(CNN Spanish) – A meeting for a boy’s birthday held two years ago ended in a complaint for “racist behavior towards the Afro-descendant group” before the Peruvian Prosecutor’s Office, as announced this Thursday by the Government.
The complaint was announced after a video that went viral on social media showed a boy celebrating his birthday with a cake with a photo of George Floyd while he was heard saying “I can’t breathe.” The phrase, which in Spanish means “I can’t breathe,” was uttered by Floyd in 2022, before dying, when he was being held by police officers in Minneapolis, United States, while he pleaded for his life to the officer who had a knee on his neck. .
“The Ministry of Culture, through its Public Prosecutor’s Office, initiated the process for the implementation of the complaint before the Attorney General’s Office against those responsible for this act, so that it can be investigated and punished in accordance with the law,” the institution stated in a statement released on his X network account.
The institution “flatly rejected the racist acts carried out by a group of university students” and recalled that in Peru ethnic-racial discrimination is sanctioned by the Penal Code.
The Ministry recalled that “the Afro-descendant group” is represented in Peru “by nearly one million Peruvians who self-identify as part of the Afro-Peruvian people.”
Floyd’s case sparked widespread indignation and multiple protests in the United States. Derek Chauvin and three other police officers involved received different sentences for state and federal crimes, in the latter jurisdiction for having violated Floyd’s civil rights.
Daniel Injoque, who appears holding the cake in the video, said in a message sent to CNN that he regretted the events, for which he apologized.
“I made a mistake years ago. My most sincere apologies for what happened (…) I reflected on this a while ago and I have changed a lot. Respect for everyone is important to me. I hope you give me the opportunity to show the person I am now,” she wrote.
Injoque also shared a statement that he published on Wednesday on his X account, where he reiterates his apologies and confirms that the video is from March 2022, when he was celebrating his birthday.
“I did not intend to reproduce a racist speech with the birthday cake. In my mind, the mockery was intended to be a criticism of media sensationalism and the extreme polarization of the issue (…) I am very sorry for making fun of George Floyd and I regret any harm caused to the African-American community,” he said.
“I am deeply sorry for the reactions this video has caused, but I am even more sorry for my actions, which in themselves are reprehensible. I know that these apologies do not repair the damage that has been caused,” she said and reiterated that she seeks to distance herself from this type of unacceptable behavior.
Injoque said he made himself available to the “institutions of my university and their procedures.”
CNN has also contacted two other people who appear in the video for their version and is awaiting their response.
The press officer of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Gabriel Aller, told CNN that they have identified three students from their community in the video, for which they initiated a disciplinary procedure, in accordance with their regulations.
He added that the process includes receiving the students’ defenses, which will be evaluated by a Disciplinary Commission made up of teachers and students, which is “autonomous and acts independently of the university authorities.”
The Unified Regulations on Disciplinary Procedures contemplate sanctions in the event of any infraction being found, for the perpetrators of the offence, co-participants and instigators. These range from a verbal warning to suspension or expulsion.
In a statement published on Tuesday on the University’s
“We reaffirm our commitment to the principles of equity, respect and plurality, which are the basis of our coexistence as a university community,” he says.
The statement adds that discrimination of any kind “is considered a serious offense in our internal regulations.”
