HomeStreet vendor Christian Venancio Huapaya killed by municipal police
Lima, Peru - The death of Christian Venancio Huapaya, a 22 year-old street vendor who died as a result of the aggression of "municipal police officers" of the district of San Isidro on the 5th of January 2005 elicted denunication from street vendor organisations in Peru and StreetNet International and its affiliates.
Police snatched the goods that Huapaya was selling in the Ave Javier Prado, and then assaulted him. He fell to ground, dead as a result of suffocation.
The ten "municipal police officers" (called “Serenazgos”) that perpetrated his death have to explain their actions to the National Police. Freddy Venancio's relatives and hawkers have demanded an explanation from the municipality of San Isidro.
The fatal beating of Huapaya is a clear expression of the brutal way that street and market vendors are treated in Peru and in different parts of the world. The authorities lack adequate policy to regulate street vending even though street and market vendors contribute to development and citizens' welfare. Furthermore, in Peru where unemployment is increasing, it is poverty that forces hundreds of thousands of people to earn a living as street vendors.
The elderly parents of Huapaya , who are also vendors have lost a breadwinner as Freddy contributed to the family expenses. FEDEVAL has demanded that the government and municipal authorities bring those guilty for this crime to justice and that they compensate the family of Huapaya for their loss. StreetNet supports the call by FEDEVAL to the government of Peru to replace the policies that repress street and market vendors. The regulations do nothing to reduce unemployment and poverty. New measures that encourage organisation and regulation of the self-employed street and market vendors are urgently needed.
This
situation has caused the unions of street commerce and of micro commerce
in general, including FEDEVAL, to co-ordinate and implement joint actions,
having formed the Lima Provincial
Council for the Organisation of Street Vendors, Fairgrounds and Markets,
with the objective of acting in unison to bring our protests and proposals
before the President of the Republic and other public and private
institutions.
Source: Statement issued by: JULIO CČSAR MONTOYA C. DNI 08546646 - Presidente de la Central de Comerciantes de Lima Norte (Ambulantes y Mercados) Y de Federación Distrital de Vendedores Ambulantes de SMP; GLORIA SOLORZANO ESPINOZA DNI 0902946 - Asociación de Trab. Amb. 20 de Junio La Victoria, Y Presidenta Red Metropolitana de Mujeres Trabajadoras Ambulantes y Mercados.