Truth and Reconciliation The Findings of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Peru Support Group www.perusupportgroup.org.uk Contents Preface 2 Salomon Lerner, President of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Peru Support Group (PSG) was set up Key findings of the TRC: Profile of the victims of violence 4 in 1983 as an independent organisation without any party or political affiliation. It The story of the Commission aims to support the people of Peru and Aims and objectives 8 9 particularly the poorest sectors. Members of the Commission Logistical and other difficulties 10 11 The PSG is committed to The story of political violence in Peru · Increasing public awareness of Peru in the UK Sendero and its origins 14 · Promoting solidarity with the people of Peru especially in the The political context 14 area of human rights The tradition of neglect 17 · Fostering links between grass roots groups in Peru and the UK The expansion of Sendero 18 The 'other' guerrilla, the MRTA 19 The main publication of the PSG is the bi-monthly 'Peru Update'. This Counter-insurgency 22 includes the latest information on political, social and economic events in The displaced 24 Peru, and also news of activities in the UK. The PSG produces extra Human rights organisations and their role 29 editions of the ‘Peru Update’ on issues of key concern such as Trade, the What remains of Sendero? 30 TRC and Mining, as well as special publications like this booklet and 'Wom- Children as victims of violence 31 en's Rights as Human Rights in Peru' 2002. The gender dimension 31 32 The Peru Support Group has resources available to help with educational The main recommendations of the TRC work on Peru, including two photographic exhibitions. The PSG also Reconciliation and justice 34 Institutional reforms 34 co-ordinates conferences, meetings and workshops on issues such as 35 human rights, debt forgiveness and democracy. For information about Reparations Development of forensic/anthropological plan for 37 membership see the inside back cover. exhumations 39 Follow-up 39 This publication was produced with the support of CAFOD, CIIR, Reactions to the TRC Commission report Christian Aid, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 40 Save the Children UK and Tearfund The official response Public reactions to the report 40 41 The Peru Support Group would like to thank John Crabtree for his help in The task that lies ahead preparing this publication 43 Chronology of violence 44 First published February 2004 Further information and useful websites This edition May 2006 47

Unless otherwise stated, photos and testimonies are used courtesy of Pro- ject Couselling Service Peru, and the photographer Nelly Plaza

Truth and Reconciliation 1 Contents Preface 2 Salomon Lerner, President of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

The Peru Support Group (PSG) was set up Key findings of the TRC: Profile of the victims of violence 4 in 1983 as an independent organisation without any party or political affiliation. It The story of the Commission aims to support the people of Peru and Aims and objectives 8 9 particularly the poorest sectors. Members of the Commission Logistical and other difficulties 10 11 The PSG is committed to The story of political violence in Peru · Increasing public awareness of Peru in the UK Sendero and its origins 14 · Promoting solidarity with the people of Peru especially in the The political context 14 area of human rights The tradition of neglect 17 · Fostering links between grass roots groups in Peru and the UK The expansion of Sendero 18 The 'other' guerrilla, the MRTA 19 The main publication of the PSG is the bi-monthly 'Peru Update'. This Counter-insurgency 22 includes the latest information on political, social and economic events in The displaced 24 Peru, and also news of activities in the UK. The PSG produces extra Human rights organisations and their role 29 editions of the ‘Peru Update’ on issues of key concern such as Trade, the What remains of Sendero? 30 TRC and Mining, as well as special publications like this booklet and 'Wom- Children as victims of violence 31 en's Rights as Human Rights in Peru' 2002. The gender dimension 31 32 The Peru Support Group has resources available to help with educational The main recommendations of the TRC work on Peru, including two photographic exhibitions. The PSG also Reconciliation and justice 34 Institutional reforms 34 co-ordinates conferences, meetings and workshops on issues such as 35 human rights, debt forgiveness and democracy. For information about Reparations Development of forensic/anthropological plan for 37 membership see the inside back cover. exhumations 39 Follow-up 39 This publication was produced with the support of CAFOD, CIIR, Reactions to the TRC Commission report Christian Aid, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, 40 Save the Children UK and Tearfund The official response Public reactions to the report 40 41 The Peru Support Group would like to thank John Crabtree for his help in The task that lies ahead preparing this publication 43 Chronology of violence 44 First published February 2004 Further information and useful websites This edition May 2006 47

Unless otherwise stated, photos and testimonies are used courtesy of Pro- ject Couselling Service Peru, and the photographer Nelly Plaza

Truth and Reconciliation 1 Preface

Formed in June 2001, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was mandat- compensation or reparation, as well as encouraging a process of reconcilia- ed to investigate the violence that took place in Peru between 1980 and 2000 tion throughout society that would constitute at once a point of arrival and of and make proposals to the government for ways to overcome this bitter chap- departure for Peru. ter in the life of our country. Its mission, therefore, was to discover the truth and to turn it into an element of justice in its widest sense, as this is the only Our work is complete. But the task of building justice and reconciliation has way to heal wounds and to promote social regeneration. only just begun.

The tasks it undertook were complex and multiple; indeed, it could not have As Peruvians we now face the arduous task of building democracy both as a been otherwise since the reality it sought to clarify was itself system of government and as the key to an inclusive society in which all are complex and multiple. considered citizens. A particularly moving episode of the Commission's work was when an indigenous man, recounting his own personal tragedy, said that It is difficult to interpret the history of 20 years of violence from a single view- the only thing he hoped for was that one day he would be considered as a point in a country as heterogenous as Peru. Many different types of violence Peruvian and not as an alien in his own land. This is precisely the ethical emerged over these two decades and they cannot simply be reduced to being imperative that now faces us. defined as the clash of two subversive organisations (the PCP-Sendero Lumi- noso and the Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru) with the forces of At the same time, international cooperation is essential to complement our order of the Peruvian state. As well as these, there were many other actors own efforts at home. We trust that international solidarity will act upon and be who, directly or indirectly, played a role in the drama lived out by itself deepened by the Truth Commission's report. I believe that the report thousands of Peruvians. sets out a course from which different cooperation agencies or organisations can usefully develop a dialogue both with the authorities and civil society in In order to make a really significant contribution to improving Peruvian society, Peru, so that projects can be developed jointly which lead towards building a the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had to carry out a detailed examina- country that is more inclusive and more at peace with itself. tion of the last 20 years. But not only did it have to establish the truth with respect to the past, but also to focus on the present and the future, to promote This Peru Support Group publication forms part of the task of raising interna- both the recognition of those whose rights were trampled underfoot and, and tional solidarity, of building commitment, of transmitting a strong message to the due application of law in punishing those who violated human rights. all Peruvians (but especially to the victims) that they are not alone. For that, we are very grateful. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission thus understood that its task was not just to recount the facts of what had taken place, but also to interpret them Salomon Lerner Febres, in order to disclose their true significance for the history of our country. A Past-president of the TRC, moral lesson lies hidden in the mass of facts and in those that still have to be Lima, February 2004. revealed: a narrative that speaks of resentment and contempt, of confusion and ignorance, of arrogance and humiliation, a narrative of profound social exclusion. Without this narrative, the history of contemporary Peru - and per- haps that of Latin America - is incomplete.

We were convinced that knowing the facts and their context is only part of something more fundamental. Restoring the health of Peruvian society also requires the victims to receive justice for their suffering through some sort of

2 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 3 Preface

Formed in June 2001, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was mandat- compensation or reparation, as well as encouraging a process of reconcilia- ed to investigate the violence that took place in Peru between 1980 and 2000 tion throughout society that would constitute at once a point of arrival and of and make proposals to the government for ways to overcome this bitter chap- departure for Peru. ter in the life of our country. Its mission, therefore, was to discover the truth and to turn it into an element of justice in its widest sense, as this is the only Our work is complete. But the task of building justice and reconciliation has way to heal wounds and to promote social regeneration. only just begun.

The tasks it undertook were complex and multiple; indeed, it could not have As Peruvians we now face the arduous task of building democracy both as a been otherwise since the reality it sought to clarify was itself system of government and as the key to an inclusive society in which all are complex and multiple. considered citizens. A particularly moving episode of the Commission's work was when an indigenous man, recounting his own personal tragedy, said that It is difficult to interpret the history of 20 years of violence from a single view- the only thing he hoped for was that one day he would be considered as a point in a country as heterogenous as Peru. Many different types of violence Peruvian and not as an alien in his own land. This is precisely the ethical emerged over these two decades and they cannot simply be reduced to being imperative that now faces us. defined as the clash of two subversive organisations (the PCP-Sendero Lumi- noso and the Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru) with the forces of At the same time, international cooperation is essential to complement our order of the Peruvian state. As well as these, there were many other actors own efforts at home. We trust that international solidarity will act upon and be who, directly or indirectly, played a role in the drama lived out by itself deepened by the Truth Commission's report. I believe that the report thousands of Peruvians. sets out a course from which different cooperation agencies or organisations can usefully develop a dialogue both with the authorities and civil society in In order to make a really significant contribution to improving Peruvian society, Peru, so that projects can be developed jointly which lead towards building a the Truth and Reconciliation Commission had to carry out a detailed examina- country that is more inclusive and more at peace with itself. tion of the last 20 years. But not only did it have to establish the truth with respect to the past, but also to focus on the present and the future, to promote This Peru Support Group publication forms part of the task of raising interna- both the recognition of those whose rights were trampled underfoot and, and tional solidarity, of building commitment, of transmitting a strong message to the due application of law in punishing those who violated human rights. all Peruvians (but especially to the victims) that they are not alone. For that, we are very grateful. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission thus understood that its task was not just to recount the facts of what had taken place, but also to interpret them Salomon Lerner Febres, in order to disclose their true significance for the history of our country. A Past-president of the TRC, moral lesson lies hidden in the mass of facts and in those that still have to be Lima, February 2004. revealed: a narrative that speaks of resentment and contempt, of confusion and ignorance, of arrogance and humiliation, a narrative of profound social exclusion. Without this narrative, the history of contemporary Peru - and per- haps that of Latin America - is incomplete.

We were convinced that knowing the facts and their context is only part of something more fundamental. Restoring the health of Peruvian society also requires the victims to receive justice for their suffering through some sort of

2 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 3 Key findings of the TRC: The geography of killing Profile of the victims of violence Percentage of total deaths and disappearances by department TOTAL

AYACUCHO

JUNIN In the twenty years under investigation, it is believed that 69,280 people lost their lives. HUANUCO HUANCAVELICA

This is about twice the number of the people killed in Chile and Argentina in APURIMAC the killings that followed the 1970s coups in those two countries. The TRC's SAN MARTIN estimate of the total deaths is more than double any previous estimate. How could some 35,000 people simply disappear from the scene LIMA - CALLAO without anyone realising it? PUNO

UCAYALI The number of deaths actually reported to the TRC was 28,000, and the dif- ference arises from taking the estimates of various other CUSCO organisations but cross checking them so as to avoid counting the same vic- OTHERS tims twice or more. Under pressure of time and money, the TRC was forced to concentrate its efforts in specific parts of the 0 25 50 75 100 Source: TRC report country. The TRC says that the 69,280 figure is subject to a 5% margin of error either way (ie between 61,007 and 77,552). Of the total number of deaths reported to the The death toll Commission, more than 40% took place in Ayacucho. Number of deaths and disappearances reported to the TRC by year Ayacucho, Junín, Huánuco, Huancavelica and Apurímac together account for TOTAL 85% of the deaths reported. These are among the poorest departments of 4,500 Peru.

Of the total deaths, 79% were inhabitants of rural areas, and 56% were peasants. Three quarters came from families whose mother tongue was Quechua (or some other indigenous language) 2,250 As a proportion of the total population, the 1993 census reveals that only 16% fall into this category. The huge majority were people living in poverty or extreme poverty, as officially defined.

Of those killed, 68% had no secondary education, a much higher figure

0 than the national average. 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 Source: TRC report

4 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 5 Key findings of the TRC: The geography of killing Profile of the victims of violence Percentage of total deaths and disappearances by department TOTAL

AYACUCHO

JUNIN In the twenty years under investigation, it is believed that 69,280 people lost their lives. HUANUCO HUANCAVELICA

This is about twice the number of the people killed in Chile and Argentina in APURIMAC the killings that followed the 1970s coups in those two countries. The TRC's SAN MARTIN estimate of the total deaths is more than double any previous estimate. How could some 35,000 people simply disappear from the scene LIMA - CALLAO without anyone realising it? PUNO

UCAYALI The number of deaths actually reported to the TRC was 28,000, and the dif- ference arises from taking the estimates of various other CUSCO organisations but cross checking them so as to avoid counting the same vic- OTHERS tims twice or more. Under pressure of time and money, the TRC was forced to concentrate its efforts in specific parts of the 0 25 50 75 100 Source: TRC report country. The TRC says that the 69,280 figure is subject to a 5% margin of error either way (ie between 61,007 and 77,552). Of the total number of deaths reported to the The death toll Commission, more than 40% took place in Ayacucho. Number of deaths and disappearances reported to the TRC by year Ayacucho, Junín, Huánuco, Huancavelica and Apurímac together account for TOTAL 85% of the deaths reported. These are among the poorest departments of 4,500 Peru.

Of the total deaths, 79% were inhabitants of rural areas, and 56% were peasants. Three quarters came from families whose mother tongue was Quechua (or some other indigenous language) 2,250 As a proportion of the total population, the 1993 census reveals that only 16% fall into this category. The huge majority were people living in poverty or extreme poverty, as officially defined.

Of those killed, 68% had no secondary education, a much higher figure

0 than the national average. 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 Source: TRC report

4 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 5 Some 54% of the killings reported to the TRC were carried out by Sendero Luminoso, 1.5% by the MRTA. Political map of Peru The remainder were perpetrated by the police, army, navy or peasant militias.

The worst period of killing was in 1983 and 1984, during the Belaunde government (1980-85).

Following something of a lull in 1985 and 1986, the numbers increased again in the period 1987-90. During the 1990s, and especially after the capture of Abimael Guzmán in 1992, the death toll tailed off notably.

Of those killed 80% were men. 59% of the victims were married with families. Thousands of children were left as orphans.

4,000 burial sites were identified by the TRC.

Age and gender profile Deaths and disappearances reported to the TRC by age group and sex

70+ WOMEN MEN

60-69

50-59

40-49

30-39

20-29

10-19

0-9 Courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin Source: TRC Report

1,000 0 1,000 2.000 3,000 4,000

6 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 7 Some 54% of the killings reported to the TRC were carried out by Sendero Luminoso, 1.5% by the MRTA. Political map of Peru The remainder were perpetrated by the police, army, navy or peasant militias.

The worst period of killing was in 1983 and 1984, during the Belaunde government (1980-85).

Following something of a lull in 1985 and 1986, the numbers increased again in the period 1987-90. During the 1990s, and especially after the capture of Abimael Guzmán in 1992, the death toll tailed off notably.

Of those killed 80% were men. 59% of the victims were married with families. Thousands of children were left as orphans.

4,000 burial sites were identified by the TRC.

