Dozens of Peruvians Detained in Draconian Crackdown Released Amid International Outcry

Demonstrators who were jailed in an alarming mass detention were released after influential observers at home and abroad reacted with horror to the coup-borne regime’s latest human rights transgression.

The vast majority of people detained on Saturday in mass arrests at the western hemisphere’s oldest university have been released, according to the security forces which seized power in Peru over a month ago.

At least 192 of those arrested – including multiple journalists, a pregnant woman, as well as a young girl and her mother – are no longer in state custody, officials say.

The Saturday raid on Peru's prized National University of San Marcos (UNMSM) sent shockwaves well beyond the school’s faculty and student body and into the international community, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro and former Bolivian President Evo Morales both registering their disgust on social media.

Yet the chancellor of the university, Jeri Ramón, is refusing to step down. Instead, on Sunday the school issued a widely-panned statement condemning some of those who’d sought shelter within their grounds while simultaneously denouncing the “abuse of authority” by state security forces.

“We requested ONLY the clearing of the occupied entrances,” the university claimed.

Citing the “obvious show of force” by Peruvian police, UNMSM insisted they “denounce the abuse of authority towards our arbitrarily detained students” and “reject the intervention of the Counter-Terrorist Directorate in the university dorms,” which they pointed out “resulted in damage to infrastructure and physical and psychological harm to the San Marcos resident community.”

Leftist congresswoman Sigrid Bazan announced Monday that she’s calling on Peru’s ministers of justice, education, and oversight to subpoena the university chancellor for her role in the chaos.

With the school still insisting they had no idea security forces would go as far as they did, Ramón is continuing to refuse to step down. Instead, she’s suggested that she’s the target of political conspiracy aimed at taking her university position.

“Why is the rector's head being requested? Because there is also a group of political power that is behind this. Logically, there [must be] a political group that is stirring up the population,” she claimed Monday.

At least 60 protesters have died since Peru’s first working-class Indigenous president was overthrown in a parliamentary coup in December. Since then, a group of US-linked politicians, headed by President Dina Boluarte and Prime Minister Alberto Otarola, have struggled to consolidate their rule over the country.

Protests against their reign continue throughout Peru, especially in areas dominated by Indigenous peoples. Demonstrators’ demands include the liberation of ousted President Pedro Castillo, a recall of the current Congress, a constituent assembly, and a new constitution.