In an interview, Victor Canales implied that Dina Boluarte may be responsible for the deaths of dozens of people during the protests of the coup d’état against Pedro Castillo, as well as the corruption embedded in the Peruvian Army leadership.
Protest against the government of Dina Boluarte, January 2024 - Suspiriorumm, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
By Pablo Meriguet
In December 2024, General Victor Canales received communication informing him that he would be dismissed from his position as military chief and that he had to retire. According to the official document, the decision was taken so that the positions in the army could be renewed. Along with Canales, 17 other generals were removed from the army.
During his farewell speech, Canales delivered remarks that some saw as brave and others defiant: “Respect the laws, your military leaders, and never stain your hands with the blood of innocents or with the money of the virus of corruption. Be just,” he told his soldiers.
His words have been interpreted as both a rebuke of decisions regarding promotions in the military that are allegedly corrupted by political interests as well as allegations regarding the responsibility of security forces and their commanders in the recent deaths of nearly 50 civilians in protests against the Dina Boluarte government between December 2022 and March 2023.
The President’s apparent responsibility for civilian deaths
In a recent interview with La Republica newspaper, the now-retired General Canales confirmed that in his farewell speech, he was referring to the death of civilians at the hands of the military. “That’s right; not only (was I referring) to those deaths, which are regrettable, but also to the deaths that subsequently occurred in January in other parts of the country, such as Puno. Not only civilians but also soldiers and policemen. All the deaths are regrettable”.
According to Canales, Dina Boluarte, as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, is also responsible for a “poorly designed” approach that caused the civilian deaths: “I can say that [the civilian deaths] should not have happened. That is why I mention that there was a poorly designed strategy…[carried out from] the highest level. When I mention the highest level, I am referring, in this case, to Mrs. Dina Boluarte, who is the Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces. From there the order is born, and it has to be well issued to reach the last soldier, which is the tactical level, and the mission can be accomplished… She (Boluarte) is responsible, as Supreme Chief of the Armed Forces, and as president of the Republic, for everything that happens and does not happen… [Boluarte has to assume the legal and political] consequences.”
Corruption within the Peruvian Army
Canales added, in the interview with La República, that the mechanisms for the promotion of generals, colonels, and other military ranks are compromised by political calculations so that the merits of the individuals remain in the background. This is what he referred to as the “corruption virus” in his farewell speech. “I have been a victim, I have been a witness, I have been a denouncer [of acts of corruption in the armed forces]; I have done what I had to do according to my military status,” Canales declared.
Regarding whether the military leadership is aligned with the interests of Boluarte’s government, Canales did not give a clear answer, although he did speak of favoritism in the selection of certain military cadres who even have ongoing legal proceedings against them: “Definitely, there is favoritism, a false loyalty, a false esprit de corps. (But) not of the whole Army, but of a small group that at this moment have important positions, and relevant military ranks, and that make use of these tools. Logically, they are outside the law to achieve their very personal objectives, perhaps even to configure certain criminal networks.”
Civilian deaths in protests
In December 2022, a coup d’état against President Pedro Castillo provoked massive mobilizations in Peru. Facing imminent impeachment by Congress, Castillo sought to dissolve the Legislative and call for a Constituent Assembly, in response to which the traditional political powers decided to depose and arrest him. The demonstrators demanded that the will of the people be respected, and that Castillo be allowed to continue with his administration, and be immediately released. They also demanded the resignation of the recently installed President Boluarte and the establishment of a Constituent Assembly.
The mobilizations that lasted until March 2023, took place mainly in impoverished towns in the Peruvian highlands where Castillo’s political party, Free Peru (Perú Libre), was strongest. These protests were harshly repressed by state forces. In cities such as Ayacucho, Andahuaylas, Juliaca, and others, dozens of demonstrators were killed by law enforcement and thousands were injured. In a report, Amnesty International noted that the repression, which included human rights violations, may have been planned by senior army and police officers, including President Dina Boluarte.
On several occasions, the demonstrators were branded by the Peruvian police and President Boluarte as terrorists, which presumably justified the intervention of special forces in the repression, leading to the death of dozens of demonstrators. For example, in Ayacucho, the prosecutor Mirela Coronel is investigating the participation of 20 military personnel who allegedly shot at the unarmed population, killing ten demonstrators and wounding 66 more people.
For the time being, the investigations continue and increasingly point to those who gave the orders to repress the demonstrators in such a brutal manner, despite the obstacles that the institutional system itself has in place for such actions. General Canales has informed the Prosecutor’s Office of his willingness to talk with them to shed light on these crimes.
Pablo Meriguet is a journalist with Peoples Dispatch.
This article was produced by Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service.
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