International

Stop the violence against the Peruvian people and the journalists!

18/01/2023

We, communicators and journalists, repudiate the brutal violence against the Peruvian people by the security forces and the disturbing attacks against journalists and photographers who seek to tell the truth about what is happening in the country.

Since December 7, when the coup d’état against constitutional president Pedro Castillo and his subsequent illegal detention took place, the Peruvian people have been in constant mobilization to demand the immediate resignation of the de facto leader, Dina Boluarte, the dissolution of Congress, the realization of a Constituent Assembly and the immediate release of Pedro Castillo.

Their just and courageous protests have been met with an extremely violent response by the security forces. To date, at least 48 Peruvian brothers and sisters have been killed with bullets, sound grenades, tear gas and pepper spray during the protests. We have seen with great concern how these flagrant violations of human rights, the right to protest, freedom of expression and the democratic state have been justified by the executive branch, the mass media and right-wing politicians.

In all this, we have not been able to depend on the narrative of the corporate media that call the protesters “vandals” “terrorists”, justifying the violence against them as sinister accomplices of the barbarism of the state. It has been the popular communicators, independent journalists and photojournalists, who take to the streets risking their physical integrity, facing extreme violence in order to communicate the truth to the world.

We are concerned about the case of Aldair Mejía, photojournalist, who was shot by a projectile while covering the demonstrations in Juliaca. He had denounced that prior to the attack, a member of the Peruvian National Police had threatened him saying “Get out of here, if not I’ll blow your head off and kill you”. In addition to him, there are many other cases of colleagues who have suffered stigmatization, accusations, violent attacks, criminalization and more in the context of their journalistic work. Journalism is not a crime!

As communicators and journalists of the world, we stand in solidarity with the brave Peruvian people and with their communicators and journalists who are facing the terrible repression of Dina Boluarte’s government.

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