Age and gender profile Deaths and disappearances reported to the TRC by age group and sex

70+ WOMEN MEN

60-69

50-59

40-49

30-39

20-29

10-19

0-9 Courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin Source: TRC Report

1,000 0 1,000 2.000 3,000 4,000

6 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 7 The Story of the Commission Aims and Objectives

The decree that established the Commission (065-PCM-2001, Art 2) set out The Truth and Reconciliation influence to thwart judicial remedies five overriding aims (our translation): Commission came about in very for those affected, let alone a special circumstances. The comprehensive enquiry into what presidential decree that created an had happened. Indeed, they had 1. To analyse the political, social 3. To produce proposals for inter-institutional working group to pushed for and won a wide-ranging and cultural conditions and pat- making reparation and restoring establish the Commission was amnesty for those officers and terns of behaviour that, from dignity to the victims and their among the first measures troops involved. society and the institutions of families. undertaken by the interim the state, contributed to the government of Valentín Paniagua Not only was the public mood at the tragic situation of violence expe- 4. To recommend institutional, when it took office in November end of 2000 one of hope for the rienced in Peru. legal, educational and other 2000. Paniagua replaced Alberto future of Peruvian democracy; it was reforms as guarantees that such Fujimori, President from 1990 - also a time when senior 2. To help in the clarification by events would never be repeated, 2000, who had fled the country. The commanders of the armed forces the competent judicial these being considered and Commission would not have were put under arrest for their institutions of the crimes and implemented through happened but for the fall of the complicity in the corrupt dealings of human rights violations legislation and other political authoritarian Fujimori regime, and it the Fujimori regime. Never before perpetrated by terrorist and administrative actions. was born out of the spirit of restoring had army generals found them- organisations or agents of the and deepening democracy and selves behind bars. Their authority state, seeking to determine the 5. To establish mechanisms for adherence to the rule of law. undermined, the armed forces were whereabouts and situation of the the implementation of the no longer in a position to block a victims and identifying to the Commission's recommenda- “We have to admit, following a thorough investigation. The coun- degree possible those presumed tions. sober consideration of the histori- try's political parties - who might also responsible. cal facts, that a society cannot take much of the blame and there- learn to live with itself in peace fore would have been reluctant to and justice if it is unable to recog- see the Commission go ahead - Thus the duties of the Commission were to find out what had happened and to nise its wounds and grief, if it were also debilitated by ten years of make recommendations with respect to justice, reparations and future policy. cannot turn back to its past in the fujimorismo. For a short period at The TRC was given operational and financial autonomy (under the prime search for lessons.” 1 least, civil society appeared to be in minister's office), subject to overall supervision of its use of resources by the the ascendant. UN Development Programme (UNDP). It eventually consisted of twelve members and one observer, five members being added after Alejandro Toledo For much of the previous 20 years, took over as president in July 2001. The chairman of the TRC was Salomón successive governments had sought Lerner Febres, the rector of the Catholic University (PUCP). Its final nine- to hide the true dimensions of the volume report was officially handed to Toledo, barely two years after it began massive violation of human rights, its work, at a ceremony held in Lima on August 28, 2003. obfuscating and restricting any independent investigation into such matters. The armed forces, in particular, used their political

1 This and subsequent indented quotes are taken from the English summary of the full report.

8 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 9 The Story of the Commission Aims and Objectives

The decree that established the Commission (065-PCM-2001, Art 2) set out The Truth and Reconciliation influence to thwart judicial remedies five overriding aims (our translation): Commission came about in very for those affected, let alone a special circumstances. The comprehensive enquiry into what presidential decree that created an had happened. Indeed, they had 1. To analyse the political, social 3. To produce proposals for inter-institutional working group to pushed for and won a wide-ranging and cultural conditions and pat- making reparation and restoring establish the Commission was amnesty for those officers and terns of behaviour that, from dignity to the victims and their among the first measures troops involved. society and the institutions of families. undertaken by the interim the state, contributed to the government of Valentín Paniagua Not only was the public mood at the tragic situation of violence expe- 4. To recommend institutional, when it took office in November end of 2000 one of hope for the rienced in Peru. legal, educational and other 2000. Paniagua replaced Alberto future of Peruvian democracy; it was reforms as guarantees that such Fujimori, President from 1990 - also a time when senior 2. To help in the clarification by events would never be repeated, 2000, who had fled the country. The commanders of the armed forces the competent judicial these being considered and Commission would not have were put under arrest for their institutions of the crimes and implemented through happened but for the fall of the complicity in the corrupt dealings of human rights violations legislation and other political authoritarian Fujimori regime, and it the Fujimori regime. Never before perpetrated by terrorist and administrative actions. was born out of the spirit of restoring had army generals found them- organisations or agents of the and deepening democracy and selves behind bars. Their authority state, seeking to determine the 5. To establish mechanisms for adherence to the rule of law. undermined, the armed forces were whereabouts and situation of the the implementation of the no longer in a position to block a victims and identifying to the Commission's recommenda- “We have to admit, following a thorough investigation. The coun- degree possible those presumed tions. sober consideration of the histori- try's political parties - who might also responsible. cal facts, that a society cannot take much of the blame and there- learn to live with itself in peace fore would have been reluctant to and justice if it is unable to recog- see the Commission go ahead - Thus the duties of the Commission were to find out what had happened and to nise its wounds and grief, if it were also debilitated by ten years of make recommendations with respect to justice, reparations and future policy. cannot turn back to its past in the fujimorismo. For a short period at The TRC was given operational and financial autonomy (under the prime search for lessons.” 1 least, civil society appeared to be in minister's office), subject to overall supervision of its use of resources by the the ascendant. UN Development Programme (UNDP). It eventually consisted of twelve members and one observer, five members being added after Alejandro Toledo For much of the previous 20 years, took over as president in July 2001. The chairman of the TRC was Salomón successive governments had sought Lerner Febres, the rector of the Catholic University (PUCP). Its final nine- to hide the true dimensions of the volume report was officially handed to Toledo, barely two years after it began massive violation of human rights, its work, at a ceremony held in Lima on August 28, 2003. obfuscating and restricting any independent investigation into such matters. The armed forces, in particular, used their political

1 This and subsequent indented quotes are taken from the English summary of the full report.

8 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 9 Members of the Commission Logistical and other difficulties Embarking on the work of the been adopted in Latin America. Salomón Lerner Febres (presi- Beatriz Alva Hart, practising Commission was a leap into the They were hugely important in publi- dent), philosopher and rector of the lawyer, former congresswoman unknown, in view of the scope and cising the scale of the atrocities, and Catholic University the lack of previous large scale raising awareness especially among Sofia Macher, former executive research quantifying human rights those in Lima who had been Enrique Bernales, jurist, constitu- secretary of the Coordinadora abuses. It began by bringing unaware of such human rights tional lawyer and former senator Nacional de Derechos Humanos together the mass of written violations. The hearings also gave evidence from an array of different the relatives and victims a sense of Carlos Iván Degregori, author and Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo, sources: press reports, parliamen- dignity in saying what had happened anthropologist Roman Catholic priest, ex apostolic tary commissions of enquiry, judicial in their own words, being heard and administrator of the Ayacucho documentation, other official docu- being believed. Gastón Garatea, Roman Catholic Archdiocese. ments from a range of government priest and president of the Anti- agencies, the archives of the various Between September 2001 and poverty Policy Forum. Humberto Lay, leader of the human rights organisations, etc. 2003, the TRC visited 530 districts in National Evangelical Council Part of what the TRC was called 137 provinces in every department Alberto Morote, engineer and upon to do was to write the history of Peru. As well as a central office expert on Ayacucho Rolando Ames, sociologist, politi- of those twenty years, bringing in Lima, it established regional cal scientist and former senator together all the evidence available, offices in Ayacucho, Huancayo, Carlos Tapia, Political researcher to analyse it, and to write it up in Huánuco and Sicuani. There were and analyst, expert on Sendero Luis Arias Graziani, retired air- such a way as to be accessible to as also local offices in eight other loca- Luminoso force general and advisor to Ale- many people as possible. tions. However, much of its attention jandro Toledo. was necessarily focused on Ayacu- The bulk of the TRC's work, cho and surrounding provinces, however, was to gather in first-hand where at least half of the killings are oral testimony from as many reckoned to have taken place. The sources as possible. Initially, the Commissioners admit that they were TRC estimated it would receive unable to cover the whole country in around 12,000 personal testimonies; the relatively short period allotted to in the end it received nearly 17,000. them, and choices had to be made Such were the numbers of people on where to concentrate efforts and wanting to give evidence, especially resources. For instance, there were after initial fears had dissipated, that some parts of the Amazon jungle it was impossible to process all of that remained completely them within the time available. inaccessible. Many more testi- monies could have been collected, The Commission held public but the TRC finally ran out of time. hearings on both regional and thematic experiences. This was the The central challenge, say some The logo for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission first time that such an approach had Commissioners, was not only the

10 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 11 Members of the Commission Logistical and other difficulties Embarking on the work of the been adopted in Latin America. Salomón Lerner Febres (presi- Beatriz Alva Hart, practising Commission was a leap into the They were hugely important in publi- dent), philosopher and rector of the lawyer, former congresswoman unknown, in view of the scope and cising the scale of the atrocities, and Catholic University the lack of previous large scale raising awareness especially among Sofia Macher, former executive research quantifying human rights those in Lima who had been Enrique Bernales, jurist, constitu- secretary of the Coordinadora abuses. It began by bringing unaware of such human rights tional lawyer and former senator Nacional de Derechos Humanos together the mass of written violations. The hearings also gave evidence from an array of different the relatives and victims a sense of Carlos Iván Degregori, author and Santiago Antúnez de Mayolo, sources: press reports, parliamen- dignity in saying what had happened anthropologist Roman Catholic priest, ex apostolic tary commissions of enquiry, judicial in their own words, being heard and administrator of the Ayacucho documentation, other official docu- being believed. Gastón Garatea, Roman Catholic Archdiocese. ments from a range of government priest and president of the Anti- agencies, the archives of the various Between September 2001 and poverty Policy Forum. Humberto Lay, leader of the human rights organisations, etc. 2003, the TRC visited 530 districts in National Evangelical Council Part of what the TRC was called 137 provinces in every department Alberto Morote, engineer and upon to do was to write the history of Peru. As well as a central office expert on Ayacucho Rolando Ames, sociologist, politi- of those twenty years, bringing in Lima, it established regional cal scientist and former senator together all the evidence available, offices in Ayacucho, Huancayo, Carlos Tapia, Political researcher to analyse it, and to write it up in Huánuco and Sicuani. There were and analyst, expert on Sendero Luis Arias Graziani, retired air- such a way as to be accessible to as also local offices in eight other loca- Luminoso force general and advisor to Ale- many people as possible. tions. However, much of its attention jandro Toledo. was necessarily focused on Ayacu- The bulk of the TRC's work, cho and surrounding provinces, however, was to gather in first-hand where at least half of the killings are oral testimony from as many reckoned to have taken place. The sources as possible. Initially, the Commissioners admit that they were TRC estimated it would receive unable to cover the whole country in around 12,000 personal testimonies; the relatively short period allotted to in the end it received nearly 17,000. them, and choices had to be made Such were the numbers of people on where to concentrate efforts and wanting to give evidence, especially resources. For instance, there were after initial fears had dissipated, that some parts of the Amazon jungle it was impossible to process all of that remained completely them within the time available. inaccessible. Many more testi- monies could have been collected, The Commission held public but the TRC finally ran out of time. hearings on both regional and thematic experiences. This was the The central challenge, say some The logo for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission first time that such an approach had Commissioners, was not only the

10 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 11 fact, many of these were much more because of cash shortages. Howev- prepared to talk than had been er, such difficulties appear to have expected. Alan García, president been less the result of bad faith on from 1985-90, met the Commission the part of the Toledo government several times. Retired Military than unforeseen interruptions in pay- officers procrastinated, but ments. In many cases, the TRC eventually were willing to speak on team kept on working regardless of an 'off-the-record' basis. Abimael pay. Again, according to Degregori, Guzmán, the founder of Sendero "this was not just an ordinary job of Luminoso, talked to the TRC on no work for them (…) they felt a large fewer than 17 occasions. "They all degree of personal commitment". accepted our call to take part", The TRC was funded by both the Degregori says. In the end, only Peruvian government and foreign Alberto Fujimori, Vladimiro donors. Montesinos and some members of the ‘Colina’ death squad formally rejected interviews.

Public hearings in Ayacucho Financial problems affected the work of the Commission, and at times it had to slow down to a snail's pace scale of the problem, but the relative backgrounds. "Fortunately, we did inexperience of the Commission not fall out with each other" says itself. It included a number of Carlos Ivan Degregori, one of the recognised experts on Sendero and commissioners and a leading world the politics of insurgency/counter- expert on Sendero. The insurgency, but the commissioners Commission lacked expertise in did not fit at all with the profile of critical areas. Little could be done, most of those they had to deal with. for instance, to exhume bodies from Ten of the twelve were men, and the 4,000 burial pits reported to the eleven were residents of Lima. Only Commission up and down the two could speak Quechua with any country. It is for this reason that the degree of fluency, and one of the TRC recommends setting up a team first discoveries made was the of anthropologists and forensic complete absence of fluent scientists to continue the work of Spanish/Quechua translators in a identifying skeletal remains. country that officially defines itself as 'multi-cultural and pluri-national'. The commissioners conducted lengthy interviews with politicians, The TRC was also composed by military personnel and militants of people of widely differing both Sendero and the MRTA. In Public hearings in Huancavelica

12 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 13 fact, many of these were much more because of cash shortages. Howev- prepared to talk than had been er, such difficulties appear to have expected. Alan García, president been less the result of bad faith on from 1985-90, met the Commission the part of the Toledo government several times. Retired Military than unforeseen interruptions in pay- officers procrastinated, but ments. In many cases, the TRC eventually were willing to speak on team kept on working regardless of an 'off-the-record' basis. Abimael pay. Again, according to Degregori, Guzmán, the founder of Sendero "this was not just an ordinary job of Luminoso, talked to the TRC on no work for them (…) they felt a large fewer than 17 occasions. "They all degree of personal commitment". accepted our call to take part", The TRC was funded by both the Degregori says. In the end, only Peruvian government and foreign Alberto Fujimori, Vladimiro donors. Montesinos and some members of the ‘Colina’ death squad formally rejected interviews.

Public hearings in Ayacucho Financial problems affected the work of the Commission, and at times it had to slow down to a snail's pace scale of the problem, but the relative backgrounds. "Fortunately, we did inexperience of the Commission not fall out with each other" says itself. It included a number of Carlos Ivan Degregori, one of the recognised experts on Sendero and commissioners and a leading world the politics of insurgency/counter- expert on Sendero. The insurgency, but the commissioners Commission lacked expertise in did not fit at all with the profile of critical areas. Little could be done, most of those they had to deal with. for instance, to exhume bodies from Ten of the twelve were men, and the 4,000 burial pits reported to the eleven were residents of Lima. Only Commission up and down the two could speak Quechua with any country. It is for this reason that the degree of fluency, and one of the TRC recommends setting up a team first discoveries made was the of anthropologists and forensic complete absence of fluent scientists to continue the work of Spanish/Quechua translators in a identifying skeletal remains. country that officially defines itself as 'multi-cultural and pluri-national'. The commissioners conducted lengthy interviews with politicians, The TRC was also composed by military personnel and militants of people of widely differing both Sendero and the MRTA. In Public hearings in Huancavelica

12 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 13 The Story of Political Violence in Peru preceded by the building of the party funeral of a young Senderista, Edith in rural areas. During 1980 and Lagos, in 1982 were as much 1981, its attacks were concentrated protesting their rejection of police As well as making important recommendations about on how to heal the on Ayacucho and surrounding methods as their sympathy for wounds of the past and achieve lasting reconciliation, the TRC's report is in areas. Because of the lack of strong Sendero. itself a monumental contribution to the writing of Peruvian history. It rural organisation there, it met with assembles the evidence in an area where otherwise there would have been little opposition. Elsewhere in the little archival documentation and which historians have long tended to ignore. highlands, the agrarian reform had Not only does it seek to elucidate human rights violations over the twenty-year contributed to the building of rural period in areas that are often extremely remote, but it aims to convey the polit- institutions. The highlands of ical, social and economic context in which these events took place. It is a Ayacucho were also geographically harrowing tale which the Peru Support Group seeks to summarise in the well-suited to guerrilla warfare. In following pages. the city of Ayacucho, the insensitivity of the paramilitary police to basic Sendero and its origins civil and human rights did much to alienate public opinion. The Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), bonds of ideological and doctrinal thousands who turned out to the or El Partido Comunista por el conviction. Its dogmatism is evident Sendero Luminoso de José Carlos in its writings, in which it lambasted Mariátegui to use its full name, was the revisionism of the Chinese born from the sequence of divisions leadership after the death of Mao. It in the Communist movement that adopted the Maoist critique of 'semi- took place in the years that followed feudalism' in Peru and the need for the Sino-Soviet split of 1964. It a 'protracted people's war' to smash emerged in 1970 as a splinter group the bourgeois state. Its revolution- of Bandera Roja, itself an offshoot ary strategy was modelled on clas- from the Maoist Communist Party. sic Maoist lines, highlighting a rural Sendero's founder, Abimael insurgency that would surround and Guzmán, was a philosophy teacher finally subdue urban areas. It in the University of Huamanga, mapped out a sequence of phases Ayacucho, and its early leaders during which the revolution would be were a small, tight-knit group of carried out. Unlike previous guerrilla intellectuals who exerted strong actions in Peru, the aim was not to influence over student affairs. distribute land but to force peasants Sendero berated military reformism, into subsistence and thereby cut and it clashed with most other food supplies to the cities. left-wing parties which supported the transition to democracy (1978-80). The launch of the 'people's war' on

