National Human Rights Coordinator rejects appointment of Grados Bailetti in Congress

Through a statement, the National Coordinator of Human Rights has expressed its rejection of the appointment of General (r) Luis Óscar Grados Bailetti as head of the Office of Prevention and Security of the Congress, this due to the criminal responsibility that is attributed to the ex-military for his role in the Putis massacre, which occurred during the time of the internal armed conflict.

According to the group that defends citizen rights, the designation of Grados Bailetti within the Legislative constitutes “an affront to the victims and relatives of one of the most serious acts of barbarism that have occurred in the country.”

Likewise, this organization asked the president of Congress, José Williams, for the respective explanations of the reason for this appointment, and, in that sense, proceed to revoke it.

“If we persist in this decision (to keep Grados Bailetti in office), it would constitute support for whom the State itself, which through the Public Ministry prevents and prosecutes crime, considers a criminal,” they declared in the protest document.

The participation of Grados Bailetti in Putis

In 2016, the Prosecutor’s Office opened an investigation against Luis Grados Bailetti for the alleged commission of crimes against life, body and health, as well as aggravated homicide with treachery, considered crimes against humanity, in relation to his participation in the events that occurred. in putis.

At that time, the questioned ex-soldier served as chief of operations and commander of the “Los Linces” company, which carried out its activities in Ayacucho and was involved in the massacre.

According to what the Public Ministry establishes in opinion No. 126-2016, given during the process against the retired general, it is clear that “there are elements of conviction that link the defendant Luis Óscar Grados Bailetti with the crime indicted, which are sufficient to make a judgment of criminal probability against you; and, therefore, support an accusation.”

It should be mentioned that, given the nature of the crimes charged against Grados Bailetti, they do not prescribe.

What was the Putis massacre?

In 2001, the investigations carried out within the framework of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) revealed, among other aspects, several facts hitherto unknown to the public that occurred during the time of the internal armed conflict.

One of the cases that came to light was, precisely, the Putis massacre. This event, which occurred in December 1984, in the town of Putis, province of Huanta, resulted in the death of a group of 123 community members at the hands of a detachment of the Peruvian Army.

As detailed in the CVR document, the military went to this area of the Ayacucho region, and met them at the town school. At that meeting, the law enforcement officers asserted that they would be there to provide protection and support in the economic development of the town, with the construction of some infrastructures.

It is precisely that, under deceit and with the excuse of building a fish farm to breed, they ordered the men of the town to dig a pit. However, after the work was finished, they gathered a hundred people around the hole and, without saying a word, they shot at them.

These executions were carried out extrajudicially. According to the investigations carried out by the Prosecutor’s Office, the murdered did not have weapons at the time of the attack and would have been killed in defenseless conditions.

The reasons? The CVR has a clear conclusion: the simple suspicion that the community members sympathized with the subversives, as well as obtaining profits as “the product of the sale of the numerous cattle owned by the deceased peasants.”

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