Peru president issues amnesty for hundreds accused of atrocities
Dina Boluarte enacted the measure that was passed by Congress in July, despite an order from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to suspend it pending a review of its impact on victims.
The law will benefit hundreds of members of the armed forces, police and self-defence committees accused of crimes committed between 1980 and 2000.
It will also mandate the release of those over 70 serving sentences for such offences.
During the conflict, the Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebel groups waged insurgencies in which an estimated 70,000 people were killed and more than 20,000 disappeared, according to Peru's Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC).
Boluarte, elected in 2022 as the the country's first female president, said the Peruvian government was paying tribute to the forces who — she said — fought against terrorism and in defence of democracy.
Human rights organisations have condemned the law. Juanita Goebertus, Americas director at Human Rights Watch, called it "a betrayal of Peruvian victims" that "undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities".
United Nations experts and Amnesty International had urged Boluarte to veto the bill, saying that it violated Peru's duty to investigate and prosecute grave abuses including extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, torture and sexual violence.
UN experts said the amnesty could halt or overturn more than 600 pending trials and 156 convictions.
The TRC found that state agents, notably the armed forces, were responsible for 83% of documented sexual violence cases.
Last year, Peru adopted a statute of limitations for crimes against humanity committed before 2002, effectively shutting down hundreds of investigations into alleged crimes committed during the fighting.
The initiative benefited late president Alberto Fujimori, who was jailed for atrocities — including the massacre of civilians by the army — but released from prison in 2023 on humanitarian grounds. He died in September 2024.
Meanwhile, former president Martin Vizcarra was ordered on Wednesday to be held in preventative detention for five months over allegations he received $640,000 in bribes while governor of Moquegua between 2011 and 2014.
He is the fifth former president to be jailed in corruption investigations. — BBC
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab News
7 hours ago
- Arab News
Israel's chokehold on US is beginning to loosen
Has Israel's government finally gone too far? Ever since it was founded in 1948, Israel has engaged in violence against Palestinians and used its support in America as a shield to prevent it from being punished at the UN. To ensure that America's support never wavers, pro-Israel groups have poured hundreds of millions of dollars into manipulating the American political system, influencing election results and ensuring members of Congress shy away from questioning its misconduct. But ever since Israel's government launched its war of vengeance against the Palestinians in Gaza in response to the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, its excessive violence, war crimes, genocide and even the murder of a handful of Americans have seemed to tilt the balance of support in the US. Recent polling shows that the American public has started to react to Israel's excesses, with 60 percent now opposing Tel Aviv's military action in Gaza. Israel's violence, pushed by the influence of far-right religious extremists who control the government of right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has pushed open a door of judgment that it might not be able to close. Even worse for Israel is that its excessive military response has sparked a seismic political tremor that has started to reverberate among some Republican conservatives and mainstream Democrats, who for generations could be counted on to close their eyes to Israel's extrajudicial killings, collective punishment and contempt for the international rule of law. We are starting to see the powerful chokehold that Israel has long had over American politics start to loosen. We have always seen the Democratic Party mildly slap Israel on the wrist for its violent excesses, but mainstream Democrats like Rep. Mike Quigley are now questioning Israel's military actions and even calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state. Israel's excessive violence, war crimes and genocide have seemed to tilt the balance of support in the US Ray Hanania We have long heard those on the far left in the Democratic Party scream and stamp their feet with no impact on American society. They have excoriated Israel's government for its hypocritical discriminatory policies against Christians and Muslims. Meanwhile, the Republicans and evangelical Christian movements have always stood by Israel, giving it a shield against any form of criminal prosecution, even when its victims have been Americans. Conservatives may have winced at Israel's abuses, but they never crossed the line to demand accountability or judgment. Until now. The tipping point came because Americans have begun to experience a weakening economy. Not only has inflation pushed the price of commodities like groceries, cars and clothing to new heights, but the costs of essentials like insurance, healthcare and property taxes have also risen dramatically. Many Americans are now struggling financially. The US also has a record national debt of more than $37 trillion, which is driving inflation and pushing the cost of products to unaffordable new heights. That economic reality is trumping America's love affair with Israel, causing many Americans to ask: 'Why?' One of the strongest voices leading the backlash is a core member of President Donald Trump's 'Make America Great Again' movement: Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. The Republican from Georgia has started to question why America sacrifices so much for Israel. Greene, a staunch, unapologetic champion of Trump, is the face of the new movement that is challenging Israel's dominion over America and directly challenging Israel's political powerbase in the US, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. This group has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on donations to the campaign coffers of hundreds of US politicians in order to ensure their subordination and subservience to Israel's needs and demands. Today's economic reality is trumping America's love affair with Israel, causing many Americans to ask: 'Why?' Ray Hanania Greene is demanding that America stop giving Israel foreign aid. The US sends $4 billion in aid to