Former Vice Minister of the Interior Ricardo Valdez regrets that the Congress has issued a regulation such as Law 31494, which incorporates the so-called Self Defense Committees in the citizen security system. He points out that it is unconstitutional because the issues of public order and internal order correspond to the National Police.
“By exception, According to the Constitution, the Armed Forces can enter a state of emergency. But an exceptional situation cannot be naturalized,” he notes.
Regarding this norm circumscribed to the rural sphere, in peasant and native communities and rural population centers, Valdés highlights a fact that was not taken into account. He refers that There are 94,000 rural population centers in the country, according to the 2017 census, which means that there could be 94,000 CAD and there are only 1,400 police stations.
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“We would be managing the possibility of having 94 thousand armed CAD, with legal status to receive donations. It’s crazy. I think that the people who have made this rule have not thought about these figures, ”he comments.
The number of communities is greater. According to the Inei, 9,385 between natives and peasants. According to the Institute for the Common Good there are 10,529. Hence, Ricardo Valdez maintains that they are creating a big problem with this rule.
It refers to the number of intra-communal conflicts that exist, invasions of parcels, problems due to returning community members, due to separation from the mother annex, problems due to titling of unrecognized communities that would fall into the hands of land traffickers with a lot of money.
In Peru there are 94,000 rural population centers, according to the 2017 census, which means that you could have 94,000 CAD. Photo: The Republic
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“We are creating a lot of armed fiefdoms that they are going to respond to the economic interests of these powerful groups that may be illicit”, he warns.
He insists that what Congress has done is crazy.
“They have not analyzed anything. They have not thought about who is affected, how they can be associated with other forces of power, they have not made comparative legislation at the national level, why firearms are prohibited to the Serenazgo and they are going to give it to the CAD, why not to the Peasant Rounds and to the committees yes”, claims the former Vice Minister of the Interior.
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It must go to the Constitutional Court
For its part, former Congressman Gino Costa remember that the self-defense committees, groups of armed civilians, were created to help fight terrorism in emergency zones. He considers that attempting to extend them to the entire territory to combat crime, as provided by Law 31494, is unconstitutional and dangerous, and will generate more problems than those it intends to solve.
“The State has the monopoly of force; private armed groups cannot exist, whatever their purpose. The risk is high that they will become a shock force for informal or criminal interests, calling the rule of law into question. I voted against this initiative in the previous Congress, which was observed by President Sagasti, and unfortunately approved at the insistence of the current one. It must reach the TC to declare it unconstitutional, “says Gino Costa.
the data
Art. 8. Weapons and ammunition. The self-defense and rural development committees can acquire, by purchase or donation by the State or private individuals, the weapons for civilian use that the Ministry of Defense authorizes. The Mindef also manages your registry.
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The CADs are not in the Constitution
Approach by: César Bazán Seminar, Citizen Security
It is a dangerous rule because it legitimizes the use of weapons and the functions of justice that are not provided for in the Constitution. In addition, it can be harmful to the functions that the regulation itself establishes, which is to support citizen security, the fight against drug trafficking and the fight against terrorism.
In art. 12 of the law establishes that the CAD enjoy respect for their culture and customs and may make use of customary law. So, what the law says is that they can exercise jurisdictional functions. The Constitution says that the jurisdictional function is exercised by the Judiciary, but also by the TC, the military justice. Regarding civil society, it authorizes the peasant communities, the peasant patrols and the indigenous communities, it does not speak of the CADs.
Then, the monopoly for the exercise of legitimate violence is held by the State, which is why it can use weapons and not civilians, except for some justified cases that Sucamec considers. That monopoly is also broken with this norm.
