The 107-page report, “Deadly Decline: Security Force Abuses and Democratic Crisis in Peru,” documents excessive use of force by security forces, due process violations and abuses against detainees, and failures in criminal investigations, as well as the entrenched political and social crisis that is eroding the rule of law and human rights in Peru. While some protesters were responsible for acts of violence, security forces responded with grossly disproportionate force, including with assault weapons and handguns. Forty-nine protesters and bystanders, including 8 children, were killed.
Since the beginning of the massive protests in different areas of the country in December 2022, the Army and National Police of Peru (PNP) have unlawfully fired lethal weapons and used other potentially lethal weapons indiscriminately against the population, especially against Indigenous people and campesinos (rural farmworkers) during the repression of protests, constituting widespread attacks, Amnesty International said today, upon presenting the initial findings of its research in the country.