Through letter N° 013-2023, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP) has requested that embassies, international human rights organizations, and faith organizations that hold relationships with Peru release public statements condemning the violence, repression, and criminalization of protest in the country, and lack of action by the government which has already claimed 50 Peruvian lives.
The letter was sent to the embassies of Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, United States, England, Spain, Norway, France, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and China, as well as to parliamentarians of the countries with diplomatic relations with Peru, representatives of the Vatican and the Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Jewish, and Muslim churches accredited in Peru; and the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).
It is important to mention that the Indigenous peoples organized within AIDESEP are certain that this government will not cease the course of the massacre of our brothers and sisters who have been exercising their legitimate right to protest.
Likewise, AIDESEP reiterates its demand, agreed upon in the Extended Coordination Council (CCA), to request the immediate resignation of Dina Boluarte in order to achieve a transition from violence to peace, always with justice and horizontal dialogue, and without the use of violence from the Peruvian government.
Below is the full letter:
Lima, January 10, 2023 Letter N° 013-2023-AIDESEP To: Ladies and Gentlemen Ambassadors of Brazil, Colombia, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, United States, England, Spain, Norway, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Netherlands, China, United Kingdom; Members of Parliament of the countries with diplomatic missions in Peru; Ladies and Gentlemen representatives of the Vatican and the Lutheran, Anglican, Methodist, Jewish, and Muslim Churches accredited in Peru; Ladies and Gentlemen of the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights From our institution we urge you to consider the following: The Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP) represents 64 Amazonian Indigenous peoples from 2,439 communities, 109 federations, and 9 regional confederations; collectively we are owners of 14 million hectares of land. We have 42 years defending a “Living Amazon for a Secure Humanity.” During that time 5,000 brothers and sisters were assassinated under the two eras of terrorism in the '80s and '90s, and in this century we face assassinations due to drug and land trafficking. With this legitimacy, we address you, deeply hurt and outraged, by the criminal repression in Peru, with 50 dead, and more than 300 wounded, especially Quechua and Aymara peoples, among them young people and adolescents, and including doctor Marco Samillán Sanga, who was treating the wounded and the photographer Aldair Mejía, from the EFE agency. The massacre was perpetrated by the government against a people whose main demand is general elections in 2023. We face absolute ungovernability by a massacring government, controlled by congressional mafias that seek to impose racism, corruption, extractivism, homophobia, the plundering of resources, and impunity for politicians and businessmen in the "Lavajato" case resulting in two decades of state corruption. We do not demand a "reinstatement or release of Pedro Castillo," who must answer for the numerous alleged cases of corruption. We reject any act of violence, which violates citizens’ rights to a just popular struggle. The massacre is Peru’s “cry” for the reinstatement of human rights. It is a crime against humanity, where all silence is complicity by omission, which affects the investments, projects, and actions of companies and entities of the cooperating countries operating in the country. Therefore, with the mutual respect that we deserve for a better world, we request the following: a. Your public statement denouncing and demanding a halt to the illegal and disproportionate military and police killings during popular protests in Peru; that priority is given to peaceful dialogue among political actors to find a political solution in peace and democracy. b. Request calls "in consultation" with the accredited ambassadors in Peru, as a diplomatic tool to seek answers regarding the violence, until solutions are found with full respect for human rights. c. Suspend all investments, projects, and/or cooperation with Peruvian ministries and congress due to involvement in this criminal and violent social repression, until there are substantial changes among officials in charge. d. The organization of official missions to Peru, on behalf of their nations, political parties, and human rights organizations of the United Nations (UN) and the Organization of American States (OAS), to verify human rights violations and have offices contribute to a peaceful and democratic political solution. e. Organize events or sessions, public or private, with the participation of AIDESEP and other Indigenous, environmental, social, feminist, and human rights organizations, to broaden the analysis of this painful national ordeal to build alternatives. We look forward to your kind response for any coordination that may be required. Sincerely, AIDESEP
