The Public Ministry of Peru announced that it will initiate an investigation against the mayor of the city of Huancayo, Henry Lopez, for discrimination in pretending to declare his commune as “free of Venezuelans.”
“Last week, Lopez published an official statement in which he announced a plan to declare Huancayo a ‘Venezuelan-free’ city,” Sputnik News said.
This measure was intended to be carried out because of “the growing and uncontrolled presence of foreign citizens” that leads to “growth in informality, outpatient trade and acts of vandalism”, the aforementioned media published, according to what the statement said.
The Ombudsman’s Office rejected the initiative recalling that the mayor “must respect constitutional principles of equality and non-discrimination.”
However, the mayor insisted that he would coordinate with the local police to deport all illegal Venezuelan immigrants residing in Huancayo.
“Óscar Pérez, president of the non-governmental organization Venezuelan Union in Peru, told Sputnik that, according to estimates, in Huancayo there are between 4,000 and 5,000 Venezuelan immigrants residing.