Isolated from the rest of the left, the eve of elections in 1980 (with an Source: Caretas Sendero developed as a hermetic attack on voting installations in Abmiael Guzman leader of Sendero Luminoso, when he was organisation, bound together by Chuschi, Ayacucho) had been detained by police in 1979

14 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 15 The Story of Political Violence in Peru preceded by the building of the party funeral of a young Senderista, Edith in rural areas. During 1980 and Lagos, in 1982 were as much 1981, its attacks were concentrated protesting their rejection of police As well as making important recommendations about on how to heal the on Ayacucho and surrounding methods as their sympathy for wounds of the past and achieve lasting reconciliation, the TRC's report is in areas. Because of the lack of strong Sendero. itself a monumental contribution to the writing of Peruvian history. It rural organisation there, it met with assembles the evidence in an area where otherwise there would have been little opposition. Elsewhere in the little archival documentation and which historians have long tended to ignore. highlands, the agrarian reform had Not only does it seek to elucidate human rights violations over the twenty-year contributed to the building of rural period in areas that are often extremely remote, but it aims to convey the polit- institutions. The highlands of ical, social and economic context in which these events took place. It is a Ayacucho were also geographically harrowing tale which the Peru Support Group seeks to summarise in the well-suited to guerrilla warfare. In following pages. the city of Ayacucho, the insensitivity of the paramilitary police to basic Sendero and its origins civil and human rights did much to alienate public opinion. The Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), bonds of ideological and doctrinal thousands who turned out to the or El Partido Comunista por el conviction. Its dogmatism is evident Sendero Luminoso de José Carlos in its writings, in which it lambasted Mariátegui to use its full name, was the revisionism of the Chinese born from the sequence of divisions leadership after the death of Mao. It in the Communist movement that adopted the Maoist critique of 'semi- took place in the years that followed feudalism' in Peru and the need for the Sino-Soviet split of 1964. It a 'protracted people's war' to smash emerged in 1970 as a splinter group the bourgeois state. Its revolution- of Bandera Roja, itself an offshoot ary strategy was modelled on clas- from the Maoist Communist Party. sic Maoist lines, highlighting a rural Sendero's founder, Abimael insurgency that would surround and Guzmán, was a philosophy teacher finally subdue urban areas. It in the University of Huamanga, mapped out a sequence of phases Ayacucho, and its early leaders during which the revolution would be were a small, tight-knit group of carried out. Unlike previous guerrilla intellectuals who exerted strong actions in Peru, the aim was not to influence over student affairs. distribute land but to force peasants Sendero berated military reformism, into subsistence and thereby cut and it clashed with most other food supplies to the cities. left-wing parties which supported the transition to democracy (1978-80). The launch of the 'people's war' on

Isolated from the rest of the left, the eve of elections in 1980 (with an Source: Caretas Sendero developed as a hermetic attack on voting installations in Abmiael Guzman leader of Sendero Luminoso, when he was organisation, bound together by Chuschi, Ayacucho) had been detained by police in 1979

14 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 15 Testimony The political context Sendero attacks indigenous communities The appearance of Sendero on the Ayacucho to much of the rest of the political scene coincided with the country. Belaunde was seen as restoration of civilian government abdicating responsibility in the after twelve years of military rule. conduct of counter-insurgency to the The 1980 elections were won by armed forces, whose brutality Fernando Belaunde and his centre- alienated opinion. His party, AP, right Acción Popular (AP) party. He won 52% of the vote in 1980, but ruled in a coalition with the smaller, only 6% in 1985. The victory of right-wing Partido Popular Cristiano APRA and Alan García in 1985 gave (PPC), a pro-business party. In the way to a brief revival in public faith elections, Belaunde managed to in government, but this proved beat off the challenge from the equally short-lived. The economic Alianza Popular Revolucionaria crisis of the late 1980s brought Americana (APRA) as well as a unprecedented hardship, shattering coalition of left-wing parties the confidence that had been gener- (Izquierda Unida). Established in ated in 1985. Left-wing parties, too, the 1920s, APRA was Peru's oldest were largely discredited for their fail- Janet Flores Chimanga mass-based party; AP first gained ure to produce coherent alterna- prominence in the 1950s. Peru's tives. It was in a situation of deep “We were attacked by the Shining Path. We were scared and we climbed party system had never been strong. disillusion with party politics that up to the hills and we saw how they burned down our homes, how they Despite short periods of democratic Peruvians turned to a hitherto large- stole our clothes, our chickens... We were afraid to stay in the house or to rule since the 1930s, the country ly unknown 'anti-party' figure, Alber- go to the fields to work. had been dominated by to Fujimori, to resolve the country's authoritarian, if not outright military problems. By this time, Sendero Since my father was the head of the community he was part of the com- governments. The 1980 elections posed a real threat to political stabili- munity defence. He said that he had dreamt of horrible things that night . . therefore ushered in a new period of ty. . Then the terrorists came and they opened fire. They grabbed my father party-based government. and began to hit him, and when he struggled they shot him. He was last seen alive by the river and before dying he called out "tell my children that However, successive governments I will never see them again..." betrayed the confidence placed in them. The AP-PPC coalition saw its We lived with our grandmother because my mother left us after that... popularity rapidly eroded. Its record Then my grandmother died and we separated. We moved around from in government marred by the debt place to place. I live with a relative that treats us badly. In spite of every- crisis of 1982, the impact of El Niño thing I have finished my studies.” (an adverse weather phenomon that periodically affects parts of Latin America) during the following years, Photo:Caretas Janet Flores lived in the Mashiguenga indigenous community of San Antonio de Fernando Belaunde, President of Peru 1980- Sonomoro. Her father was chief of the community. In 1994, he was murdered by and the inability to contain Sendero 1985, The highest number of deaths and Shining Path guerrillas, along with other members of the community defence forces Luminoso's expansion from disappearances per year happened during this period. who were patrolling the area.

Truth and Reconciliation 17 Testimony The political context Sendero attacks indigenous communities The appearance of Sendero on the Ayacucho to much of the rest of the political scene coincided with the country. Belaunde was seen as restoration of civilian government abdicating responsibility in the after twelve years of military rule. conduct of counter-insurgency to the The 1980 elections were won by armed forces, whose brutality Fernando Belaunde and his centre- alienated opinion. His party, AP, right Acción Popular (AP) party. He won 52% of the vote in 1980, but ruled in a coalition with the smaller, only 6% in 1985. The victory of right-wing Partido Popular Cristiano APRA and Alan García in 1985 gave (PPC), a pro-business party. In the way to a brief revival in public faith elections, Belaunde managed to in government, but this proved beat off the challenge from the equally short-lived. The economic Alianza Popular Revolucionaria crisis of the late 1980s brought Americana (APRA) as well as a unprecedented hardship, shattering coalition of left-wing parties the confidence that had been gener- (Izquierda Unida). Established in ated in 1985. Left-wing parties, too, the 1920s, APRA was Peru's oldest were largely discredited for their fail- Janet Flores Chimanga mass-based party; AP first gained ure to produce coherent alterna- prominence in the 1950s. Peru's tives. It was in a situation of deep “We were attacked by the Shining Path. We were scared and we climbed party system had never been strong. disillusion with party politics that up to the hills and we saw how they burned down our homes, how they Despite short periods of democratic Peruvians turned to a hitherto large- stole our clothes, our chickens... We were afraid to stay in the house or to rule since the 1930s, the country ly unknown 'anti-party' figure, Alber- go to the fields to work. had been dominated by to Fujimori, to resolve the country's authoritarian, if not outright military problems. By this time, Sendero Since my father was the head of the community he was part of the com- governments. The 1980 elections posed a real threat to political stabili- munity defence. He said that he had dreamt of horrible things that night . . therefore ushered in a new period of ty. . Then the terrorists came and they opened fire. They grabbed my father party-based government. and began to hit him, and when he struggled they shot him. He was last seen alive by the river and before dying he called out "tell my children that However, successive governments I will never see them again..." betrayed the confidence placed in them. The AP-PPC coalition saw its We lived with our grandmother because my mother left us after that... popularity rapidly eroded. Its record Then my grandmother died and we separated. We moved around from in government marred by the debt place to place. I live with a relative that treats us badly. In spite of every- crisis of 1982, the impact of El Niño thing I have finished my studies.” (an adverse weather phenomon that periodically affects parts of Latin America) during the following years, Photo:Caretas Janet Flores lived in the Mashiguenga indigenous community of San Antonio de Fernando Belaunde, President of Peru 1980- Sonomoro. Her father was chief of the community. In 1994, he was murdered by and the inability to contain Sendero 1985, The highest number of deaths and Shining Path guerrillas, along with other members of the community defence forces Luminoso's expansion from disappearances per year happened during this period. who were patrolling the area.

Truth and Reconciliation 17 ground for the emergence of a his presidency. The industrialisation and forcing them to stop selling their group that was remarkably dogmatic that took place at this time did not products in urban markets. While in its ideology, violent in its methods affect the interior of the country. peasant communities had little and apparently disinterested in the alternative but to obey its demands, immediate problems facing the The expansion of Sendero Sendero was able to make use of people it sought to attract? The the unpopularity of local state departments of Ayacucho, The expansion of Sendero's officials such as police officers and Huancavelica and Apurímac are presence in Ayacucho and adjacent teachers.

Photo: Caretas among the poorest and most areas in the early 1980s was not deprived in Peru. They are also based on an attempt to win the There were signs by 1983, however, Alan Garcia and Alberto Fujimori, both those where the presence of the sympathies of highland peasants. that even in some of the remotest presidents of Peru during the period under investigation by the TRC state was traditionally weakest, both They were given no choice as to corners of rural Ayacucho, some in terms of social provision and whether to support Sendero. Those communities were beginning to political control. At least to start that did not do so suffered the resist Sendero's inroads. It was in The tradition of neglect with, Sendero chose to operate in consequences, usually death. these circumstances that eight the most remote areas where state Sendero's advance among the journalists were killed in the Although Sendero Luminoso institutions were virtually non- highest and more remote community of Uchuruccay, as they eventually extended the range of its existent and where its advance communities was rapid. However, sought to investigate rumours of attacks throughout Peru, it was born faced few obstacles. It also chose the arms at Sendero's disposal were armed resistance to Sendero in the in and around the city of Ayacucho, to work in an area where the tradi- rudimentary, typically sticks of region. and for the first few years of its 'war' tional rural system of land holding against the Peruvian state, this was had remained largely unaltered “The TRC has been able to dis- By 1983 and 1984, Sendero had its principal theatre of operations. despite the agrarian reforms of the expanded far from its original Why was Ayacucho such fertile cern that the process of violence, 1960s and 1970s. combined with socio-economic heartland. In the north, there were “The TRC has found, sadly, that gaps, highlighted the seriousness armed attacks in the hinterland of La Ayacucho was also an area that had Libertad, where Sendero allied itself the civilian governments were of ethno-cultural inequalities that been bypassed by economic with another small group known as not alone in bowing to the development, concentrated on Lima still prevail in the country. Puka Llajta (Red Homeland). It had indiscriminate use of force as a and the coast. It lacked a strong According to the analysis of the also moved northwards into the means for combating subversion. elite that was capable of resisting testimonies received, 75% of the departments of Junín and Pasco in On the contrary, the proclivity of Sendero. Ayacucho was also victims who died in the internal the centre of the country, and into these governments for a military largely ignored by the social and armed conflict spoke Quechua the drug-producing Upper Huallaga solution without civilian controls economic reforms of the military or other native languages as their Valley. To the south, Sendero also resonated with a considerable government of General Juan mother tongue.” made inroads into the department of sector of Peruvian society, princi- Velasco (1968-75). Since the Puno, although it met considerable promises of reform were more dynamite and rifles stolen from resistance from peasant pally in the moderately educat- rhetorical than real, they fed rather police stations. The extreme communities there. Commanding ed urban sector that benefited than allayed regional frustration. violence of its methods did not the highest mountain routes and from State services and resided Although Velasco proclaimed a endear them to those they sought to with a network of supporters in far from the epicentre of the more equal Peru, in fact regional control, nor its insistence on urban areas, Sendero was able to conflict.” disparities increased as a result of reverting to subsistence agriculture move with relative ease from one

18 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 19 ground for the emergence of a his presidency. The industrialisation and forcing them to stop selling their group that was remarkably dogmatic that took place at this time did not products in urban markets. While in its ideology, violent in its methods affect the interior of the country. peasant communities had little and apparently disinterested in the alternative but to obey its demands, immediate problems facing the The expansion of Sendero Sendero was able to make use of people it sought to attract? The the unpopularity of local state departments of Ayacucho, The expansion of Sendero's officials such as police officers and Huancavelica and Apurímac are presence in Ayacucho and adjacent teachers.

Photo: Caretas among the poorest and most areas in the early 1980s was not deprived in Peru. They are also based on an attempt to win the There were signs by 1983, however, Alan Garcia and Alberto Fujimori, both those where the presence of the sympathies of highland peasants. that even in some of the remotest presidents of Peru during the period under investigation by the TRC state was traditionally weakest, both They were given no choice as to corners of rural Ayacucho, some in terms of social provision and whether to support Sendero. Those communities were beginning to political control. At least to start that did not do so suffered the resist Sendero's inroads. It was in The tradition of neglect with, Sendero chose to operate in consequences, usually death. these circumstances that eight the most remote areas where state Sendero's advance among the journalists were killed in the Although Sendero Luminoso institutions were virtually non- highest and more remote community of Uchuruccay, as they eventually extended the range of its existent and where its advance communities was rapid. However, sought to investigate rumours of attacks throughout Peru, it was born faced few obstacles. It also chose the arms at Sendero's disposal were armed resistance to Sendero in the in and around the city of Ayacucho, to work in an area where the tradi- rudimentary, typically sticks of region. and for the first few years of its 'war' tional rural system of land holding against the Peruvian state, this was had remained largely unaltered “The TRC has been able to dis- By 1983 and 1984, Sendero had its principal theatre of operations. despite the agrarian reforms of the expanded far from its original Why was Ayacucho such fertile cern that the process of violence, 1960s and 1970s. combined with socio-economic heartland. In the north, there were “The TRC has found, sadly, that gaps, highlighted the seriousness armed attacks in the hinterland of La Ayacucho was also an area that had Libertad, where Sendero allied itself the civilian governments were of ethno-cultural inequalities that been bypassed by economic with another small group known as not alone in bowing to the development, concentrated on Lima still prevail in the country. Puka Llajta (Red Homeland). It had indiscriminate use of force as a and the coast. It lacked a strong According to the analysis of the also moved northwards into the means for combating subversion. elite that was capable of resisting testimonies received, 75% of the departments of Junín and Pasco in On the contrary, the proclivity of Sendero. Ayacucho was also victims who died in the internal the centre of the country, and into these governments for a military largely ignored by the social and armed conflict spoke Quechua the drug-producing Upper Huallaga solution without civilian controls economic reforms of the military or other native languages as their Valley. To the south, Sendero also resonated with a considerable government of General Juan mother tongue.” made inroads into the department of sector of Peruvian society, princi- Velasco (1968-75). Since the Puno, although it met considerable promises of reform were more dynamite and rifles stolen from resistance from peasant pally in the moderately educat- rhetorical than real, they fed rather police stations. The extreme communities there. Commanding ed urban sector that benefited than allayed regional frustration. violence of its methods did not the highest mountain routes and from State services and resided Although Velasco proclaimed a endear them to those they sought to with a network of supporters in far from the epicentre of the more equal Peru, in fact regional control, nor its insistence on urban areas, Sendero was able to conflict.” disparities increased as a result of reverting to subsistence agriculture move with relative ease from one

18 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 19 area to another. It was able to “The TRC finds that the members Testimony create widespread economic disrup- of the leadership system of the tion by blowing up electricity pylons Sendero recruits through violence PCP-SL hold the gravest responsi- linking the highlands and the coast. Guzmán, who had gone bility for the conflict that bled underground in 1979, became an Peruvian society, based on the almost mythological leader. A major following elements: strategic shift came in 1985 and · for having initiated the 1986, when Sendero took the decision to initiate armed actions in violence in opposition to urban as well as rural areas. It the wishes of the began infiltrating industrial trade overwhelming majority of unions and urban communities, the population developing at the same time a more · for having formulated communicative style of politics. El their fight against Diario, a daily newspaper available Peruvian democracy with on the streets of Lima, became the a bloody strategy party's mouthpiece. · for the violent practices of occupation and control Rofelia Vivanco of rural territories and peasant communities, “I came to Lima in 1983, when I was 17, because in school the with a high cost in lives terrorists were recruiting. They said if we didn't collaborate we would die. and human suffering "We are going to cut off your ears, we will take out your tongue"... They told · for their genocidal policy us that if we escape from the town they would blow us up with explosives, that involved acts to and you wouldn't even be able to pick up the pieces. We were afraid provoke the State because there was no one to defend us, not the authorities or anyone else. · for their decision to pro One day a group chosen by the terrorists had to go with them, I was one claim the so-called strate of those chosen, but my mother woke up early and took me away. She gic equilibrium that brought me to Huancapi... stressed the terrorist character of their I returned to my community after one year, but nothing was the same. actions.” People spent the night in caves... my father could not return either, because the people were all being hounded. We left everything, our homes and our animals...”

