Peru: Prime Minister Otárola blames Armed Forces in protests: "I had no competence in the areas that intervened" (La República [Spanish] - 3/4/2023)

Peru: Prime Minister Otárola blames Armed Forces in protests: "I had no competence in the areas that intervened" (Spanish)

Prime Minister tells the Prosecutor's Office that "in exclusive operational matters, the one who acts is the Joint Command", pointing to the Armed Forces after the fifty deaths under the management of President Dina Boluarte, whom he also contradicted.


Laura Vasquez, La República

Avoiding responsibility. The head of the PCM, Alberto Otárola Peñaranda, testified before the National Prosecutor's Office as part of investigations initiated against him and President Dina Boluarte for the alleged crime of genocide after more than fifty deaths in different regions of the country during protests against the current government. In the interview, Otárola evaded his responsibilities for the Ministry of Defense, despite his position as Minister of Defense at the beginning of Boluarte's term and, instead, attributed the consequences to Peru's Armed Forces.

According to Prosecutor's Folder No. 277-2022, which was accessed by the program "Al Estilo Juliana", and which includes the statements made by Otárola Peñaranda before the Public Ministry, he responded repeatedly that he had not provided instructions regarding the deaths in protests, since said decisions "do not correspond to the functions" of the position he held during the first months of Boluarte's term.

"As Defense Minister, he had no tactical, operational, or functional competence in the execution of police and military plans in the areas in which both the police and the armed forces intervened," Otárola said, according to what was revealed in the TV show's report.

Otárola began his testimony by specifying: "In the specific case of the deceased, I must point out that in the operational part I did not provide any instructions, because it does not correspond to the functions of the Defense Minister." In this sense, he also alleged that he had not been "informed about the plans of operations" adopted by the Armed Forces and reiterated that "what was reported to the ministers were the results of the actions of the Armed Forces in support of the National Police, but not on operational plans".

Otárola blames the Armed Forces despite defending it in front of cameras

In his statements, Otárola also highlighted functions of the Armed Forces to avoid taking personal responsibility. Otárola said: "The essential function of the Defense Minister is to direct, coordinate, supervise and evaluate the national security and defense policy. But in exclusively operational matters, who acts is the joint command of the Armed Forces."

In addition, according to the information collected by La República this Saturday, Otárola specified that "the execution of operational plans does not correspond to the Minister of Defense."

In this sense, he insisted that he was "unaware" of the use of firearms in the brutal suppression of protests by the Peruvian National Police (PNP) and Armed Forces in the regions of Ayacucho, Apurímac, Puno, and Arequipa.

Otárola contradicts Boluarte and subtracts power over the armed forces

On the other hand, the Prime Minister for Dina Boluarte's government tried to minimize the responsibility of the President for the fifty-eight murders that resulted from the protests and their violent suppression by the PNP and the Army.

In Otárola's statements before the Public Ministry, he stressed that "the President of the Republic has no competence to authorize or not the use of weapons. "

But it was not enough to exculpate the head of state, but also added that this responsibility "does not correspond to the MINDEF [Defense Minister] either"; and that its use is "regulated by current regulations".

Tags: #AlbertoOtárola #DinaBoluarte #Genocide #PeruMassacres #FFAA

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