Suffer the children: No peace for Putis after 24 years

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Suffer the children: No peace for Putis after 24 years

(12 December 2008): Asociación Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Hope Association) in Peru is a Christian institution that promotes and defends human rights. WACC has recently partnered the Association in carrying out a project of collective memory. Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and 24 years after the barbarity that took place in Putis, it has issued the following reminder to the authorities and people of Peru.

“On 13 December 1984 occurred one of the cruellest slaughters of the internal armed conflict that affected Peru. That day, members of the Peruvian Army murdered more than 100 people in the community of Putis, located in the Santillana district in the Province of Huanta-Ayacucho. Among them were 48 children, mostly under ten years old, as well as women and men, some of them old.

Despite evidence confirming the gravity of what took place, the horror of that slaughter does not seem to shock the highest authorities in the land, since they have shown no sensitivity in responding to the calls for dignity and justice for the families of the Putis victims.

For this reason, we are speaking up today, in memory of each one of our sisters and brothers who fell that fateful day, for the women who suffered rape, and for an entire community that was cowardly deceived and violated by those who were under an obligation to protect them, to demand a cessation of the indifference, discriminatory treatment, and reiterated offences against a people calling for justice and recognition of their dignity.

We demand public expressions of apology to the people of Putis for the pain that was occasioned, clear and effective commitments by the Ministry of Defence to provide the information required by the Public Ministry so that this crime does not stay under cover of impunity, and priority public attention to the reconstruction of the settlement at Putis.

To date the Public Ministry has not complied with the requirement to send notifications to Generals Cesar Huamán Centeno and Wilfredo Mori, who were in power at the time of the slaughter. These persons, in principle, must clarify the extent of their knowledge of the murders and the identities of the self-named Lieutenant Lalo, Capitain Bareta and Commander Oscar. If the perpetrators are not identified, the case of the Putis slaughter runs the risk of being shelved indefinitely. In summary, we demand of the Public Prosecutor great speed in compiling the evidence so that a denunciation can be brought against those responsible.

On this day too we call on all men and women of good faith in Peru to persevere in their call for dignity and justice for Putis and we stand in solidarity with their protest and struggle. May God give consolation, courage and strength to the people of Putis and to all those who take up their cause.”

Source: http://justiciaparaputis.org/?p=320

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WACC promotes communication for social change. It believes that communication is a basic human right that defines people's common humanity, strengthens cultures, enables participation, creates community and challenges tyranny and oppression.

The World Association for Christian Communication is a UK Registered Charity (number 296073) and a Company registered in England and Wales (number 2082273) with its Registered Office at 71 Lambeth Walk, London SE11 6DX. It is an incorporated Charitable Organisation in Canada (number 83970 9524 RR0001) with its head office at 308 Main Street, Toronto ON, M4C 4X7.