress.
Some 400 riot policemen supported by special forces stormed on Saturday with tanks, knocking down one of the access gates to the University of San Marcos and detained more than 200 people. There were shots fired and tear gas was fired despite meeting no resistance, according to testimonies collected by the Peruvian press.
For those facts, the Peruvian congresswoman Flor Pablo has formally requested the appearance of the Prime Minister, Alberto Otárola; the Minister of the Interior, Vicente Romero.
“What happened in San Marcos is unacceptable. Without the presence of the Prosecutor’s Office, treating students, citizens and defenders of Human Rights as criminals, lying on the floor and beaten is an abuse. Minister of the Interior and rector of the UNMSM must give explanations” , Pablo pointed out in a message posted on Twitterr.
For this reason, Pablo has presented a motion for Otárola to “report to Congress” and a letter requesting the Education Commission to summon the rector of UNMSM in the next regular session.
Some 400 riot policemen supported by special forces stormed Saturday with tankers, knocking down one of the access gates to the University of San Marcos and detained more than 200 people. There were shots fired and tear gas was fired despite meeting no resistance, according to testimonies collected by the Peruvian press.
Delegations of protesters who came from different parts of Peru to participate in the so-called Toma de Lima in the framework of the protests against President Dina Boluarte, elected after the removal of Pedro Castle.
The Ministry of the Interior has explained in a statement that the operation is the response to a complaint filed by a representative of the university about the presence of a group of 300 people who entered the campus illegally and violently and who attacked the workers. of security and expelled them.
Peruvian legislation establishes that in this type of operation the presence of officials from the Prosecutor’s Office is mandatory to avoid abuses against the detainees, but the suspects were violently subdued, handcuffed on the ground and taken to police stations. The Prosecutor’s Office has reported the dispatch of prosecutors to these offices to legalize the arrests and has confirmed the arrest of at least three people for terrorist crimes.