Gabriel Boric criticizes the repression in Peru and Gustavo Petro asks that there is not “a single political prisoner” in the region

The President of Chile, Gabriel Boric, criticized his Peruvian counterpart, Dina Boluarte, on Tuesday in Buenos Aires for the crackdown on protests which have already caused about 60 deaths in Peru, and underlined “the urgent need for a change of course” in the Andean country.

At the same time, his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, has raised his voice to demand the strengthening of the inter-American human rights system and the achievement of a “democratic pact”.

“We cannot be indifferent when today in our sister Republic of Peru, with the government under the command of Dina Boluarte, people who go out to march, to ask for what they consider right, end up being shot by those who are supposed to defend them”. she said during her speech at the VII Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), in Buenos Aires.

The president defined the violent entry of the police into the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos in Lima as “unacceptable”, which culminated in more than 200 arrests last weekend, and – in his opinion – revived “the sad scenes of the times of dictatorships of the Southern Cone”, according to a statement released by the Chilean Presidency.

Faced with these “outrages”, he underlined the need to contribute in all multilateral spaces to accompany an “inclusive dialogue, capable of building democratic governance and ensure respect for human rights”.

“We signal the urgent need for a change of course in Peru because the balance that the path of repression and violence has left is unacceptable to those of us who defend it, and I have no doubt that here in Celac that will is overwhelming majority, democracy and human rights,” he said.

Boric also cited the state attack on the seat of power in Brasilia on January 8, e said democracy is ‘at risk’ both in the region and in the world. Words more or less, the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, host of the meeting, launched the same warning at the beginning.

In this sense, Boric called for the activation of mechanisms by CELAC and other multilateral forums to foresee and support the “full and unlimited validity of human rights and the rule of law”.

“Deepening democracy is a lifelong exercise that requires those of us who are political leaders to amplify our ability to listen to the people,” the Chilean president said.

Criticism of Nicaragua

In this regard, he highlighted the “duty” of the Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega – one of the absent at the summit – to move towards the freedom of political prisoners because, in his words, only with freedom and dignity can democracy and the welfare of the peoples.

At the same time, the Chilean president defended the role of multilateral spaces such as CELAC as a tool for the “protection of democracy and human rights against the advance of populist and authoritarian leaderships”.

“The exclusion policy does not offer authentic or lasting results,” said Boric, who cited the “shameful” US blockade of Cuba and, more recently, in Venezuela.

Along the same lines, he described the summit held this Tuesday in Buenos Aires as a “reason for hope”, as he believed that the region “has a lot to say to the world”.

“To strengthen our position in the world, it is essential to be able to coordinate and collaborate more and better,” said the president.

“It was a year in which we were able to verify that, thanks to the Argentine leadership, the validity of CELAC as the only forum in the region that brings together 33 Latin American and Caribbean countries serves, is useful, helps us as a region”, indicated the president of the centre-left.

The words of Gustavo Petro

Meanwhile, the president of Colombia has expressed ideas similar to those of Boric, with whom he has shown strong harmony on several occasions.

“Why must we continue to maintain violations of the inter-American system despite the fact that our governments have signed the treaty in the past? Why must there be parliamentary and violent coups, why are popularly elected presidents today imprisoned when they should be at this table? ” Peter wondered.

The Colombian president believed that the time had come for the inter-American system, put “in order for the 21st century”, to allow for a “democratic pact in which the right and the left do not think that when they come to power it is to physically eliminate their opponent“.

“Here there must be a democratic pact as proposed in 1972. If we came to power from the left, it is not to imprison the right. In Latin America there must not be a single political prisoner,” he remarked.

“But if the right comes to power it is not to kill the left, it is nothing but coexistence and ideological plurality, which allows us to support each other in peace in the region that has seen the worst dictatorships and which has suffered the wars of the revolution added Petro , a former guerrilla from the now defunct M-19 movement, who seized power in August last year.

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