Rofelia Vivanco left her town of Huamanquiquia, Ayacucho, at the age of 15, due to constant incursions of Shining Path guerrillas. She currently lives in Puente de Piedra, in the suburbs of Lima. She is a member of the organization of displaced people from Huamanquiquia, and of the national displaced people's organization, CONDECOREP.

20 Peru Support Group area to another. It was able to “The TRC finds that the members Testimony create widespread economic disrup- of the leadership system of the tion by blowing up electricity pylons Sendero recruits through violence PCP-SL hold the gravest responsi- linking the highlands and the coast. Guzmán, who had gone bility for the conflict that bled underground in 1979, became an Peruvian society, based on the almost mythological leader. A major following elements: strategic shift came in 1985 and · for having initiated the 1986, when Sendero took the decision to initiate armed actions in violence in opposition to urban as well as rural areas. It the wishes of the began infiltrating industrial trade overwhelming majority of unions and urban communities, the population developing at the same time a more · for having formulated communicative style of politics. El their fight against Diario, a daily newspaper available Peruvian democracy with on the streets of Lima, became the a bloody strategy party's mouthpiece. · for the violent practices of occupation and control Rofelia Vivanco of rural territories and peasant communities, “I came to Lima in 1983, when I was 17, because in school the with a high cost in lives terrorists were recruiting. They said if we didn't collaborate we would die. and human suffering "We are going to cut off your ears, we will take out your tongue"... They told · for their genocidal policy us that if we escape from the town they would blow us up with explosives, that involved acts to and you wouldn't even be able to pick up the pieces. We were afraid provoke the State because there was no one to defend us, not the authorities or anyone else. · for their decision to pro One day a group chosen by the terrorists had to go with them, I was one claim the so-called strate of those chosen, but my mother woke up early and took me away. She gic equilibrium that brought me to Huancapi... stressed the terrorist character of their I returned to my community after one year, but nothing was the same. actions.” People spent the night in caves... my father could not return either, because the people were all being hounded. We left everything, our homes and our animals...”

Rofelia Vivanco left her town of Huamanquiquia, Ayacucho, at the age of 15, due to constant incursions of Shining Path guerrillas. She currently lives in Puente de Piedra, in the suburbs of Lima. She is a member of the organization of displaced people from Huamanquiquia, and of the national displaced people's organization, CONDECOREP.

20 Peru Support Group The ‘other’ guerrillas, the MRTA out a year later when the MRTA hostage of scores of eminent diplo- began armed operations in the mats and other figures. A three- Inspired by Sendero's apparent The MRTA's ideological point of central highlands. During the early month siege ended in an armed success, another guerrilla reference was the Cuban, not the 1990s, the MRTA ceased to be an assault in which several of its organisation appeared on the scene Chinese revolution. Like other such active protagonist, many of its remaining leaders were killed. in 1984. But the Movimiento movements elsewhere in Latin leaders being captured. Its last and Revolucionario Túpac Amaru America, its activities involved most daring political stunt was its (MRTA) had different antecedents kidnappings (as a source of funding) attack on the Japanese and horizons to those of Sendero. It and 'armed propaganda' through ambassador’s residence in was the result of the fusion of two attacks on targets that symbolised December 1996 and the taking tendencies. The first was a faction of US imperialism. One of its main the Movimiento de Izquierda areas of popular support was in the Revolucionaria, itself a splinter department of San Martín. Although group from the political party APRA. it did not eschew violence, its Testimony The second was an offshoot from methods were less gratuitously MRTA recruited from dissident leftists the Velasquista Partido Socialista violent than those of Sendero. Also, Revolucionario (PSR). unlike Sendero, it was more discriminating in its politics. For instance (perhaps because of its “Unlike Shining Path, and like initial links to APRA) it declared a other armed Latin American cease-fire during the first few organisations with which it main- months of the García government so tained ties, the MRTA claimed as to enable the new administration responsibility for its actions, its to make gestures of goodwill. members used uniforms or other identifiers to differentiate them- The MRTA's links to other semi-legal political organisations opened it up selves from the civilian popula- to infiltration by the authorities. tion, it abstained from attacking Owing to the emphasis it placed on the unarmed population and at mass politics, it was a less clandes- various times showed itself being tine structure than Sendero. Also open to peace negotiations. divisions among its leadership made Nevertheless, MRTA also it less monolithic. In 1986, the Nila Rincón engaged in criminal acts; it MRTA began armed operations in resorted to assassinations…, the San Martín department which brought it into direct conflict with “I ask myself with deep pain how could my son have chosen the most diffi- taking of hostages, and the sys- Sendero. The two clashed in the cult path, already having a secure life, with a future, a family...? He went tematic practice of because of the suffering of others and of his people.” Huallaga towns of Uchiza and kidnapping …” Tocache, a confrontation from which Nila Rincon is the mother of Miguel Rincón Rincón. Miguel was condemned to life in the MRTA emerged the loser. prison as a leader of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) guerrillas, Conflict between them also broke and is currently detained at the Naval Base in Callao.

22 Peru Support Group The ‘other’ guerrillas, the MRTA out a year later when the MRTA hostage of scores of eminent diplo- began armed operations in the mats and other figures. A three- Inspired by Sendero's apparent The MRTA's ideological point of central highlands. During the early month siege ended in an armed success, another guerrilla reference was the Cuban, not the 1990s, the MRTA ceased to be an assault in which several of its organisation appeared on the scene Chinese revolution. Like other such active protagonist, many of its remaining leaders were killed. in 1984. But the Movimiento movements elsewhere in Latin leaders being captured. Its last and Revolucionario Túpac Amaru America, its activities involved most daring political stunt was its (MRTA) had different antecedents kidnappings (as a source of funding) attack on the Japanese and horizons to those of Sendero. It and 'armed propaganda' through ambassador’s residence in was the result of the fusion of two attacks on targets that symbolised December 1996 and the taking tendencies. The first was a faction of US imperialism. One of its main the Movimiento de Izquierda areas of popular support was in the Revolucionaria, itself a splinter department of San Martín. Although group from the political party APRA. it did not eschew violence, its Testimony The second was an offshoot from methods were less gratuitously MRTA recruited from dissident leftists the Velasquista Partido Socialista violent than those of Sendero. Also, Revolucionario (PSR). unlike Sendero, it was more discriminating in its politics. For instance (perhaps because of its “Unlike Shining Path, and like initial links to APRA) it declared a other armed Latin American cease-fire during the first few organisations with which it main- months of the García government so tained ties, the MRTA claimed as to enable the new administration responsibility for its actions, its to make gestures of goodwill. members used uniforms or other identifiers to differentiate them- The MRTA's links to other semi-legal political organisations opened it up selves from the civilian popula- to infiltration by the authorities. tion, it abstained from attacking Owing to the emphasis it placed on the unarmed population and at mass politics, it was a less clandes- various times showed itself being tine structure than Sendero. Also open to peace negotiations. divisions among its leadership made Nevertheless, MRTA also it less monolithic. In 1986, the Nila Rincón engaged in criminal acts; it MRTA began armed operations in resorted to assassinations…, the San Martín department which brought it into direct conflict with “I ask myself with deep pain how could my son have chosen the most diffi- taking of hostages, and the sys- Sendero. The two clashed in the cult path, already having a secure life, with a future, a family...? He went tematic practice of because of the suffering of others and of his people.” Huallaga towns of Uchiza and kidnapping …” Tocache, a confrontation from which Nila Rincon is the mother of Miguel Rincón Rincón. Miguel was condemned to life in the MRTA emerged the loser. prison as a leader of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) guerrillas, Conflict between them also broke and is currently detained at the Naval Base in Callao.

22 Peru Support Group Counter-insurgency Testimony The Belaunde government's initial took over from Noel y Moral in 1984. Indiscriminate use of torture by the Army response to the insurgency in Huamán set about building Ayacucho was to send in paramilitary peasant defence paramilitary police, known as the militias, while also building 'Sinchis'. The abusive behaviour of Vietnam-style 'strategic hamlets', the Sinchis did little to endear them relocating peasant communities to local opinion, and possibly from high altitudes to the valleys. contributed to support for Sendero. He sought to increase military con- The worsening situation during 1982 trol over development funds. led to the militarisation of Ayacucho and the declaration of the depart- Peasant communities thus found ment and neighbouring provinces as themselves often caught in the an 'emergency zone' in December of cross-fire, attacked both by Sendero that year. It was from that point on and the armed forces. In 1984-1985 that the human rights situation there were several massacres deteriorated seriously (see chart on involving whole villages. While page 4). Senderistas would tend to kill indis- Doris Caqui de Capcha criminately, the army would take Under the first military commander prisoners for questioning who would “I am the mother of four children. My husband's name was Teófilo of the Emergency Zone, Gen. never be seen again. Military Rímac Capcha. He was a great union leader, and a teacher. On 23 Clemente Noel y Moral, the enemy barracks like Los Cabitos in June, 1986, the military raided my house and grabbed my husband. was defined as 'communism', of Ayacucho and the marines They took him to the military base, I never saw him again. which Sendero was but one variety. headquarters in Huanta became Little attempt was made to notorious for their use of torture and At that point, I began to search, to ask for help to find out where my distinguish between these the 'disappearance' of prisoners. husband was, I feared for his life. On 27 June I received news that my 'communists', Senderistas on the husband had been killed... one hand and supporters of the The Belaunde government legal left (Izquierda Unida) on the effectively washed its hands of the The Secretary General of Centromin, asked me to call at his house and other, or between 'communists' and suffering inflicted by the military in told me: "They have killed your husband and you must seek justice. They anyone else who got in the way. Ayacucho and elsewhere. The net brutally tortured him, they put him in a sack and kicked him around like a One of the main problems of effect of this blunt response was to football, his jaw and his ribs were broken, they shoved the machine gun counter-insurgency at this stage was expand Sendero's radius of action in his mouth and the broom through his rectum, and he couldn't bear it the lack of adequate military intelli- into other parts of the country. all, but despite this, before he died he gave me a message for you. He gence. The whole indigenous popu- said tell Doris, my wife, to take care of my children, to make Ivan into a lation of Ayacucho came to be per- The counter-insurgency strategy great man. They are killing me and I have done nothing wrong...” ceived as the 'enemy'. shifted somewhat when Alan García became president in 1985. The Teofilo Rimac Capcha, was a leader of a workers' political party, FOCEP. On The death toll rose even higher Belaunde administration's human June 23rd, 1986, army troops raided his house and took him, submitting him to under General Adrián Huamán who rights record had been criticised torture in the hope he would incriminate himself. He died from the torture. The whereabouts of his remains is unknown. 24 Peru Support Group Counter-insurgency Testimony The Belaunde government's initial took over from Noel y Moral in 1984. Indiscriminate use of torture by the Army response to the insurgency in Huamán set about building Ayacucho was to send in paramilitary peasant defence paramilitary police, known as the militias, while also building 'Sinchis'. The abusive behaviour of Vietnam-style 'strategic hamlets', the Sinchis did little to endear them relocating peasant communities to local opinion, and possibly from high altitudes to the valleys. contributed to support for Sendero. He sought to increase military con- The worsening situation during 1982 trol over development funds. led to the militarisation of Ayacucho and the declaration of the depart- Peasant communities thus found ment and neighbouring provinces as themselves often caught in the an 'emergency zone' in December of cross-fire, attacked both by Sendero that year. It was from that point on and the armed forces. In 1984-1985 that the human rights situation there were several massacres deteriorated seriously (see chart on involving whole villages. While page 4). Senderistas would tend to kill indis- Doris Caqui de Capcha criminately, the army would take Under the first military commander prisoners for questioning who would “I am the mother of four children. My husband's name was Teófilo of the Emergency Zone, Gen. never be seen again. Military Rímac Capcha. He was a great union leader, and a teacher. On 23 Clemente Noel y Moral, the enemy barracks like Los Cabitos in June, 1986, the military raided my house and grabbed my husband. was defined as 'communism', of Ayacucho and the marines They took him to the military base, I never saw him again. which Sendero was but one variety. headquarters in Huanta became Little attempt was made to notorious for their use of torture and At that point, I began to search, to ask for help to find out where my distinguish between these the 'disappearance' of prisoners. husband was, I feared for his life. On 27 June I received news that my 'communists', Senderistas on the husband had been killed... one hand and supporters of the The Belaunde government legal left (Izquierda Unida) on the effectively washed its hands of the The Secretary General of Centromin, asked me to call at his house and other, or between 'communists' and suffering inflicted by the military in told me: "They have killed your husband and you must seek justice. They anyone else who got in the way. Ayacucho and elsewhere. The net brutally tortured him, they put him in a sack and kicked him around like a One of the main problems of effect of this blunt response was to football, his jaw and his ribs were broken, they shoved the machine gun counter-insurgency at this stage was expand Sendero's radius of action in his mouth and the broom through his rectum, and he couldn't bear it the lack of adequate military intelli- into other parts of the country. all, but despite this, before he died he gave me a message for you. He gence. The whole indigenous popu- said tell Doris, my wife, to take care of my children, to make Ivan into a lation of Ayacucho came to be per- The counter-insurgency strategy great man. They are killing me and I have done nothing wrong...” ceived as the 'enemy'. shifted somewhat when Alan García became president in 1985. The Teofilo Rimac Capcha, was a leader of a workers' political party, FOCEP. On The death toll rose even higher Belaunde administration's human June 23rd, 1986, army troops raided his house and took him, submitting him to under General Adrián Huamán who rights record had been criticised torture in the hope he would incriminate himself. He died from the torture. The whereabouts of his remains is unknown. 24 Peru Support Group “The TRC has found that the armed forces applied a strategy that, during community action in Cajamarca to under Fujimori, the threat of subver- an initial period, was one of indiscriminate repression against the popula- prevent cattle theft) proved highly sion was the pretext for the further tion suspected of belonging to the PCP-SL. Later this strategy became effective in containing Sendero's dismantling of the system of judicial more selective, although it continued to make it possible for numerous activities in rural areas, although at guarantees, the imprisonment of human rights violations to be committed. The TRC affirms that, at some times they provoked violence large numbers of innocent people on places and moments in the conflict, the behaviour of members of the between communities. For the the basis of hear-say evidence, and armed forces not only involved some individual excesses by officers or armed forces, they had the the growth of the Servicio Inteligen- soldiers, but also entailed generalised and/or systematic practices of advantage of fighting Sendero at cia Nacional (SIN) into an organisa- human rights violations that constitute crimes against humanity as well as one remove. At the same time, tion that under Vladimiro Montesinos transgressions of the norms of international humanitarian law. The TRC institutional reforms introduced effectively ran the government. The concludes that, in this framework, the political-military commands, desig- under García - notably the creation draconian new laws introduced after nated the highest authority in the emergency zones, may bear primary of a single ministry of defence, the the 1992 responsibility for these crimes.” unification of the three separate palace coup (autogolpe) helped police forces and the introduction of subvert the rule of law. a single intelligence system - made both at home and abroad. García capability became much greater. By the authorities better prepared for sought to bring the military under 1989, 56 provinces had been confronting Sendero. tighter control, whilst emphasising declared Emergency Zones where the importance of development as a civil rights, to varying degrees, were These policies bore fruit after 1990 more positive response to in abeyance. Extra-judicial killings under Fujimori. It was improved insurgency. A Peace Commission continued apace, both in Ayacucho intelligence and police capacities was established in 1985 and in and in other parts of Peru, with that led to the most decisive response to a massacre at full-scale massacres - like that in moment of all: the capture of Accomarca in August of that year, Cayara in May 1988 - not Guzmán in a middle-class Lima García sacked three of the uncommon events. neighbourhood in September 1992. highest-ranking military officers. Of course, it was also the case that At around this time there was also a The synchronised protest by clear shift in counter-insurgency “The TRC notes that the abdication of democratic authority Sendero inmates in three Lima jails policy, notably with the proliferation extended to the administration of justice. The judicial system failed to in 1986 and the subsequent killing of of peasant-based militia patrols in adequately fulfil its mission. Whether in connection with legal penalties for 250 of them punctured García's many parts of the highlands. The the actions of subversive groups, protecting the rights of detained per- image as a defender of human authorities were able to take sons, or putting an end to the impunity of State agents who committed rights. By 1987, the armed forces advantage of the fact that grave human rights violations. had recovered some of their communities bitterly resented the operational autonomy, taking demands made on them by Sendero The TRC believes that the dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori advantage of the president's and were increasingly willing to spuriously attempted to legalise impunity for human rights weakened position as the economy assume their own defence with violations by State agents by getting the Democratic Constitutional Con- deteriorated. As Sendero support and overall direction from gress provide majority approval for two amnesty laws and that violated entrenched itself in the coca- the armed forces. The so-called constitutional provisions and international agreements ratified under producing Huallaga, its offensive rondas campesinas (modelled on Peru's sovereign power”