Israel every year and it has also provided $18 billion in military assistance for Tel Aviv's war on Gaza. She has the audacity to ask why. Why is America giving Israel so much money, which could instead be given to Americans who are suffering financially? She posted on X this week: 'AIPAC is trying to paint my America First message as 'antisemitic' because I don't want to keep sending billions to the secular government of nuclear-armed Israel.' Greene has expanded her call to end all foreign aid — a call to arms that is being embraced by other mainstream MAGA Republicans like Rep. Thomas Massie. What is happening is a political revolution being driven by a worsening economy and by Israeli arrogance. In her post this week, Green concluded: 'With $37 TRILLION in debt, I'm unapologetically America ONLY at this point. My loyalty is to the American people and my children's generation. The people I was elected to represent. NOT ANY FOREIGN COUNTRY.' The growing criticism of Israel's policies, combined with the financial pain many Americans are experiencing and the arrogance of foreign lobbyists who believe they can politically suffocate mainstream congressional antagonists, is undermining Israel's grip over the American people. The changes may look small, but with the criticisms gaining momentum, at some point they will become unstoppable. There is an American idiom often used in politics that says, 'give someone enough rope and they will hang themselves.' Israel is today tightening the noose around its own moral profligacy. • Ray Hanania is an award-winning former Chicago City Hall political reporter and columnist. He can be reached on his personal website at X: @RayHanania
Arab News
21 hours ago
- Arab News
California pushes left, Texas to the right, with US House control and Trump agenda in play
LOS ANGELES: A political standoff in Texas over proposed House maps that could hand Republicans five new seats is poised to enter a new phase Friday, while heavily Democratic California plans to release its own new maps intended to erase all but a sprinkle of the state's GOP House districts in the fight over control of hectic maneuvering in the nation's two most populous states underscored the stakes for both parties in the narrowly divided House that could determine the fate of President Donald Trump's agenda in the second half of his Thursday, Texas Democrats moved closer to ending a nearly two-week walkout that has blocked the GOP's redrawing of US House maps before the 2026 election. The Democrats announced they will return to the state provided that Texas Republicans end a special session and California releases its own redrawn map proposal, both of which were expected to happen Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott is expected to call another special session to push through new maps. Democratic lawmakers vowed to take the fight to the California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said his state will hold a Nov. 4 special election to seek approval of redrawn districts intended to give Democrats five more US House seats, in a counterpunch to undercut any gains in Texas.'We can't stand back and watch this democracy disappear district by district all across the country,' Newsom said at what amounted to a campaign kickoff rally for the as-yet unreleased maps that Democrats have been shaping behind closed doors. 'We are not bystanders in this world. We can shape the future.'The two states have emerged as the center of a partisan turf war in the House that could spiral into other states – as well as the courts – in what amounts to a proxy war ahead of the 2026 has gone nationalNewsom's announcement Thursday marked the first time any state beyond Texas has officially waded into the mid-decade redistricting fight. The Texas plan was stalled when minority Democrats fled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts on Aug. 3 to stop the Legislature from passing any leaders from red Florida to blue New York are threatening to write new maps. In Missouri, a document obtained by The Associated Press shows the state Senate received a $46,000 invoice to activate six redistricting software licenses and provide training for up to 10 staff encouraged other Democratic-led states to get involved.'We need to stand up – not just California. Other blue states need to stand up,' Newsom control could come down to a few seats in 2026Republicans hold a 219-212 majority in the House, with four vacancies. New maps are typically drawn once a decade after the census is conducted. Many states, including Texas, give legislators the power to draw maps. California is among states that rely on an independent commission that is supposed to be California map would take effect only if a Republican state moves forward, and it would remain through the 2030 elections. After that, Democrats say they would return mapmaking power to the independent commission approved by voters more than a decade goes to LA to launch campaign for new districtsIn Los Angeles, Newsom and other speakers veered from discussing the technical grist of reshaping districts – known as redistricting – and instead depicted the looming battle as a conflict with all things Trump, tying it explicitly to the fate of American overarching theme was the willingness to stand up to Trump, a cheer-inducing line for Democrats as the party looks to regroup from its 2024 losses.'Donald Trump, you have poked the bear, and we will punch back,' said Newsom, a possible 2028 presidential to California plan begins to take shapeSome people already have said they would sue to block the effort, and influential voices including former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger may campaign against it.'Gavin Newsom's latest stunt has nothing to do with Californians and everything to do with consolidating radical Democrat power, silencing California voters, and propping up his pathetic 2028 presidential pipe dream,' National Republican Congressional Committee spokesperson Christian Martinez said in a statement. 'Newsom's made it clear: he'll shred California's Constitution and trample over democracy – running a cynical, self-serving playbook where Californians are an afterthought and power is the only priority.'California Democrats hold 43 of the state's 52 House seats, and the state has some of the most competitive House California, lawmakers must officially declare the special election, which they plan to do next week after voting on the new maps. Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers – enough to act without any Republican votes – and Newsom said he is not worried about winning the required support from two-thirds of lawmakers to advance the maps.
