Mockery of George Floyd killing at a birthday party in Peru sparks online outrage

A white-skinned, bearded young man holds a cake and repeats out loud over and over: I can’t breathe while his friends join in. Laughter can be heard. It is the birthday party for Daniel Elías Injoque Zugbi, a law student at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP) in Lima. His friends — or perhaps it was his own idea — have decided to celebrate it with a cake that bears the portrait of George Floyd, the African-American man who was killed in 2020 by a police officer named Derek Chauvin who pinned him to the ground with a knee on his neck as the victim repeatedly said he couldn’t breathe.

The cruel incident triggered the Black Lives Matter movement against structural racism and abuses committed by law enforcement in the U.S., and it also sparked solidarity and reflection from various corners of the world. At the same time, it sparked far-right outbreaks that not only ignored the seriousness of the matter, but celebrated Floyd’s death. Daniel Injoque Zugbi’s birthday party falls within this second category.

The video went viral in a few hours on the social platform X, causing a wave of indignation, even more so because it involves law students from a prestigious university. Quickly, users found the identity of the 21-year-old birthday boy, who works at a law firm. Although Injoque has not yet been located, Abigail Escobar Razo, another student who attended the party and also claims to have been his girlfriend, has published a long statement where she expresses her regrets at not having stopped the events of that evening.

“I accept that I am to blame for not having put a stop to his birthday party and for not having walked away earlier, but I can definitely say that now, after breaking up, I have not had any relationship with him or with those racist circles for a long time. I completely condemn all the actions pointed out and I completely disassociate myself from all the acts that Daniel has done (...) Today, I am a person who can discern much better,” Abigail Escobar has stated. She notes that the video is old, made more than two and a half years ago, and claims that even though she agreed to record the scene, she did not repeat the macabre “I can’t breathe.” A photograph has also been leaked in which she is seen with her ex-partner wearing polo shirts with the faces of dictators Adolf Hitler, Alberto Fujimori and Augusto Pinochet.

For the activist Sofía Carrillo, Peru continues to be a racist country, and the irrefutable proof is in these law students. The only way to reverse this burden, she says, is to implement anti-racist education, because these are not isolated events, but part of a system. “When they tell me over and over again that ‘racism is over,’ that ‘we are exaggerating’ or ‘too sensitive,’ I am reminded of too many situations that are not anecdotal or sporadic. This time, they recorded it, they laughed, they mocked, they trampled on our bodies and they made fun of our pain publicly.” In this sense, the journalist Marco Avilés, author of a series of books that expose and denounce discrimination, emphasizes that “the problem is not a few racist students, but the system that produces them.” “A sample of the Peru to come, where the supposed ‘better education’ that parents seek by paying more is just a myth. In a highly segregated and far-right system like Peru, many schools and universities seem to be accelerators of degradation,” he says.

The lawyer Augusto Townsend, founder of the Comité de Lectura media outlet, has pointed out that this is not a joke, but rather a display of the kind of totalitarian ideology that has done so much harm to humanity. “In Peru there are very small enclaves of people who are trying to rewrite history and make it seem that fascism is a good thing. People who vindicate the figure of the Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Anyone who considers themselves a defender of democracy has to sharply distance themselves from fascism and confront it wherever it appears. This is not a joke or just a birthday party. It is an ideology that has led to the death of millions of people in the world. We must have the ability to always reject it,” he stresses.

Amidst the wave of criticism, the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru has issued a statement rejecting the attitude of its students, reaffirming its commitment to the principles of equity, respect and plurality, and strongly condemning any manifestation of hatred, racism or discrimination. “Discrimination based on origin, sex, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, opinion, economic or social condition, language, or any other kind, is considered a serious offense in our internal regulations. Therefore, our School of Law has filed the corresponding complaint with the disciplinary body of the University to begin the corresponding procedure,” they indicate. Beyond the immediate response by the educational institution and the punishment it may dole out, as specialists have indicated, the only way to address the problem is by focusing on the wider system and its authorities.

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