26 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 27 “The TRC has found that the armed forces applied a strategy that, during community action in Cajamarca to under Fujimori, the threat of subver- an initial period, was one of indiscriminate repression against the popula- prevent cattle theft) proved highly sion was the pretext for the further tion suspected of belonging to the PCP-SL. Later this strategy became effective in containing Sendero's dismantling of the system of judicial more selective, although it continued to make it possible for numerous activities in rural areas, although at guarantees, the imprisonment of human rights violations to be committed. The TRC affirms that, at some times they provoked violence large numbers of innocent people on places and moments in the conflict, the behaviour of members of the between communities. For the the basis of hear-say evidence, and armed forces not only involved some individual excesses by officers or armed forces, they had the the growth of the Servicio Inteligen- soldiers, but also entailed generalised and/or systematic practices of advantage of fighting Sendero at cia Nacional (SIN) into an organisa- human rights violations that constitute crimes against humanity as well as one remove. At the same time, tion that under Vladimiro Montesinos transgressions of the norms of international humanitarian law. The TRC institutional reforms introduced effectively ran the government. The concludes that, in this framework, the political-military commands, desig- under García - notably the creation draconian new laws introduced after nated the highest authority in the emergency zones, may bear primary of a single ministry of defence, the the 1992 responsibility for these crimes.” unification of the three separate palace coup (autogolpe) helped police forces and the introduction of subvert the rule of law. a single intelligence system - made both at home and abroad. García capability became much greater. By the authorities better prepared for sought to bring the military under 1989, 56 provinces had been confronting Sendero. tighter control, whilst emphasising declared Emergency Zones where the importance of development as a civil rights, to varying degrees, were These policies bore fruit after 1990 more positive response to in abeyance. Extra-judicial killings under Fujimori. It was improved insurgency. A Peace Commission continued apace, both in Ayacucho intelligence and police capacities was established in 1985 and in and in other parts of Peru, with that led to the most decisive response to a massacre at full-scale massacres - like that in moment of all: the capture of Accomarca in August of that year, Cayara in May 1988 - not Guzmán in a middle-class Lima García sacked three of the uncommon events. neighbourhood in September 1992. highest-ranking military officers. Of course, it was also the case that At around this time there was also a The synchronised protest by clear shift in counter-insurgency “The TRC notes that the abdication of democratic authority Sendero inmates in three Lima jails policy, notably with the proliferation extended to the administration of justice. The judicial system failed to in 1986 and the subsequent killing of of peasant-based militia patrols in adequately fulfil its mission. Whether in connection with legal penalties for 250 of them punctured García's many parts of the highlands. The the actions of subversive groups, protecting the rights of detained per- image as a defender of human authorities were able to take sons, or putting an end to the impunity of State agents who committed rights. By 1987, the armed forces advantage of the fact that grave human rights violations. had recovered some of their communities bitterly resented the operational autonomy, taking demands made on them by Sendero The TRC believes that the dictatorship of Alberto Fujimori advantage of the president's and were increasingly willing to spuriously attempted to legalise impunity for human rights weakened position as the economy assume their own defence with violations by State agents by getting the Democratic Constitutional Con- deteriorated. As Sendero support and overall direction from gress provide majority approval for two amnesty laws and that violated entrenched itself in the coca- the armed forces. The so-called constitutional provisions and international agreements ratified under producing Huallaga, its offensive rondas campesinas (modelled on Peru's sovereign power”

26 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 27 Testimony The displaced Indiscriminate arrests and detentions If the number of people killed verged calculate. Villagers who moved to on 70,000, the number of people the towns found themselves usually forced to leave their communities at the bottom of the social pile, were hundreds of thousands. Faced discriminated against because of with the threat of attacks by both their ethnicity, lack of education and Sendero and the security forces, (often) lack of Spanish. The many people in rural areas were depopulation of rural Ayacucho forced to flee to places of during the 1980s was dramatic, with relative safety. These were usually large movements in population to regional urban centres, though large the main towns. The population of numbers eventually sought refuge in Ayacucho city nearly doubled the slums of Lima. The suffering between 1981 and 2001. caused by displacement is hard to

Zonia Luz Rosas Human rights organisations and their role

“One night the Police arrived... and took away my partner. I stayed at The deterioration of the human Within Peru, a number of human home, but they came to arrest me. At the anti-terrorist rights situation in the early 1980s rights defence organisations headquarters they told me that various people had accused me of partici- turned the spotlight on Peru. established themselves in Lima and pating in meetings and terrorist attacks... Although the country had undergone elsewhere to provide legal support twelve years of military rule, it had to victims and to help publicise the Later the so-called interrogations began. I held out through the punches never been a country in which problem. Within the Catholic and the near drowning. They wanted me to accept all their accusations... human rights had been violated on a Church, the Comisión Episcopal de ... At the end of 1989 I was found innocent of all charges by a court, and I large scale -- unlike Chile, Argenti- was then acquitted of any crime. When I got out of prison I had to find a na, Brazil or Uruguay in the 1970s. “The Commission is convinced way to support myself and my daughter, but I could not find work. I had no Abroad, organisations like Amnesty that the country owes these choice but to sell sweets on the streets... On 16 June 1994, as I was selling International and Human Rights human rights organisations a sweets, I was arrested again. They held me on the same charges of which I Watch monitored the human rights debt of gratitude because, by had been acquitted. situation with ever-increasing exercising the democratic right concern, especially from 1983 on. of critically monitoring the securi- The judges at the military court sentenced me to 25 years, saying that I was In the United Kingdom, the Peru ty forces, they contributed to in guilty of collecting funds for the Shining Path in Lima, when I was not Support Group was established in controlling some of the most even making enough to eat. that year. Various foreign brutal aspects of the conflict and That is how I spent 12 years of my youth, unjustly detained as an innocent governments expressed increasing to obtaining extensive interna- woman... No one can give me back those lost years...” concern, some even sending tional solidarity for the democrat- parliamentary and other delegations ic struggle of the Peruvian Detained in 1983, Ms. Rosas was acquitted after 6 years in jail. She was freed in to investigate human rights abuse. people.” 1989, but in 1994 she was detained on the same charges, condemned this time to 25 years by the military court. She spent 12 years in prison, where she was tortured.

Truth and Reconciliation 29 Testimony The displaced Indiscriminate arrests and detentions If the number of people killed verged calculate. Villagers who moved to on 70,000, the number of people the towns found themselves usually forced to leave their communities at the bottom of the social pile, were hundreds of thousands. Faced discriminated against because of with the threat of attacks by both their ethnicity, lack of education and Sendero and the security forces, (often) lack of Spanish. The many people in rural areas were depopulation of rural Ayacucho forced to flee to places of during the 1980s was dramatic, with relative safety. These were usually large movements in population to regional urban centres, though large the main towns. The population of numbers eventually sought refuge in Ayacucho city nearly doubled the slums of Lima. The suffering between 1981 and 2001. caused by displacement is hard to

Zonia Luz Rosas Human rights organisations and their role

“One night the Police arrived... and took away my partner. I stayed at The deterioration of the human Within Peru, a number of human home, but they came to arrest me. At the anti-terrorist rights situation in the early 1980s rights defence organisations headquarters they told me that various people had accused me of partici- turned the spotlight on Peru. established themselves in Lima and pating in meetings and terrorist attacks... Although the country had undergone elsewhere to provide legal support twelve years of military rule, it had to victims and to help publicise the Later the so-called interrogations began. I held out through the punches never been a country in which problem. Within the Catholic and the near drowning. They wanted me to accept all their accusations... human rights had been violated on a Church, the Comisión Episcopal de ... At the end of 1989 I was found innocent of all charges by a court, and I large scale -- unlike Chile, Argenti- was then acquitted of any crime. When I got out of prison I had to find a na, Brazil or Uruguay in the 1970s. “The Commission is convinced way to support myself and my daughter, but I could not find work. I had no Abroad, organisations like Amnesty that the country owes these choice but to sell sweets on the streets... On 16 June 1994, as I was selling International and Human Rights human rights organisations a sweets, I was arrested again. They held me on the same charges of which I Watch monitored the human rights debt of gratitude because, by had been acquitted. situation with ever-increasing exercising the democratic right concern, especially from 1983 on. of critically monitoring the securi- The judges at the military court sentenced me to 25 years, saying that I was In the United Kingdom, the Peru ty forces, they contributed to in guilty of collecting funds for the Shining Path in Lima, when I was not Support Group was established in controlling some of the most even making enough to eat. that year. Various foreign brutal aspects of the conflict and That is how I spent 12 years of my youth, unjustly detained as an innocent governments expressed increasing to obtaining extensive interna- woman... No one can give me back those lost years...” concern, some even sending tional solidarity for the democrat- parliamentary and other delegations ic struggle of the Peruvian Detained in 1983, Ms. Rosas was acquitted after 6 years in jail. She was freed in to investigate human rights abuse. people.” 1989, but in 1994 she was detained on the same charges, condemned this time to 25 years by the military court. She spent 12 years in prison, where she was tortured.

Truth and Reconciliation 29 Acción Social (CEAS) took an active going tally of deaths, disappear- Testimony role, whilst other non-Church ances, cases of torture and the like. organisations like the Asociación However, there was no The fate of the displaced Pro Derechos Humanos (Aprodeh) comprehensive attempt to quantify campaigned also vigorously on the scale of the problem until the human rights issues, often at TRC began its work in 2001, considerable personal risk to those following the collapse of the Fujimori involved. In 1985, the Coordinadora government. Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Human Rights Co-ordinat- ing Body) was set up to co-ordinate efforts of human rights groups at the local and national levels. Meanwhile, DESCO, a social stud- ies think-tank, maintained an on-

What remains of Sendero? Isabel Suasnabar

The capture of Abimael Guzmán in Viscatán, a remote mountain region “We left to save our lives... Now we are organizing so that they will recog- 1992 led to the rapid dismember- in the extreme north of the nize those of us who have left, those who remained trying to survive and ment of Sendero Luminoso. Within department. In the last two years, those who are returning without any assistance...” a year, most of its more prominent Sendero is credited with leaders were in jail. The speed at responsibility for two important Isabel Suasnabar left her town in Huancavelica due to constant attacks by which this happened reflected, in attacks: a bomb attack in Lima on Shining Path guerrillas and the army. She currently lives in Huancayo, and is presi- dent of the Association of the Displaced (Central Peru), and vice-president of part, the hierarchical nature of the the eve of US President Bush's visit CONDECOREP, the national organization of displaced people. organisation and its dependence on to the city in 2002, and an attack on the reputation of its founder and ide- a Camisea gas pipeline construction ologue. site in north-eastern Ayacucho. Many other, less noteworthy attacks Children as victims of violence After his arrest, Guzmán called for a have also been reported, but not The years of violence that the as a result of the armed conflict. cease-fire, but a dissident faction of such as to suggest a strategic Commission reported on had a the organisation kept up the military revival. Nevertheless, the social particularly devastating effect on Both the State's armed forces and offensive, albeit on a much reduced conditions that help spawn Sendero children whose experiences and Sendero forcibly recruited children in scale. The rump of Sendero is still remain much the same, and witness of violence and horror will support of their operations. In the in evidence, more than ten years Ayacucho and surrounding areas affect them for the rest of their lives. case of Sendero, children were after Guzmán's arrest, its presence remain one of Peru's poorest and A generation of children and young targeted, indoctrinated and used as concentrated in the coca-producing deprived regions. people also had their educational agents of their military campaign valleys of the Huallaga, Ene and possibilities truncated and future from a very early age. Its 'Red Apurímac. In Ayacucho, the main employment possibilities diminished Pioneers' were used as vigilantes, area of Senderista presence is in the

30 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 31 Acción Social (CEAS) took an active going tally of deaths, disappear- Testimony role, whilst other non-Church ances, cases of torture and the like. organisations like the Asociación However, there was no The fate of the displaced Pro Derechos Humanos (Aprodeh) comprehensive attempt to quantify campaigned also vigorously on the scale of the problem until the human rights issues, often at TRC began its work in 2001, considerable personal risk to those following the collapse of the Fujimori involved. In 1985, the Coordinadora government. Nacional de Derechos Humanos (National Human Rights Co-ordinat- ing Body) was set up to co-ordinate efforts of human rights groups at the local and national levels. Meanwhile, DESCO, a social stud- ies think-tank, maintained an on-

What remains of Sendero? Isabel Suasnabar

The capture of Abimael Guzmán in Viscatán, a remote mountain region “We left to save our lives... Now we are organizing so that they will recog- 1992 led to the rapid dismember- in the extreme north of the nize those of us who have left, those who remained trying to survive and ment of Sendero Luminoso. Within department. In the last two years, those who are returning without any assistance...” a year, most of its more prominent Sendero is credited with leaders were in jail. The speed at responsibility for two important Isabel Suasnabar left her town in Huancavelica due to constant attacks by which this happened reflected, in attacks: a bomb attack in Lima on Shining Path guerrillas and the army. She currently lives in Huancayo, and is presi- dent of the Association of the Displaced (Central Peru), and vice-president of part, the hierarchical nature of the the eve of US President Bush's visit CONDECOREP, the national organization of displaced people. organisation and its dependence on to the city in 2002, and an attack on the reputation of its founder and ide- a Camisea gas pipeline construction ologue. site in north-eastern Ayacucho. Many other, less noteworthy attacks Children as victims of violence After his arrest, Guzmán called for a have also been reported, but not The years of violence that the as a result of the armed conflict. cease-fire, but a dissident faction of such as to suggest a strategic Commission reported on had a the organisation kept up the military revival. Nevertheless, the social particularly devastating effect on Both the State's armed forces and offensive, albeit on a much reduced conditions that help spawn Sendero children whose experiences and Sendero forcibly recruited children in scale. The rump of Sendero is still remain much the same, and witness of violence and horror will support of their operations. In the in evidence, more than ten years Ayacucho and surrounding areas affect them for the rest of their lives. case of Sendero, children were after Guzmán's arrest, its presence remain one of Peru's poorest and A generation of children and young targeted, indoctrinated and used as concentrated in the coca-producing deprived regions. people also had their educational agents of their military campaign valleys of the Huallaga, Ene and possibilities truncated and future from a very early age. Its 'Red Apurímac. In Ayacucho, the main employment possibilities diminished Pioneers' were used as vigilantes, area of Senderista presence is in the

30 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 31 spies and gatherers of food prior to fundamental rights. Apart from this Testimony becoming fighters from around 12 practice, the report concluded that years old. Children were constantly children were not specifically The survivors, also victims threatened and punished when they targeted by the State in a attempted to escape, such attempts generalized and systematic way often ending in death. Separation of though, of course, many became children from parents and family at victims of indiscriminate violence an early age was a primary strategy against their families and of a group notorious for the number of communities. children and adolescents in its ranks. Of the cases investigated by the In the case of the State security Commission, 12.8% involved human forces, 40% of those forcibly rights violations against children. recruited into their ranks were These included torture, detention, children, mainly between 15 and 17 extra-judicial killings, disappear- years old, and from poor and ances, kidnappings, sexual impoverished backgrounds, a policy violations and forced recruitment. A which constituted a generalised and generation grew to adulthood in the systematic denial of children's shadow of this violence.

