ALONG the PATH to PEACE in Peru’S Cordillera Huayhuash
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INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURE DESTINATION ALONG THE PATH TO PEACE in Peru’s Cordillera Huayhuash Words and Photos: Griffin Bohm and Max Nathanson t is almost cliché to describe mountains as violent – jagged, sharp peaks can seem temperamental and unwelcoming. However, sel- dom when we talk about violent mountains are we speaking liter- Ially. The Cordillera Huayhuash is one such exception. Today, the Huayhuash represents the site of a significant tran- sition from a complex system of guerilla-dominated terrorism to a peaceful, safe, and world-class outdoor destination. The horrify- ing history of the region is one riddled with narco-trafficking, kid- napping, and social systems ingrained in poverty and dirty money. Above all, the otherworldly natural beauty of the Cordillera is home to the complex realities of rural life, a situation endemic to not only the Andes, but also much of the developing world more generally. The compact Huayhuash range sits tucked away behind the Peruvian altiplano, five hours from the regional capital of Huaraz. It lacks both the breadth and popularity of its larger neighbour, the celebrated Cordillera Blanca. However, what it lacks in accessibility it makes up for with elevation. Packed into just 30 kilometres from north to south, sit seven peaks of 6000 metres or higher, includ- ing both Yerupajá (6,617 metres), Peru’s second highest peak, and Siulá Grande (6,344 metres), the site of Joe Simpson’s legendary tale Touching the Void. Yerupajá and Siulá, along with several other peaks in the range, are named in a language that pre-dates the Quechua-speaking Incan descendants of the region, their meaning lost to history. It is this combination of isolation and altitude that has long attracted mountaineers from around the world to the Huayhuash. But with seclusion comes risk, and the Huayhuash’s remoteness also served to attract Maoist guerrillas during Peru’s darkest days. Quar- antined away in the high Andes, the Huayhuash still bears the scars left by violent insurgents hell-bent on overthrowing the country. In the 1980s the Maoist Shining Path rose out of the Ayacucho region of Southern Peru to wage guerilla warfare that would engulf the entire country for more than a decade. The senderistas, as they are known locally, were founded by a philosophy professor, Abi- mael Guzmán, and fought against severe income and opportunity inequalities present in the country. The movement began at the tail end of what is known as the ‘Lost Decade’ of the 1980s in Latin America. Economic policies of austerity, privatisation, and trade liberalisation promoted by the World Bank and International Monetary Fund resulted in stagnation, reductions in social programs, and increased income inequality. It was against these elite-driven politics that the Path raged, and the movement attracted many living in rural and agricultural areas as well as stu- dent groups on a reformist and redistributionist bent seen many November/December 2017. WILD Rondoy (5870m, L) and Jirishanca (6094m, R) peaks WILD November/December 2017. | INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURE DESTINATION | times throughout recent Latin American history. Path. Enormous, foreboding peaks stand sentinel above valleys spreading out below. If anyone approached the Cordillera, they PERU’S PATH TO CIVIL WAR would be seen coming. Promises of political reform and wealth redistribution struck a The Huayhuash also offered some infrastructural advan- chord among rural Peruvians, where the Path was able to find tages. The Path used the town of Viconga, now known on the success pedalling their beliefs. While Lima was growing, ru- circuit as the site of a much-needed hot springs break, as a base ral Peru was left behind, lacking in education, health care, and due to the large generator used to power the thermal baths. The government support of any kind. Promising the services most group used whatever infrastructure they could to direct opera- needed to these primarily agrarian Peruvians, the Path swept to tions in the secluded secrecy of the Huayhuash’s massive peaks power through rural Peru, gaining valuable supporters across and pristine glaciers. the country. But while the Path could hole up in the Huayhuash, else- But the Path were horrendously violent. While Guzmán where in Peru, violence raged. For civilians, it was often impos- and those at the top used the Robin Hood narrative to attract a sible to discern the good guys from bad. Government forces following, on the ground, the senderistas, as they are known lo- and police were given license to operate as they pleased, and cally, were brutal. Horror stories pervaded: bombings, kidnap- would often execute raids wearing black ski masks and without pings, beheadings, rape, public stonings. Fear ruled the Andes uniform. Extrajudicial killings were