PERU Ayacucho Under Siege
Peckenham, Nancy
AYACUCHO, Peru-Dozens of soldiers surrounded our plane as we landed at the Ayacucho airport. After passing a military checkpoint, we en- tered the airport where no civilians, except passengers,...
...back amid the sophistication of Lima, the violence engendered by the "dirty war" in Ayacucho surfaced on the outskirts of the city...
...Efrain Morote Best is a wellknown figure in Ayacucho...
...Abimael Guzmin...
...The shantytowns are also growing rapidly, as extreme poverty in the countryside forces thousands of campesinos to migrate to the cities...
...From frustration, many families join Sendero Luminoso...
...Senderistas consider GuzmAn...
...Long live the people's armed struggle...
...Few can read the documents written in Spanish...
...Looking for more clues about Sendero Luminoso...
...Some foretell the inevitability of revolutionary change...
...Santos Tenorio's sister, Marcelina, believes her brother was killed because he was young, from Ayacucho and spoke Quechua...
...Friendly Fire" We had a taste of how the armed forces operate during our stay in Ayacucho...
...No one was hurt, although our taxi was completely destroyed by "friendly fire...
...The local police had been unable to beat back Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), the guerrilla movement which surfaced in 1980, Sendero destroyed police outposts throughout the department, and the police, in turn, committed numerous abuses against the civilian population, building support for the guerrillas...
...Sendero's best ally is the violence from the state...
...Photos show the men, Carlos Honda and Santos Tenorio, being taken into the police station...
...Some 5.000 people have been murdered in Ayacucho since 1983...
...nestled in a valley high in the Andes Mountains...
...anti-communism is stronger in Peru than antiAprism...
...Like thousands of local residents, we were powerless in the face of the political/military command...
...Sendero destroyed police outposts throughout the department, and the police, in turn, committed numerous abuses against the civilian population, building support for the guerrillas...
...Some 5,000 people have been murdered in Ayacucho since 1983...
...Judicial power is not respected and state institutions have little value," explained Pablo Rojas...
...Now the armed forces do not even attempt to get out their side of the story, and the head of the political/ military command, Colonel Wilfredo Mori, refused numerous requests for an interview...
...the group broke into chants for the benefit of the international press: "Massacres, torture, assassinations will be avenged by the armed people...
...When I visited in midMarch, I found Dr...
...El Froton...
...The site appeared to be a cave that had been dynamited to close up the opening...
...The lawyers, district attorneys and judges supporting their cause pursue their cases as far as they can-to the military's doorstep...
...Pablo Rojas, director of the National Human Rights Commission, has witnessed the effect of this fruitless pilgrimage...
...See accompanying article.] "The people feel defrauded by what has happened in the past four years because democracy has not been able to create social and economic progress...
...back amid the sophistication of Lima, the violence engendered by the "dirty war" in Ayacucho surfaced on the outskirts of the city...
...Few can read the documents written in Spanish...
...the police and soldiers burst in and searched the house, shouting: Where are the arms...
...The outgoing administration, which emphasized its loyalty to the international banking system, has been in arrears for the last year on payment of the interest on Peru's $13.6 billion debt...
...Outside her office, a group of 30 Quechua women, dressed in black, patiently waited to seek her help in their search for disappeared relatives and friends...
...Zamora at her desk, sifting through piles of legal documents...
...Senderistas consider Guzman, a former university philosophy profes- sor, fourth in line after Marx, Lenin and Mao...
...After passing a military checkpoint, we en- tered the airport where no civilians, except passengers, are allowed...
...Returning to Huanta, the judge closed the investigation into the grave without issuing findings...
...from Ayacucho and spoke Quechua...
...It was difficult to imagine a more occupied town...
...a former university philosophy professor, fourth in line after Marx, Lenin and Mao...
...In 1984 the military ceased issuing reports on its actions against Sendero...
...The police accused her of being a terrorist, and as friends and relatives stood wake over the body, the police and soldiers burst in and searched the house, shouting: "Where are the arms...
...EfraIn Morote Best is a wellknown figure in Ayacucho...
...I askMAY/JUNE 1985 7ed my companions as we were swept away under military escort...
...These people go knocking from door to door, asking for bodies if the victim is dead...
...There are some 400 political prisoners in El Frot6n, avowed members of "I Nancy Peckenhanl spent a month in Peru as associate producer on a documentary on huan, rights for European television...
...Following the women of the Ayacucho Committee of Families of the Kidnapped, Detained and Disappeared leads one through all the doors of civilian power...
...For the next few days...
...In light of the increased size and organization of these groups and the Left's efforts to overcome its own internal rifts, few doubt the political potential of the United Left...
...A column of soldiers ran off toward the shots, while others sent rounds of machine-gun fire down the hillside...
...things would calm down...
...military command...
...The Tenorio family are workers who fled Ayacucho to escape the violence...
...They were in the court rooms, at the district attorney's office, in the offices of the Ayacucho Lawyer's Association, carrying the voluminous stacks of legal documents required to investigate the disappear- ance of a family member...
...Traditionally ig- nored by the major centers of commerce and industry, Ayacucho lacks the social services found in other parts of the country and most of the department's inhabitants are peasants, cultivating potatoes in a barren, inhospitable landscape...
...in an incident that reflected the military's unaccountability in innumerable cases of violence in the area...
...After passing a military checkpoint, we entered the airport where no civilians, except passengers, are allowed...
...When martial law was declared in 1982, it encompassed seven provinces (counties) in the department of Ayacucho...
...I found Dr...
...Osman Morote, and a frequent defender of the right of Peruvians to revolt against the government...