The gender dimension

According to Sofía Macher, former as saying that it was "inevitable" that Liz Liliana Zúñiga Villar head of the Coordinadora Nacional soldiers "satisfied their instincts" in de Derechos Humanos and one of this way, and that in any case “There is no comfort for the death of our parents, because we were left the two women on the TRC, the full "campesinas were used to it". abandoned. I had to take on a role of mother and father to my younger implications of human rights sister when I was only 13 years old... People are abusive, and worse, when violations on women were While most of those killed were men you are a woman they mistreat you, they exploit you... inadequately revealed by the data (80%), women were systematically base created. One of the reasons maltreated. They assumed a Even though I have suffered through some difficult times, this has not made was the lack of any proper previous disproportionately heavy burden in me dwell on it. I want to improve my lot. I am now studying Engineering. documentation on the subject. dealing with the social My sister is studying to be a teacher. Neither human rights nor feminist consequences of the killings and Sometimes I think that I have been dreaming and that one day I will wake groups did enough here, she disappearances. They also played up and see my parents.” suggests. The Report documents a decisive role in denouncing the less than 1,000 cases of rape, but this killings that took place. "That there In 1994, army troops entered the towns of Cayubamba Chico and Chaupiyunca. appears to have been a routine prac- was a Truth Commission at all is Ms. Zúñiga's parents were murdered along with ten others. The men were tortured, tice both on the part of the largely down to the women" Macher and the women and girls raped. military and Sendero. In a television says. "Their role has not been interview, one general went on record properly recognised".

32 Peru Support Group spies and gatherers of food prior to fundamental rights. Apart from this Testimony becoming fighters from around 12 practice, the report concluded that years old. Children were constantly children were not specifically The survivors, also victims threatened and punished when they targeted by the State in a attempted to escape, such attempts generalized and systematic way often ending in death. Separation of though, of course, many became children from parents and family at victims of indiscriminate violence an early age was a primary strategy against their families and of a group notorious for the number of communities. children and adolescents in its ranks. Of the cases investigated by the In the case of the State security Commission, 12.8% involved human forces, 40% of those forcibly rights violations against children. recruited into their ranks were These included torture, detention, children, mainly between 15 and 17 extra-judicial killings, disappear- years old, and from poor and ances, kidnappings, sexual impoverished backgrounds, a policy violations and forced recruitment. A which constituted a generalised and generation grew to adulthood in the systematic denial of children's shadow of this violence.

The gender dimension

According to Sofía Macher, former as saying that it was "inevitable" that Liz Liliana Zúñiga Villar head of the Coordinadora Nacional soldiers "satisfied their instincts" in de Derechos Humanos and one of this way, and that in any case “There is no comfort for the death of our parents, because we were left the two women on the TRC, the full "campesinas were used to it". abandoned. I had to take on a role of mother and father to my younger implications of human rights sister when I was only 13 years old... People are abusive, and worse, when violations on women were While most of those killed were men you are a woman they mistreat you, they exploit you... inadequately revealed by the data (80%), women were systematically base created. One of the reasons maltreated. They assumed a Even though I have suffered through some difficult times, this has not made was the lack of any proper previous disproportionately heavy burden in me dwell on it. I want to improve my lot. I am now studying Engineering. documentation on the subject. dealing with the social My sister is studying to be a teacher. Neither human rights nor feminist consequences of the killings and Sometimes I think that I have been dreaming and that one day I will wake groups did enough here, she disappearances. They also played up and see my parents.” suggests. The Report documents a decisive role in denouncing the less than 1,000 cases of rape, but this killings that took place. "That there In 1994, army troops entered the towns of Cayubamba Chico and Chaupiyunca. appears to have been a routine prac- was a Truth Commission at all is Ms. Zúñiga's parents were murdered along with ten others. The men were tortured, tice both on the part of the largely down to the women" Macher and the women and girls raped. military and Sendero. In a television says. "Their role has not been interview, one general went on record properly recognised".

32 Peru Support Group The main recommendations of the TRC Institutional reforms

The TRC report makes numerous The recommendations of the TRC are contained in Volume IX of the report. recommendations about the · strengthen mechanisms for They cover five main areas, namely: the need for reconcilation with justice; institutional reforms that need to building consensus at the local institutional reforms; reparations to those affected; the need for a forensic take place to ensure that the sort of level programme to deal properly with exhumations; and the issue of follow-up. civil conflict that characterised the 1980s and 1990s never recurs. Reconciliation and justice 2. Strengthening democratic They divide into four main groups: institutions vis-à-vis the military - Justice is necessary in the rest of the population know that such deeds cannot be, that they order to achieve 1. Building democratic state Recommendations include: reconciliation take place and nothing happens". authority bringing the military under the The report argues that all who were · - Impunity is non-democratic control of democratic authori- responsible for human rights crimes and is contrary to the rule Recommendations refer to ties (ministry of defence) of law should be subject to prosecution. It measures to improve the ties that identified 150 persons (involved in bind state and society. They include · the introduction of a national - Those accused of crimes 73 cases). Of these 42 were policies to: pacification strategy against humanity should connected with state agencies and be punished the remainder with Sendero and the · promote collaboration between · regulation of states of MRTA. "The first step towards the police, municipalities and exception reconciliation can only be made if Justice, the report argues, is a citizens those who perpetrate crimes against necessary condition for · civilian control of military intelli- humanity -- that is those who use reconciliation as well as its result, · institutionalise and regulate gence arms in unequal conditions -- and justice requires impartiality on rondas campesinas assume the responsibility, appearing the part of those who administer it · a redefinition of the police as a before the Courts and paying their · widen access to the justice as well as punishment for those who non-military organisation debt to society". The report notes system contravene the law. So far as that most of the leaders of Sendero the modernisation of the police impunity is concerned, the report · Luminoso (who were responsible for · create mechanisms to protect force argues that it is inconsistent with the the majority of those killed) are human rights at the local level norms required for democracy and already serving lengthy sentences in reform of military and police the rule of law. "Impunity signifies · prison. · encourage state employees to training methods the abandonment of justice", it says, work in remote rural areas quoting the son of the mayor of the granting full citizenship Primavera in Huánuco (who had · · fully recognise indigenous rights to the military been killed by Sendero) "I reject the rights idea that these deeds remain · the creation of a military unpunished. I think the only way to · promote more effective political ombudsman to guarantee sol- put an end to violence and abuse is representation diers' rights. punishing those responsible, so that

34 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 35 The main recommendations of the TRC Institutional reforms

The TRC report makes numerous The recommendations of the TRC are contained in Volume IX of the report. recommendations about the · strengthen mechanisms for They cover five main areas, namely: the need for reconcilation with justice; institutional reforms that need to building consensus at the local institutional reforms; reparations to those affected; the need for a forensic take place to ensure that the sort of level programme to deal properly with exhumations; and the issue of follow-up. civil conflict that characterised the 1980s and 1990s never recurs. Reconciliation and justice 2. Strengthening democratic They divide into four main groups: institutions vis-à-vis the military - Justice is necessary in the rest of the population know that such deeds cannot be, that they order to achieve 1. Building democratic state Recommendations include: reconciliation take place and nothing happens". authority bringing the military under the The report argues that all who were · - Impunity is non-democratic control of democratic authori- responsible for human rights crimes and is contrary to the rule Recommendations refer to ties (ministry of defence) of law should be subject to prosecution. It measures to improve the ties that identified 150 persons (involved in bind state and society. They include · the introduction of a national - Those accused of crimes 73 cases). Of these 42 were policies to: pacification strategy against humanity should connected with state agencies and be punished the remainder with Sendero and the · promote collaboration between · regulation of states of MRTA. "The first step towards the police, municipalities and exception reconciliation can only be made if Justice, the report argues, is a citizens those who perpetrate crimes against necessary condition for · civilian control of military intelli- humanity -- that is those who use reconciliation as well as its result, · institutionalise and regulate gence arms in unequal conditions -- and justice requires impartiality on rondas campesinas assume the responsibility, appearing the part of those who administer it · a redefinition of the police as a before the Courts and paying their · widen access to the justice as well as punishment for those who non-military organisation debt to society". The report notes system contravene the law. So far as that most of the leaders of Sendero the modernisation of the police impunity is concerned, the report · Luminoso (who were responsible for · create mechanisms to protect force argues that it is inconsistent with the the majority of those killed) are human rights at the local level norms required for democracy and already serving lengthy sentences in reform of military and police the rule of law. "Impunity signifies · prison. · encourage state employees to training methods the abandonment of justice", it says, work in remote rural areas quoting the son of the mayor of the granting full citizenship Primavera in Huánuco (who had · · fully recognise indigenous rights to the military been killed by Sendero) "I reject the rights idea that these deeds remain · the creation of a military unpunished. I think the only way to · promote more effective political ombudsman to guarantee sol- put an end to violence and abuse is representation diers' rights. punishing those responsible, so that

34 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 35 Reparations 3. Reforms to the justice system · and a series of measures to The TRC gives great emphasis for improve prison conditions and · acts of public recognition of the need for reparations to those The report acknowledges the defend prisoners' rights. those wrongly imprisoned, affected by violence, both serious defects of the Peruvian those who defended the human individually and collectively. The justice system. It advocates: 4. Reforms to the educational rights of their communities system plan for reparations should aim to "compensate for the violation of the strengthening of judicial · recognition of local authorities · human rights, the losses and autonomy (especially over These aim to improve the quality of that stood up to Sendero damages incurred, social, moral appointments) education and to enhance respect for democratic values, recognising and material". However, · establishment of special sites · an ending the system of the centrality of education in building reparations should not be seen as a for remembrance provisional judges (introduced a better society. Recommendations substitute for social policy. "The · closure of buildings associated by Fujimori) include: Comprehensive Plan for Reparations (PIR) cannot and in the public mind with human rights violations. · the incorporation of the · curricular reforms should not be considered as just military justice system under another instrument of social the aegis of the Supreme Court policy (…) It does not seek to · greater respect for ethnic and 2. Reparations in health cultural diversity resolve problems of poverty, · the introduction of an exclusion and inequality (…) Its independent body to protect These include: · more community participation objective is the reparation and witnesses and victims recognition of the victims as and oversight of schools programmes to help victims human beings whose rights have · deal with physical and mental · the establishment of a · improved systems of been violated". (Volume IX, p148). specialist branch within the jus- health problems arising from discipline the conflict tice system to pursue the cases The PIR subdivides into six different of human rights violation identi- · literacy campaigns types of reparations: fied in the report · training of people to carry out such programmes · provision of incentives for 1. Symbolic reparations · the incorporation into the Peru- teachers to work in rural areas. vian justice system of advances · the creation of a special depart- Symbolic reparations do not ment within the Health in international jurispru- necessarily involve much expense, dence Ministry to plan and oversee but should be demonstrative and them. · the introduction of easily understood. They should programmes to improve the include: training of judges and lawyers 3. Reparations in education on human rights · political gestures, such as the president asking for forgive- These would seek to compensate · measures to guarantee the per- ness and sending letters to the those whose education was manence of judicial institutions victims and/or their families interrupted or otherwise affected under regimes of exception during the period of violence. It

36 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 37 Reparations 3. Reforms to the justice system · and a series of measures to The TRC gives great emphasis for improve prison conditions and · acts of public recognition of the need for reparations to those The report acknowledges the defend prisoners' rights. those wrongly imprisoned, affected by violence, both serious defects of the Peruvian those who defended the human individually and collectively. The justice system. It advocates: 4. Reforms to the educational rights of their communities system plan for reparations should aim to "compensate for the violation of the strengthening of judicial · recognition of local authorities · human rights, the losses and autonomy (especially over These aim to improve the quality of that stood up to Sendero damages incurred, social, moral appointments) education and to enhance respect for democratic values, recognising and material". However, · establishment of special sites · an ending the system of the centrality of education in building reparations should not be seen as a for remembrance provisional judges (introduced a better society. Recommendations substitute for social policy. "The · closure of buildings associated by Fujimori) include: Comprehensive Plan for Reparations (PIR) cannot and in the public mind with human rights violations. · the incorporation of the · curricular reforms should not be considered as just military justice system under another instrument of social the aegis of the Supreme Court policy (…) It does not seek to · greater respect for ethnic and 2. Reparations in health cultural diversity resolve problems of poverty, · the introduction of an exclusion and inequality (…) Its independent body to protect These include: · more community participation objective is the reparation and witnesses and victims recognition of the victims as and oversight of schools programmes to help victims human beings whose rights have · deal with physical and mental · the establishment of a · improved systems of been violated". (Volume IX, p148). specialist branch within the jus- health problems arising from discipline the conflict tice system to pursue the cases The PIR subdivides into six different of human rights violation identi- · literacy campaigns types of reparations: fied in the report · training of people to carry out such programmes · provision of incentives for 1. Symbolic reparations · the incorporation into the Peru- teachers to work in rural areas. vian justice system of advances · the creation of a special depart- Symbolic reparations do not ment within the Health in international jurispru- necessarily involve much expense, dence Ministry to plan and oversee but should be demonstrative and them. · the introduction of easily understood. They should programmes to improve the include: training of judges and lawyers 3. Reparations in education on human rights · political gestures, such as the president asking for forgive- These would seek to compensate · measures to guarantee the per- ness and sending letters to the those whose education was manence of judicial institutions victims and/or their families interrupted or otherwise affected under regimes of exception during the period of violence. It

