Peru’s National Police denied attacking the Venezuelan players

The commander of the Peruvian National Police (PNP), Jorge Angulo, It denied on Thursday that agents of that force attacked the players of the Venezuelan soccer team, after the World Cup qualifying match played on Tuesday, in which they drew 1-1 with the bicolor team in Lima, despite the images of fans showing punching and shoving.

“It was made clear that there was not and has not been any kind of demonstration against foreign nationals. Maybe the players of the Venezuelan team wanted to get closer to their fans and their compatriots and there was a little disturbance, but it was quickly overcome,” declared Angulo. to journalists.

At the end of the match, the players of the national team of Venezuela approached the fans in the stands. Officers restrained him and there was a brief confrontation between the police and the players, who insulted and spat at the uniformed officers.

The Government of Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan Football Federation (FVF) this Wednesday denounced the attacks against Vinotinto footballers by PNP agents at the National Stadium in Lima.

In a statement, the Ministry of Youth and Sports expressed its “outrage and rejection” of the attacks and described it as “shameful that a football event of such magnitude has been taken as a battlefield to expose the lowest passions of anti-Venezuelan xenophobia by the Peruvian police authorities”.

In this regard, the FVF published another statement in which it joined in condemning the “physical and verbal” attacks and the “acts of discrimination and xenophobia” allegedly suffered by its national team and the fans who supported them at Lime.

Maduro later called the perpetrators of the attacks “evil”, the “oligarchy of Peru” against members of the Venezuelan soccer team, which he linked to the Peruvian right, whom he accused of being xenophobic.

This Wednesday, the Venezuelan authorities also accused the Peruvian Government of “hijacking” the departure flight of the vinotinto team, although later the Peruvian authorities put a “cold cloth” on the situation.

After clarifying that the delay was due to commercial reasons, the Peruvian Foreign Ministry announced that it would cooperate in solving the problems faced by the aircraft in refueling and then highlighted that this was achieved thanks to the “sense of cooperation and solidarity” and wished the Venezuelan delegation “a good trip back to their country.”