Concern in Peru over violent incidents between Peruvians and Venezuelans

The recent violent incidents carried out by a group of Peruvians and Venezuelans, which have included the murder of citizens of both countries, have aroused concern between both communities in Peru, as well as calls for restraint and to confront these events from the police point of view.

The latest event occurred during the night of this Saturday in Lima, when a Venezuelan worker from a home delivery company was threatened with a firearm by a man apparently intoxicated.

Local media reported that the incident took place in the Lima residential district of San Isidro and that the man, a Peruvian who was later detained, fired shots into the air.

INCIDENTS AND THREATS

Amid the large presence of Venezuelan migrants in Peru, where there are an estimated 1.2 million, there have been numerous complaints for crimes committed by citizens of that country, as well as protests and xenophobic acts by groups of Peruvians .

The situation worsened in recent weeks, when the video of the murder of a Venezuelan merchant by a Peruvian criminal in the northern city of Trujillo, and the subsequent murder in Lima of a young Peruvian by Venezuelan hitmen, was broadcast on social networks, which was recorded with a cell phone.

From that moment, criminals of both nationalities published videos and messages on social networks with mutual threats, which were radicalized with the dissemination of another video in which it is seen how a young Peruvian was thrown from a bridge in Colombia, presumably by Venezuelans.

PROTEST IN LIMA

Given this, this Saturday dozens of people gathered in the central Plaza San Martín de Lima in response to a call made by social networks with xenophobic overtones to demand from the government of President Francisco Sagasti the expulsion of illegal Venezuelans and with criminal records from the country .

The attendees, who came to protest the murder of the Peruvian Silvano Cantaro in Colombia, then marched to the headquarters of television channels and arrived at the front of the Venezuelan embassy in Lima.

The Government of Venezuela denounced this Sunday that during that protest the protesters attacked its diplomatic headquarters with stones, which currently performs consular functions, since the Peruvian Executive does not recognize the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

CALLED TO THE PRUDENCE

Leaders of the Venezuelans organized in Peru have called for restraint and asked that this issue be dealt with from the police point of view, since the majority of Peruvians and Venezuelans coexist peacefully in the country.

The representative in Peru of the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, Carlos Scull, affirmed this week that he has asked the Peruvian authorities to investigate this situation and the Venezuelans to try “to seek that integration, but always asking for justice” for all.

On his part, the representative of the Venezuelan Union organization in Peru, Oscar Pérez, asked for justice and “calm” for these latest incidents, including that of the delivery man threatened this Saturday, whom he accompanied in his complaint with Scull.

“We ask for justice and we ask for calm. We ask not to generalize, just as we are all good people, we cannot generalize and put everyone in the same bag,” he told local media.

Peru has kept its border with Ecuador closed since last year, when the covid-19 pandemic began, and last January it sent military and armored vehicles to block the clandestine passages through which hundreds of migrants entered daily, the vast majority Venezuelans, according to authorities.

From EFE.