36 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 37 would include: disappeared (widows, children Development of forensic / anthropological plan for exhuma- under 18) · exemption from all payment for The TRC identified more than 4,000 This work is crucial to calculating the education · pensions for the disabled as a burial sites in the areas it numbers of those who were the result of violence investigated, of which it was only victims of disappearances and · the establishment of a able to conduct very preliminary extra-judicial killings, as well as system of scholarships · indemnities to those unjustly research on about half. An seeking to establish their identity. imprisoned and victims of rape. important area of on-going work is to Clearly, such work involves close · the provision of programmes carry out state-of-the-art forensic collaboration with relatives of the for adult education in affected work (especially DNA analysis of dead and members of rural commu- areas. 6. Collective reparations remains) on these sites as well as nities. The TRC proposes the uncovering others. To achieve this establishment of a National Com- 4. Restoration of citizenship The objective here is to compensate would mean building up forensic mission for Disappeared People to rights those communities that suffered capacities largely absent in Peru supervise this plan, alongside the major economic damage from the today and applying them alongside development of a specialist entity This would seek to: destruction of social and physical anthropological ones. within the State Prosecutor's Office infrastructure, and the (Ministerio Público). · regularise the legal status of decapitalisation of the peasant the disappeared (who are nei- economy as a result of violence ther officially dead, nor officially and/or displacement. The amounts Follow-up alive) awarded would depend on the degree of suffering inflicted and the There should be a technical · ensure the rights of those numbers involved. The use of such committee established to wind up wrongly imprisoned and then funds would be decided upon by the the business of the TRC and an pardoned of terrorist offences communities themselves, with the inter-institutional working group to emphasis on the rebuilding of produce legislative proposals on the · provide identity documentation communal cohesion. The basis of these recommendations, to free of charge to those who programme would require national elaborate a plan for implementation either lack it or were deprived and regional oversight and would and to ensure widespread of it (either by Sendero or the last at least six years. dissemination of the report and its authorities) conclusions. Among the laws The PIR would be financed by should be the creation of a National 5. Economic reparations to Treasury funds, funds emanating Reconciliation Council to oversee individuals from the restoration to the country of longer-term decision-making and corrupt moneys deposited abroad, implementation. These involve providing payments to along with other illicit banks those affected by violence, usually accounts at home and abroad, and the very poorest. They would from contributions for this purpose include: made by the international community. · the families of the dead and

38 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 39 would include: disappeared (widows, children Development of forensic / anthropological plan for exhuma- under 18) · exemption from all payment for The TRC identified more than 4,000 This work is crucial to calculating the education · pensions for the disabled as a burial sites in the areas it numbers of those who were the result of violence investigated, of which it was only victims of disappearances and · the establishment of a able to conduct very preliminary extra-judicial killings, as well as system of scholarships · indemnities to those unjustly research on about half. An seeking to establish their identity. imprisoned and victims of rape. important area of on-going work is to Clearly, such work involves close · the provision of programmes carry out state-of-the-art forensic collaboration with relatives of the for adult education in affected work (especially DNA analysis of dead and members of rural commu- areas. 6. Collective reparations remains) on these sites as well as nities. The TRC proposes the uncovering others. To achieve this establishment of a National Com- 4. Restoration of citizenship The objective here is to compensate would mean building up forensic mission for Disappeared People to rights those communities that suffered capacities largely absent in Peru supervise this plan, alongside the major economic damage from the today and applying them alongside development of a specialist entity This would seek to: destruction of social and physical anthropological ones. within the State Prosecutor's Office infrastructure, and the (Ministerio Público). · regularise the legal status of decapitalisation of the peasant the disappeared (who are nei- economy as a result of violence ther officially dead, nor officially and/or displacement. The amounts Follow-up alive) awarded would depend on the degree of suffering inflicted and the There should be a technical · ensure the rights of those numbers involved. The use of such committee established to wind up wrongly imprisoned and then funds would be decided upon by the the business of the TRC and an pardoned of terrorist offences communities themselves, with the inter-institutional working group to emphasis on the rebuilding of produce legislative proposals on the · provide identity documentation communal cohesion. The basis of these recommendations, to free of charge to those who programme would require national elaborate a plan for implementation either lack it or were deprived and regional oversight and would and to ensure widespread of it (either by Sendero or the last at least six years. dissemination of the report and its authorities) conclusions. Among the laws The PIR would be financed by should be the creation of a National 5. Economic reparations to Treasury funds, funds emanating Reconciliation Council to oversee individuals from the restoration to the country of longer-term decision-making and corrupt moneys deposited abroad, implementation. These involve providing payments to along with other illicit banks those affected by violence, usually accounts at home and abroad, and the very poorest. They would from contributions for this purpose include: made by the international community. · the families of the dead and

38 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 39 Reactions to the TRC Commission Report ways to defend themselves and their missed. This is not just in ensuring interests. Lacking any strong pres- that justice is done, but in building a ence in society, Toledo's govern- new relationship between The official response ment is both weak and unpopular. It government in Lima and those living therefore finds it difficult to take bold in poverty and deprivation in the On November 21, 2003, President admitted that there had been action. So there is every danger interior of the country, particularly in Alejandro Toledo, speaking on "excesses" perpetrated by the that the recommendations of the the areas most affected by twenty behalf of the Peruvian state, formally armed forces, but did not say (as the TRC will not be fully implemented. years of civil war. asked for forgiveness for the human TRC report suggests) that human rights crimes perpetrated between rights violations had been part of a At the same time, there are very real 1980 and 2000. He also promised systematic and persistent response dangers for Peru if the opportunity is extra spending for Ayacucho and to the problem of insurgency. other parts of the Peru that had suffered the brunt of the war with It was always bound to be the case Sendero Luminoso. Toledo was that 'naming and blaming' would Public reactions to the report responding to the recommendations cause discomfiture for those Not surprisingly, the publication and the TCR could have been put; the of the Truth and Reconciliation responsible, and that they in turn official hand-over of the report supposed ideological bias of the Commission (TRC), whose massive would seek to minimise the produced considerable controversy commissioners; the treating of nine-volume report into human rights implementation of the TRC's in Peru. The tabloid press and the Sendero as a 'political party'; and violations, had been presented to recommendations. In point of fact, main commercial TV stations, many the cost of implementing the recom- the government three months the main responsibility for the of which had been used by Fujimori mendations. Not surprisingly, the before. slaughter that took place was and Montesinos to downplay TCR drew criticisms from right-wing attributed to Sendero Luminoso, concerns about human rights and politicians such as Rafael Rey and Not only was this a tardy response, many of whose leaders are already denigrate those concerned for them, José Barba Caballero. It also drew but a partial one. The promised in jail serving life prison sentences. used it as an opportunity to berate flak from retired members of the spending of 2.8 billion soles (800 Still, the findings would make for both the Commission and its armed forces. According to Gen million US dollars) between then awkward reading for members of the findings. Numerous politicians, (ret) Luis Pérez Documet, "The CVR and 2006, whilst welcome, did not armed forces and paramilitaries that especially those from the parties was made up of reds, by members allude specifically to the TRC's rec- fought Sendero. Similarly, it would criticised in the report, also took the of the legal left". According to Gen ommendations that there should be cause problems for politicians and opportunity to undermine it by (ret) Edgardo Fournier, "the work of reparations, both collective and government leaders who bore a questioning its suppositions, the TRC has played into the hands individual, to those who suffered political (if not a more direct) methods and conclusions. of Sendero Luminoso". violations of human rights. Indeed, responsibility for what went on. the TRC emphasised the importance The main criticisms levelled at the of not confusing reparations with This helps explain Toledo's caution Others applauded the Commission report referred to the methodology development spending. Toledo towards the TRC's findings. and its findings. According to a used to calculate the number of promised that the State Prosecutor's Although the armed forces no longer Datum poll released at the time of victims; the tendency of the report to Office (Ministerio Público) would wield the political power they used publication, 54% of those inter- put the armed forces and Sendero to, they remain influential behind the viewed thought the on the same standing; the better handle cases of those accused of scenes. Similarly, the politicians Commissioners had done a good uses to which the money spent on human rights violations. He with most direct responsibility, find job, a high proportion given the

40 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 41 Reactions to the TRC Commission Report ways to defend themselves and their missed. This is not just in ensuring interests. Lacking any strong pres- that justice is done, but in building a ence in society, Toledo's govern- new relationship between The official response ment is both weak and unpopular. It government in Lima and those living therefore finds it difficult to take bold in poverty and deprivation in the On November 21, 2003, President admitted that there had been action. So there is every danger interior of the country, particularly in Alejandro Toledo, speaking on "excesses" perpetrated by the that the recommendations of the the areas most affected by twenty behalf of the Peruvian state, formally armed forces, but did not say (as the TRC will not be fully implemented. years of civil war. asked for forgiveness for the human TRC report suggests) that human rights crimes perpetrated between rights violations had been part of a At the same time, there are very real 1980 and 2000. He also promised systematic and persistent response dangers for Peru if the opportunity is extra spending for Ayacucho and to the problem of insurgency. other parts of the Peru that had suffered the brunt of the war with It was always bound to be the case Sendero Luminoso. Toledo was that 'naming and blaming' would Public reactions to the report responding to the recommendations cause discomfiture for those Not surprisingly, the publication and the TCR could have been put; the of the Truth and Reconciliation responsible, and that they in turn official hand-over of the report supposed ideological bias of the Commission (TRC), whose massive would seek to minimise the produced considerable controversy commissioners; the treating of nine-volume report into human rights implementation of the TRC's in Peru. The tabloid press and the Sendero as a 'political party'; and violations, had been presented to recommendations. In point of fact, main commercial TV stations, many the cost of implementing the recom- the government three months the main responsibility for the of which had been used by Fujimori mendations. Not surprisingly, the before. slaughter that took place was and Montesinos to downplay TCR drew criticisms from right-wing attributed to Sendero Luminoso, concerns about human rights and politicians such as Rafael Rey and Not only was this a tardy response, many of whose leaders are already denigrate those concerned for them, José Barba Caballero. It also drew but a partial one. The promised in jail serving life prison sentences. used it as an opportunity to berate flak from retired members of the spending of 2.8 billion soles (800 Still, the findings would make for both the Commission and its armed forces. According to Gen million US dollars) between then awkward reading for members of the findings. Numerous politicians, (ret) Luis Pérez Documet, "The CVR and 2006, whilst welcome, did not armed forces and paramilitaries that especially those from the parties was made up of reds, by members allude specifically to the TRC's rec- fought Sendero. Similarly, it would criticised in the report, also took the of the legal left". According to Gen ommendations that there should be cause problems for politicians and opportunity to undermine it by (ret) Edgardo Fournier, "the work of reparations, both collective and government leaders who bore a questioning its suppositions, the TRC has played into the hands individual, to those who suffered political (if not a more direct) methods and conclusions. of Sendero Luminoso". violations of human rights. Indeed, responsibility for what went on. the TRC emphasised the importance The main criticisms levelled at the of not confusing reparations with This helps explain Toledo's caution Others applauded the Commission report referred to the methodology development spending. Toledo towards the TRC's findings. and its findings. According to a used to calculate the number of promised that the State Prosecutor's Although the armed forces no longer Datum poll released at the time of victims; the tendency of the report to Office (Ministerio Público) would wield the political power they used publication, 54% of those inter- put the armed forces and Sendero to, they remain influential behind the viewed thought the on the same standing; the better handle cases of those accused of scenes. Similarly, the politicians Commissioners had done a good uses to which the money spent on human rights violations. He with most direct responsibility, find job, a high proportion given the

40 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 41 criticisms voiced by much of the elections, thought that the treatment The task that lies ahead mass media. The TRC received afforded to Sendero had been good favourable coverage in some and that the report "deserved to be newspapers -- notably El Comercio studied and supported". Even Alan Now that the commissioners have rations made and the necessary and La República -- and cable TV García, the Aprista former president completed the work for which they reforms carried out. channels like Canal N. These had whose role was much criticised in were originally appointed, the been the only media outlets that had the report, welcomed its work and its responsibility for ensuring that The international community has a criticised the Fujimori government conclusions. A party pamphlet, their recommendations are imple- strong moral obligation to help the and its authoritarian demeanour. published in October 2003, drew mented now lies with the Peruvian Peruvian authorities implement the particular attention to the large authorities. The responsibility is TRC's recommendations, not least The TRC was endorsed by numbers of Apristas killed in the both ethical and political: ethical in because of its professed concern numerous civil society organisations conflict. the sense that the Peruvian state for ensuring that human rights are and those linked to human rights owes more than just lip-service to protected throughout the world. campaigning (although such voices For his part, Toledo was the hundreds of thousands of citi- There is much that can and should were quoted less in much of the conspicuously cautious in his zens whose lives have been affect- be done. It does not necessarily media). The Catholic Bishop's response to the report's publication, ed in one way or another by the vio- involve twisting the arm of the Conference, issued a strongly limiting himself to an invocation to lence that took place over 20 years Peruvian authorities (though maybe positive statement. Some leading "political maturity" on the part of (and almost all of whom lack eco- it should); it can involve providing politicians endorsed the TRC, albeit citizens and saying that he would nomic power or political influence); the financial and logistical help that with some qualifications. Lourdes respond when he had read the final political in the sense that unless is required to implement the TRC's Flores, for instance, a report. It took him a full three the wounds of the past are properly recommendations. It will cost presidential candidate in the 2001 months to do so. healed, the resentments created money and experience to do so; the will come back sooner or later to international community should plague this or future governments. offer to help.

While there will be pressure from The international community “Our responsibility today consists in making them human rights organisations, the (except possibly international (the critics) see that this is the way by which Peru churches and, not least, the victims human rights organisations) did can begin to heal its wounds, the only viable route of violence and intimidation for the woefully little to stem the violation to setting down foundations to ensure that the government to act on the TRC's of human rights in Peru in this tragedy experienced between 1980 and 2000 is recommendations, there will be tragic period - especially in the never repeated. This would be the best homage strong countervailing pressures 1980s and 1990s. Peru has an we could pay to all those who lost their lives or from vested interests to ensure that opportunity to make a new start who were scarred by the suffering that they were they are sidelined or ignored. The and support for genuine unjustly forced to bear.” Toledo administration has apolo- reconciliation is much needed. Now gised for what took place, but there is the time to make amends. Salomón Lerner, President of the TRC, is a huge difference between August 28, 2003. saying 'sorry' and taking steps to show that you are. The danger is that Toledo will do little or nothing to ensure that justice is done, repa-

42 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 43 criticisms voiced by much of the elections, thought that the treatment The task that lies ahead mass media. The TRC received afforded to Sendero had been good favourable coverage in some and that the report "deserved to be newspapers -- notably El Comercio studied and supported". Even Alan Now that the commissioners have rations made and the necessary and La República -- and cable TV García, the Aprista former president completed the work for which they reforms carried out. channels like Canal N. These had whose role was much criticised in were originally appointed, the been the only media outlets that had the report, welcomed its work and its responsibility for ensuring that The international community has a criticised the Fujimori government conclusions. A party pamphlet, their recommendations are imple- strong moral obligation to help the and its authoritarian demeanour. published in October 2003, drew mented now lies with the Peruvian Peruvian authorities implement the particular attention to the large authorities. The responsibility is TRC's recommendations, not least The TRC was endorsed by numbers of Apristas killed in the both ethical and political: ethical in because of its professed concern numerous civil society organisations conflict. the sense that the Peruvian state for ensuring that human rights are and those linked to human rights owes more than just lip-service to protected throughout the world. campaigning (although such voices For his part, Toledo was the hundreds of thousands of citi- There is much that can and should were quoted less in much of the conspicuously cautious in his zens whose lives have been affect- be done. It does not necessarily media). The Catholic Bishop's response to the report's publication, ed in one way or another by the vio- involve twisting the arm of the Conference, issued a strongly limiting himself to an invocation to lence that took place over 20 years Peruvian authorities (though maybe positive statement. Some leading "political maturity" on the part of (and almost all of whom lack eco- it should); it can involve providing politicians endorsed the TRC, albeit citizens and saying that he would nomic power or political influence); the financial and logistical help that with some qualifications. Lourdes respond when he had read the final political in the sense that unless is required to implement the TRC's Flores, for instance, a report. It took him a full three the wounds of the past are properly recommendations. It will cost presidential candidate in the 2001 months to do so. healed, the resentments created money and experience to do so; the will come back sooner or later to international community should plague this or future governments. offer to help.