common. more than any government in Lima could. Figueroa recalls the conundrum presented by the police, Local residents believed the Path’s promises of wealth re- “As state representatives they had some ability to protect local distribution and equality. In reality, they were met with intimi- residents from the threat of the Path, but they did not offer the dation, coercion and assimilation through force. same esperanza [hope] to civilians, and in many cases were Eduardo Figueroa was one Peruvian who lived through paid off and/or Path members themselves.” the era of the Path. During their height he worked as the man- ager of mountaineering haven The Edward’s Inn in Huaraz. FUJIMORI VS GUZMAN Figueroa says most local residents of the Cordillera tried not Roger Sánchez, a freelance mountaineering guide born near to pick sides, and besides did not really know any better. They Huaraz with 12 years of experience working in the Huayhuash, cooperated with whomever came calling, hoping to continue described the chaos of the conflict: “It was impossible to know living their lives, mostly undisturbed save the occasional spat who was on whose side. If you raised your hand to oppose the 68 of violence between the police and the Path. government, they called you a terrorist, and killed you. If you Figueroa recounted a story about a Path boss who ran a opposed the Path, they didn’t even need a reason. Taking a side plastics business out of his home and funded terror attacks at all meant someone would come for you.” by demanding payments from local residents and businesses. Still, as war spread through Peru, the Path’s only compe- When the boss came knocking, Figueroa resisted. Days later a tition in the Huayhuash were the condors circling overhead. live grenade was lobbed onto the roof of the Edwards Inn. Too remote to be strategically important, the Huayhuash went This same man once set an 18-wheeler on fire in broad uncontested by government forces. An arriero (porter/wran- daylight. After crossing this line he was outed by the police gler) known only as Nimer recalls growing up in the Huay- he had been paying off, captured, and sent to federal prison huash during the Path’s occupation, “If we didn’t bother [the in Lima. Not surprisingly perhaps, he paid the guards and Path], they usually left us alone. We were free to tend our crops escaped to Argentina. According to Figueroa, that same boss and livestock as long as we kept our heads down. But if any now runs the same thriving plastics business in Buenos Aires. blancos [referring to outsiders of any kind, foreign or Peruvi- Terrorism thus became the driving force behind Peru’s an] showed up…[The Path] assumed they had money, and that defining event of the 1990s: a long and dirty civil war. As the was the greatest danger in those days. If you weren’t from the Path grew in size and confidence, they began pushing out of Huayhuash, there was no reason to come to the Huayhuash.” the Andes toward the coast, and towards Lima. With violence In 1992, Fujimori’s tactics finally paid off with the capture arriving at their doorstep, urban Peruvians could no longer ig- of Abimael Guzmán, the Path’s leader. Though violence would nore the threat. continue in bursts for years, Guzmán’s arrest swung the war Having campaigned to curb the Path’s savagery, President decisively towards government forces. Alberto Fujimori took action as soon as he came into office, In 2000 Fujimori, mastermind behind the “at all costs” and made defeating the Shining Path his administration’s cen- war, was exiled to his ancestral homeland of Japan after being tral focus. In 1992, Fujimori closed Congress and assumed dic- indicted with charges including fostering corruption and em- tatorial powers in order to wage a war on terror, a move that ploying civilian death squads. A government-sponsored Truth the New York Times proclaimed at the time as a ‘justification Commission in 2003 estimated that from 1980-2000 more to erode the country’s democracy’. than 69,000 Peruvians died in the conflict. What ensued was a messy conflict with heavy casualties, many of whom were innocent civilians. The Peruvian military A POST-WAR MIRACLE intelligence unit employed torture and death squads in order to In the years since the war ended, Peru has rallied. Riding pursue suspected terrorists. Thus the remote and inaccessible twin waves of peace and economic growth, the country has Huayhuash became a convenient hiding place for the Shining become a promising example of a nation able to emerge from November/December 2017. WILD | INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURE DESTINATION | Rasac (6017m) at sunset A glacial traverse at 5300m below Rasac Col WILD November/December 2017. | INTERNATIONAL ADVENTURE DESTINATION | 70 One of many secluded basins on the Cordillera Huayhuash’s Alpine Circuit violence with hope. Tourism has especially proven a boon huash was long regarded as a dangerous destination for moun- for the country.