The ghosts of Peru's violent past return

This month, officials announced the discovery of a mass grave containing the victims of a massacre carried out by the military in the early 1980s - one of the early atrocities carried out during Peru’s violent two-decade struggle against a Maoist insurgency.

And authorities are concerned with reports of increased activity on the part of the remaining rebels who live in the high jungle and who are being funded by the illicit drug trade.

According to the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the conflict claimed almost 70,000 lives between 1980 and 2000. More than half of the deaths were attributed to the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (or Shining Path) and a handful of smaller groups that emulated them.

But the remainder of the deaths and human rights abuses were attributable to the Peruvian authorities – most notably the military charged with cracking down on the violence.

Earlier this month, forensic scientists recovered the bodies of at least 60 people - including 15 children – near the village of Putis in the Southern highlands. At least 120 people are believed to have been slaughtered on December 13, 1984 by the Peruvian military who suspected them of collaborating with the insurgents. At least four other grave sites in the village have yet to be excavated.

According to the truth commission there are more than 4,000 mass graves hidden in different parts of the country. Over the past decade 505 bodies have been retrieved from mass graves in Peru, of which 269 have been identified, according to figures from the prosecutor's office.

The news comes as officials say attacks by the remnants of the insurgent force are increasing. Although only several hundred Sendero Luminoso loyalists remain out of the estimated 10,000 who belonged to the group at its peak, they have been well funded by the illicit drug trade and well protected in the remote Andean jungles.

Officials now say the group carries out an attack each week in the regions they control – usually against local authorities. Since 2005, at least 40 police officers have died in the ambushes. Last November a group of five dozen insurgents destroyed a police station and killed its commander in the mountain town of Ocobamba.

Peru recalls it's painful past

On Aug. 14, 1985, Peruvian troops entered the highland city of Accomarca at the height of an internal conflict against communist insurgent groups. By the end of the day they has slaughtered almost 70 residents who they said were ‘suspected insurgents.’

Two women, Teofila Ochoa and Cirila Pulido, who were both 12 at the time survived by hiding from soldier. Almost all of their family members were slain.

The pair filed a lawsuit in US court recently seeking damages from Telmo Ricardo Hurtado and Juan Rivera Rondon, who led Peruvian army units during the massacre. The suit charges the men with war crimes, torture, crimes against humanity and illegal killings. The men are currently incarcerated in the US on immigration charges.

The case is the latest chapter in the long painful search for understanding and justice following the two-decade long conflict that, according to the final report of the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, claimed almost 70,000 lives.

More than half of the killings were perpetrated by the terrorist group Sendero Luminoso (or Shining Path) and a handful of smaller groups that emulated them. Last Monday marked the 15th anniversary of the incident known simply as "Tarata." On July 16, 1992 a car bomb exploded in the middle of the Miraflores section of Lima - on the street named Tarata - killing 25 people and injuring hundreds more. It was the single most bloody day in the most bloody of conflicts.

A month later the leader of Sendero Luminoso, Abimael Guzmán, was captured leading to the winding down of the violence. (Although he remains adamant in his desire to continue to wage the revolution.)

Even today it is a very sensitive issue in Peru. The current president, Alan Garcia, served his first term as the conflict gathered intensity - between 1985 and 1990. At the time he stepped down he was besieged by accusations of sanctioning human rights abuses to quell the insurgency, including the San Lurigancho Prison massacre and the formation of a paramilitary group known as Rodrigo Franco Command, which purportedly carried out a number of political murders.

Many of the atrocities were continued under the administration of the next president Alberto Fujimori but efforts to bring him to justice have been somewhat stymied as well.


Find out more about Peru, South America and my varied interests over on Klephblog.

Technorati Tags: Peru, Alan Garcia, Sendero Luminoso, Shining Path, Truth & Reconciliation Comission, Tarata, Alberto Guzman