While there will be pressure from The international community “Our responsibility today consists in making them human rights organisations, the (except possibly international (the critics) see that this is the way by which Peru churches and, not least, the victims human rights organisations) did can begin to heal its wounds, the only viable route of violence and intimidation for the woefully little to stem the violation to setting down foundations to ensure that the government to act on the TRC's of human rights in Peru in this tragedy experienced between 1980 and 2000 is recommendations, there will be tragic period - especially in the never repeated. This would be the best homage strong countervailing pressures 1980s and 1990s. Peru has an we could pay to all those who lost their lives or from vested interests to ensure that opportunity to make a new start who were scarred by the suffering that they were they are sidelined or ignored. The and support for genuine unjustly forced to bear.” Toledo administration has apolo- reconciliation is much needed. Now gised for what took place, but there is the time to make amends. Salomón Lerner, President of the TRC, is a huge difference between August 28, 2003. saying 'sorry' and taking steps to show that you are. The danger is that Toledo will do little or nothing to ensure that justice is done, repa-

42 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 43 Chronology of Violence August July Massacre at Accomarca prompts Appearance of Comando Rodrigo García's sacking of three high-level Franco, a paramilitary group military figures 1964 1982 August 1989 Split in Peruvian Communist Party March 59 people killed by army troops at February between pro-Moscow and pro- Sendero attacks jail in Ayacucho, Umaro and Bellavista Capture of Víctor Polay Campos, China factions freeing 304 inmates leader of the MRTA September 1986 April 1970 Thousands attend the burial of Edith June Sendero massacre at Chongos Alta, Guzmán splits with Bandera Roja to Lagos in Ayacucho 250 Senderistas killed by troops in Junín form PCP-Sendero Luminoso December three Lima jails December President Belaunde orders military October Alan García hands over arms to 1978 into Ayacucho. Creation of military- Assasination by Sendero of retired Comités de Autodefensa, organised Sendero's Central Committee issues political command under Gen Admiral Gerónimo Cafferata, former civil defence groups, in Ayacucho blueprint for the 'People's War' Clemente Noel y Moral head of the navy 1990 1979 1983 1987 January Guzmán goes under-cover January March Assasination by MRTA of General Killing of 8 journalists at Uchuruccay, Major reinforcements in Ayacucho. Enrique López Albújar, 1980 Ayacucho End of 'development' phase former minister of defence May April May July Presidential elections; Sendero's Sendero kills 69 peasants at Sendero overruns police headquar- Escape from prison via tunnel of first armed attack at Chuschi, Lucanamarca. Guardia Civil kill 32 ters in Uchiza in the Alto Hullaga. Víctor Polay and 46 other MRTA Ayacucho peasants at Socos, Ayacucho August prisoners December Sendero assassinates Rodrigo July Dead Dogs hung from lamp posts in 1984 Franco, an APRA leader Alberto Fujimori becomes president Central Lima with slogan "Teng January August Hsiao Ping, son of a bitch” First attack by the MRTA 1988 'Paquetazo' of economic measures August February -March 1981 Bodies of 49 persons previously Sendero's First Congress; decision 1991 March detained in Huanta discovered in to step up urban attacks January Issue of DL 046 defining terrorism Pucayucu May Sendero archives captured after raid and easing burden of proof Massacre by military at Cayara, on a house in San Borja, Lima May 1985 followed by parliamentary enquiry April Counter-insurgency police (sinchis) July June Rocket attack on National Palace deployed to Ayacucho Alan García succeeds Belaunde as Osmán Morote, Guzmán's deputy, August October president; promising development in acquitted in Court Sendero assassinates three priests State of Emergency decreed in five Ayacucho. Establishment of Peace July in Ancash of Ayacucho's seven provinces Commission El Diario prints twelve hours of November interviews with Guzmán Barrios Altos 'massacre' in Lima by

44 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 45 Chronology of Violence August July Massacre at Accomarca prompts Appearance of Comando Rodrigo García's sacking of three high-level Franco, a paramilitary group military figures 1964 1982 August 1989 Split in Peruvian Communist Party March 59 people killed by army troops at February between pro-Moscow and pro- Sendero attacks jail in Ayacucho, Umaro and Bellavista Capture of Víctor Polay Campos, China factions freeing 304 inmates leader of the MRTA September 1986 April 1970 Thousands attend the burial of Edith June Sendero massacre at Chongos Alta, Guzmán splits with Bandera Roja to Lagos in Ayacucho 250 Senderistas killed by troops in Junín form PCP-Sendero Luminoso December three Lima jails December President Belaunde orders military October Alan García hands over arms to 1978 into Ayacucho. Creation of military- Assasination by Sendero of retired Comités de Autodefensa, organised Sendero's Central Committee issues political command under Gen Admiral Gerónimo Cafferata, former civil defence groups, in Ayacucho blueprint for the 'People's War' Clemente Noel y Moral head of the navy 1990 1979 1983 1987 January Guzmán goes under-cover January March Assasination by MRTA of General Killing of 8 journalists at Uchuruccay, Major reinforcements in Ayacucho. Enrique López Albújar, 1980 Ayacucho End of 'development' phase former minister of defence May April May July Presidential elections; Sendero's Sendero kills 69 peasants at Sendero overruns police headquar- Escape from prison via tunnel of first armed attack at Chuschi, Lucanamarca. Guardia Civil kill 32 ters in Uchiza in the Alto Hullaga. Víctor Polay and 46 other MRTA Ayacucho peasants at Socos, Ayacucho August prisoners December Sendero assassinates Rodrigo July Dead Dogs hung from lamp posts in 1984 Franco, an APRA leader Alberto Fujimori becomes president Central Lima with slogan "Teng January August Hsiao Ping, son of a bitch” First attack by the MRTA 1988 'Paquetazo' of economic measures August February -March 1981 Bodies of 49 persons previously Sendero's First Congress; decision 1991 March detained in Huanta discovered in to step up urban attacks January Issue of DL 046 defining terrorism Pucayucu May Sendero archives captured after raid and easing burden of proof Massacre by military at Cayara, on a house in San Borja, Lima May 1985 followed by parliamentary enquiry April Counter-insurgency police (sinchis) July June Rocket attack on National Palace deployed to Ayacucho Alan García succeeds Belaunde as Osmán Morote, Guzmán's deputy, August October president; promising development in acquitted in Court Sendero assassinates three priests State of Emergency decreed in five Ayacucho. Establishment of Peace July in Ancash of Ayacucho's seven provinces Commission El Diario prints twelve hours of November interviews with Guzmán Barrios Altos 'massacre' in Lima by

44 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 45 members of the Colina paramilitary July Further information and useful websites group Fujimori takes office for second term

1992 1996 In Spanish: In English: February December Killing of María Elena Moyano in MRTA attacks Japanese ambas- www.cverdad.org.pe www.cverdad.org.pe Villa El Salvador, Lima sador's residence, initially taking Comision de Verdad y Reconcil- Truth and Reconciliation Commis- April some 500 hostages. This is the iación (CVR) sion (TRC) Fujimori's internal coup d’etat beginning of a four-month siege July www.aprodeh.org.pe www.ictj.org Tarata bombing in Miraflores, Lima 1997 Asociacion Pro-Derecho Humanos, International Centre for Transitional APRODEH Justice (ICTJ) by Sendero April July Military operation releases the www.caretas.com.pe www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ Nine students and one professor remaining 72 hostages from Japan- Caretas weekly peruvian magazine National Security Archive from La Cantuta University Lima, are ese ambassador's residence, killing killed by the Colina paramilitary all 14 members of the MRTA www.ceas.org.pe www.interpares.ca Group involved Comision Episcopal de Acción Interpares September Social, CEAS Capture of Abimael Guzmán. 1999 www.idea.int March www.desco.org.pe IDEA Institute for Democratic 1993 Inter-American Human Rights Desco Education and Asistance May Commission (IACHR) formally General Rodolfo Robles accuses denounces the Peruvian state over a www.dhperu.org www.psf.org.pe the SIN and Commander in Chief of number of cases of human rights Co-ordinadora Nacional de Dere- Peru Solidarity Forum the Armed Forces, Gen. Nicolas violations including "La Cantuta" chos Humanos, CNDDHH Hermoza Ríos of violating human July www.amnesty.org rights Capture of Oscar Ramírez Durand, www.idl.org.pe Amnesty International Sendero leader, in Huancayo Instituto de Defensa Legal - IDEÉLE 1994 July www.cafod.org February Withdrawal of Peru from the IACHR www.ombudsman.gob.pe Catholic Agency for Overseas Sentencing of some members of the Defensoria del Pueblo, Peruvian Development military for involvement in the "La 2000 Human Rights Ombudsman Cantuta" killings November www.ciir.org Resignation of Fujimori as President www.pazyesperanza.org Catholic Insitute for International 1995 November Paz y Esperanza (also in English) Relations June Interim President Paniagua www.pcslatin.org www.christian-aid.org Congress approves General establishes the Truth Commission Project Counselling Service, PCS Christian Aid Amnesty for all members of armed (also in English) forces sentenced for human rights www.csw.org.uk offenses Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

46 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 47 members of the Colina paramilitary July Further information and useful websites group Fujimori takes office for second term

1992 1996 In Spanish: In English: February December Killing of María Elena Moyano in MRTA attacks Japanese ambas- www.cverdad.org.pe www.cverdad.org.pe Villa El Salvador, Lima sador's residence, initially taking Comision de Verdad y Reconcil- Truth and Reconciliation Commis- April some 500 hostages. This is the iación (CVR) sion (TRC) Fujimori's internal coup d’etat beginning of a four-month siege July www.aprodeh.org.pe www.ictj.org Tarata bombing in Miraflores, Lima 1997 Asociacion Pro-Derecho Humanos, International Centre for Transitional APRODEH Justice (ICTJ) by Sendero April July Military operation releases the www.caretas.com.pe www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/ Nine students and one professor remaining 72 hostages from Japan- Caretas weekly peruvian magazine National Security Archive from La Cantuta University Lima, are ese ambassador's residence, killing killed by the Colina paramilitary all 14 members of the MRTA www.ceas.org.pe www.interpares.ca Group involved Comision Episcopal de Acción Interpares September Social, CEAS Capture of Abimael Guzmán. 1999 www.idea.int March www.desco.org.pe IDEA Institute for Democratic 1993 Inter-American Human Rights Desco Education and Asistance May Commission (IACHR) formally General Rodolfo Robles accuses denounces the Peruvian state over a www.dhperu.org www.psf.org.pe the SIN and Commander in Chief of number of cases of human rights Co-ordinadora Nacional de Dere- Peru Solidarity Forum the Armed Forces, Gen. Nicolas violations including "La Cantuta" chos Humanos, CNDDHH Hermoza Ríos of violating human July www.amnesty.org rights Capture of Oscar Ramírez Durand, www.idl.org.pe Amnesty International Sendero leader, in Huancayo Instituto de Defensa Legal - IDEÉLE 1994 July www.cafod.org February Withdrawal of Peru from the IACHR www.ombudsman.gob.pe Catholic Agency for Overseas Sentencing of some members of the Defensoria del Pueblo, Peruvian Development military for involvement in the "La 2000 Human Rights Ombudsman Cantuta" killings November www.ciir.org Resignation of Fujimori as President www.pazyesperanza.org Catholic Insitute for International 1995 November Paz y Esperanza (also in English) Relations June Interim President Paniagua www.pcslatin.org www.christian-aid.org Congress approves General establishes the Truth Commission Project Counselling Service, PCS Christian Aid Amnesty for all members of armed (also in English) forces sentenced for human rights www.csw.org.uk offenses Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW)

46 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 47 The Peru Support Group has the Join the Peru Support Group www.hrw.org following resources on the Truth Human Rights Watch and Reconciliation Commission Help the Peru Support Group raise awareness of the situation in Peru by becoming a member. This way you can actively support the people of Peru www.perusupportgroup.co.uk -10 minute video in English on TRC and be kept up to date on the latest developments. Peru Support Group -Full TRC report in Spanish on Members receive the ‘Peru Update’ six times a year as well as free copies of www.savethechildren.org.uk CD-Rom any addition publications produced by the group. Save the Children UK -PSG Update on TRC Membership is currently: www.tearfund.org Tearfund -TRC conclusions in English £15.00 Waged £ 7.00 Unwaged www.oxfam.org.uk -TRC report summary in English £20.00 Small Group Oxfam £45.00 Organisation -Videos of public hearings in Spanish Overseas please add £5.00 extra for postage.

-PSG photographic exhibition "Testimonies of Courage and Pain" including testimonies and portraits from this publication.

All of these resources are If you would like further information about any of the resources, or to available on loan from the PSG join the Peru Support Group, please contact the office. co-ordinator at:

Peru Support Group Unit 3, Canonbury Yard 190a New North Rd London N1 7BJ 020 7354 9825 / 020 7288 8655 [email protected]

Cover photo:Vera Lentz “Women shows a passport photo of a relative disappeared in Ayacucho, 1984.”

48 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 49 The Peru Support Group has the Join the Peru Support Group www.hrw.org following resources on the Truth Human Rights Watch and Reconciliation Commission Help the Peru Support Group raise awareness of the situation in Peru by becoming a member. This way you can actively support the people of Peru www.perusupportgroup.co.uk -10 minute video in English on TRC and be kept up to date on the latest developments. Peru Support Group -Full TRC report in Spanish on Members receive the ‘Peru Update’ six times a year as well as free copies of www.savethechildren.org.uk CD-Rom any addition publications produced by the group. Save the Children UK -PSG Update on TRC Membership is currently: www.tearfund.org Tearfund -TRC conclusions in English £15.00 Waged £ 7.00 Unwaged www.oxfam.org.uk -TRC report summary in English £20.00 Small Group Oxfam £45.00 Organisation -Videos of public hearings in Spanish Overseas please add £5.00 extra for postage.

-PSG photographic exhibition "Testimonies of Courage and Pain" including testimonies and portraits from this publication.

All of these resources are If you would like further information about any of the resources, or to available on loan from the PSG join the Peru Support Group, please contact the office. co-ordinator at:

Peru Support Group Unit 3, Canonbury Yard 190a New North Rd London N1 7BJ 020 7354 9825 / 020 7288 8655 [email protected]

Cover photo:Vera Lentz “Women shows a passport photo of a relative disappeared in Ayacucho, 1984.”

48 Peru Support Group Truth and Reconciliation 49 An estimated 70,000 Peruvians lost their lives between 1980 and 2000 as a result of violent conflict between the security forces and two guerrilla organisations, Sendero Luminoso and the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA). Hundreds of thousands were forced to flee their homes in search of refuge. The death toll in Peru in these years overshadows that, for instance, of Chile and Argentina in the 1970s. Most of the victims were innocent people, caught in the crossfire in this most savage struggle for power and control in the central and southern Andes. They were mainly poor Quechua-speaking peasant farmers, whose families suffered immensely and whose communi- ties were often destroyed.

For much of the last 20 years, these were people that the rest of Peru preferred to forget. Until now, the true dimensions of human suffering have not been known. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission - began work in 2001 to piece together the history of human rights violations in the Andes and to recommend policies to help mitigate the suffering - published its nine-volume report in August 2003. It makes grim reading. However, uncovering the truth of what happened is but a first step. As Salomon Lerner, the Commission's president, says in the prologue of this report: "Our work is complete, but the task of building justice and reconcilia- tion has only just begun".

In this short publication, the Peru Support Group seeks to describe the work of the Commission and to present both its main findings and its recommendations for action. By so doing, it seeks to contribute to building international solidarity for Peru. The international community, which did woefully little to stem the violation of human rights in Peru in the 1980s and 1990s, now has the opportunity to support genuine reconciliation. It can do this both by helping persuade the Peruvian authorities to act fully on the Commission's suggestions and by providing some of the money and expertise required for this to happen. Unless justice is done and is seen to be done, the old resentments of the past will - sooner or later - reassert themselves.