Saudi Gazette
a day ago
- Saudi Gazette
California governor unveils voting lines plan to counter Texas Republicans
LOS ANGELES – California's Democratic governor has unveiled a high-stakes plan to redraw voting lines in America's most populous state, in order to counter similar efforts by Republicans in Texas. Gavin Newsom called for a special election to be held in November, in which voters would be asked to approve lawmakers redrawing congressional districts before national midterms in 2026. He billed the move as an emergency measure in response to a Donald Trump-backed plan in Texas, which could see the Republicans pick up five more seats in the finely-balanced House. It is the latest development in a gerrymandering fight that runs the risk of setting off a political arms race for control of the US Congress. The governor – whose term in office ends next year and is rumoured to have presidential ambitions – said it would neutralise an attempt by Trump and other Republicans to "rig the system". "We're working through a very transparent, temporary and public process," Newsom said. "We're putting the maps on the ballot and we're giving the power to the people." He continued: "We have got to recognise the cards that we have been dealt and we have got to meet fire with fire." Newsom's proposal would see California retain its current congressional maps if Texas and other states pulled out of any changes. The tit-for-tat move seeks to cancel out projected gains by Republicans in Texas if the state approves a redistricting effort sought by Trump and the state's governor Greg Abbott. Republicans in Texas have so far been blocked from approving new maps, as Democratic lawmakers have physically left the state, denying its legislative body the two-thirds attendance it needs to proceed with a vote. Abbott has threatened to arrest the Democrats, who are staying in Illinois, and said he would call continuous special sessions of the state's legislature until the proposal passes. Like other states, California typically redraws congressional districts once a decade when new population data is released by the US Census. California convenes a commission of independent citizens to do so. The proposal in Texas to make changes mid-decade has triggered a nationwide political row, as the changes could give Republicans an easier path to keep control of the US House of Representatives and prevent challenges from Democrats that they'd face under current political maps. If Democrats gain control of the House, it could block much of Trump's legislative agenda. Gerrymandering – the redrawing of electoral boundaries to favour a political party – has been carried out by both Democrats and Republicans across the US for decades, and is legal as long as it does not amount to racial discrimination, the Supreme Court has ruled. Trump has said Texas is "entitled" to redraw maps and called on the FBI to put pressure on the state's Democrats to return home, paving the way for a vote. Some are expected to return to the state as early as this weekend, saying they feel their cross-country relocation has helped generate more attention on the issue nationally. According to US media, some made the decision to return after seeing California's plans to counter Texas's new maps. Democrats in California – which elected 43 Democrats and nine Republicans at the last election – have not published a detailed new map, or indicated exactly how many extra seats they would envision winning under the changes. The newly redrawn political boundaries would be released in a map in the coming days, the governor said. Newsom announced his plan – which he dubbed the Election Rigging Response Act – with a coalition of Democratic leaders. He also called for new federal standards to prevent political meddling in voting boundaries. It is unclear if California's voters will approve Newsom's plan. Earlier this week, a Politico-Citrin Center Possibility Lab survey suggested Californians support retaining its independent districting system. Only 36% of respondents backed returning congressional redistricting authority to state lawmakers. Speaking to Fox on Thursday, Trump called Newsom "an incompetent governor". He also said he was considering encouraging Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to redraw districts in the state, so that Republicans could win more seats there. The president said other states had drawn "ridiculous" voting districts that are shaped like "rattlesnakes". – BBC
