LIMA, Peru – Relatives of police officers killed during a government crackdown on Amazon Indian protesters are seeking criminal charges against Peru’s former interior minister and three police chiefs, a lawyer said Thursday.
Ten civilians and 23 policemen were killed June 5 when a small, heavily armed troop of officers cleared a highway blockade where nearly 5,000 Indians were protesting development on their ancestral lands. Another officer is missing and presumed dead, while 200 civilians were wounded, 82 by gunshot, according to Peru’s ombudsman’s office.
Amnesty International has called the government’s investigations into the violence imbalanced, because no police have been implicated or arrested for their roles in the violence. More than 100 Indians are charged with crimes including murder and sedition.
Families of the dead police officers are now questioning the bloodshed as well.
We “are asking for justice and for the trial of those truly responsible on the highest political level,” said Flor Montenegro, widow of one of the killed officers, Capt. Miguel Montenegro.
The lawyer for the families, Antonio Salazar, told The Associated Press that he is filing a criminal complaint with the state attorney’s office against former Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas, former national police chief Gen. Jose Sanchez and two regional police chiefs. The families are asking that they be charged with negligence and abuse of authority, crimes that carry up to eight years prison time in Peru.
The government says the Indians instigated the violence. Indian protest leaders say police opened fire on the protesters, who then fought to take guns from the police.
Montenegro said at a news conference that political leaders should have found a peaceful solution to the protests, which began in early April.
“They had more than enough time to resolve it in two months but they did not have the tact or the intelligence,” she said.
Rony Garcia, brother of deceased police officer Jose Alberto Guzman, also criticized Peru’s leadership for ordering police to confront the Indians. “They sent them like lambs to sacrifice,” he said.
Cabanillas has denied responsibility for the police action, saying the entire Cabinet voted to approve it and the national police chief gave the order. President Alan Garcia replaced Cabanillas last month in an overhaul of his Cabinet aimed at allaying public criticism of his handling of the protests.
Peru’s Amazon Indians had been blockading jungle highways and rivers on and off since last August, demanding the revocation of 11 pro-investment decrees issued by Garcia in 2008. They say the government does not consult them about oil and mining concessions and laws that affect their traditional lands.
Congress has repealed four of the decrees and ministers and Indian leaders have been negotiating a solution to the conflict since June.
Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Garcia Belaunde said Thursday that the formation of an investigative committee is being negotiated with Indians leaders.
But he rejected calls by United Nations special envoy James Anaya that Peru drop criminal charges against protest leaders to foment dialogue.
Charges are “within the jurisdiction of the judiciary and there is little the Peruvian government can do,” Garcia Belaunde said.