...It could have been the marines who wanted to get us away from the mass grave...
...1 askMAY/JUNE 1985 7 have often fled to the cities.* Recently the government has expanded its use of paramilitary peasant patrols in the war against Se,zdero...
...See "Peru-'Dirty War' in Ayacucho," NACLA Report on the Americas (May-June 1983) and "PeruAmnesty Speaks Out," (January-February 1984...
...Photos show the men, Carlos Honda and Santos Tenorio, being taken into the police station...
...still fewer ever receive a reply...
...During the next few days I ran into these women, and others like them, all over town...
...But they found greater tragedy in Lima and today curse the government that allowed Santos to be murdered...
...A local journalist shrugged, and remarked that perhaps it was not the guerrillas, who are well known for attacking only by night...
...Some foretell the inevitability of revolutionary change...
...No one was hurt, although our taxi was completely destroyed by "friendly fire...
...I went down to the port of Lima where every Saturday and Sunday morning the families of political prisoners are ferried out to the island fortress prison, El Frot6n...
...It was difficult to imagine a more occupied town...
...Each chant was punctuated by rapid hand-clapping, giving an air of ritual to the performance...
...When state violence is permanent, the vio- lence which is the response of the people will be permanent...
...A Sendero flag flies over the jail yard and inmates gather daily to recite chants in praise of their leader, Abimael Guzman...
...During the next few days I ran into these women, and others like them, all over town...
...Nancy Peckenham spent a month in Peru as associate producer on a documentary on human rights for European television...
...But no one can solve their problem because, in practice, no one can exercise justice...
...Returning to Huanta, the judge closed the investigation into the grave without issuing findings...
...On March 10, two ca?npesinos came down to the Ayacucho city of Huanta to report the discovery of a mass grave on a hillside outside town...
...The People Feel Defrauded" "The parties that have collaborated [with President Belatlndel are going to receive a serious reversal," predicted conservative novelist Mario Vargas Llosa in an interview several days before Peru's April 14 general election...
...But no one can solve their problem because, in practice, no one can exercise justice...
...As they await their new president, we found Peruvians keenly aware of the overwhelming problems facing their country...
...still fewer ever receive a reply...
...Where did you hide the dynamite...
...There is an old saying," explained Morote in an interview in his office in Ayacucho, "When all the doors of reason and of justice close, the doors of violence open...
...The city of Ayacucho, nestled in a valley high in the Andes Mountains, is home to thousands of Quechuaspeaking Indians...
...Since the government believes Indian immigrants are responsible for urban bombings and blackouts, Ayacuchanos are often subjected to harassment and surveillance...
...After two hours of digging, no bodies were discovered...
...Since the government believes Indian immigrants are responsible for urban bombings and blackouts, Ayacuchanos are often subjected to harassment and surveillance...
...Now the armed forces do not even attempt to get out their side of the story, and the head of the political/ military command, Colonel Wilfredo Mon...
...Looking for more clues about Sendero Lu,ninoso...
...In the previous two years, news accounts coming out of Ayacucho were primarily based on official press releases as the military had virtually sealed the region off from the media...
...He is also the father of a Sendero leader, Osman Morote, and a frequent defender of the right of Peru- vians to revolt against the govern- ment...
...shouted Gavidia...
...The People Feel Defrauded" "The parties that have collaborated [with President Belatindel are going to receive a serious reversal," predicted conservative novelist Mario Vargas Llosa in an interview several days before Peru's April 14 general election...
...Zamora said...
...On March 21, two workers were detained by the police as they passed the scene of a common crime...
...The police ac- cused her of being a terrorist, and as friends and relatives stood wake over the body...
...Outside her oflice, a group of 30 Quechua women, dressed in black, patiently waited to seek her help in their search for disappeared relatives and friends...
...Airforce and army personnel fill all air- line jobs, from ticket collectors to porters...
...Why did Sendero attack us...
...See "Peru-'Dirty War' in Ayacucho," NACLA Report on the Americas (May-June 1983) and "PeruAmnesty Speaks Out," (January-February 1984...
...Two days later, their bullet-riddled bodies turned up at the morgue, showing signs of torture...
...In the previous two years, news accounts coming out of Ayacucho were primarily based on official press releases as the military had virtually sealed the region off from the media...
...Why did Sendero attack us...
...In pursuit of Sendero and its suspected supporters, the military-the army, marines and Sinchis, a special police counterinsurgency force-has extended its rule into every town and village...
...Vargas Llosa is closely aligned with the ruling party...
...In December 1982, the department, or state, of Ayacucho was put under the control of a "political...
...Tracing the Disappeared Leonor Zamora is the mayor of Ayacucho...
...It was not a vote of protest, Alan Garcia said the day after the polling, but a vote of hope...
...On March 21, two workers were detained by the police as they passed the scene of a common crime...
...The Tenorio family are workers who fled Ayacucho to escape the violence...
...There are some 400 political prisoners in El Froton, avowed members of Sendero Lunzinoso, who have installed a sub-society at the prison...
...Human rights officials estimate that 2,000 people have disappeared while the survivors REPORT ON THE AMERICAS 2 0 0 d e 6Leonor Zarnora is the mayor of Ayacucho...
...Residents of the pueblos jdvenes, or shantytowns, around Lima have demonstrated a more organized, militant approach...
...Friendly Fire" We had a taste of how the armed forces operate during our stay in Ayacucho, in an incident that reflected the military's unaccountability in innumerable cases of violence in the area...
...A professor from Lima, Zamora has moved her four daughters back to the safety of the capital...
...Along with mining towns and the impoverished southern Andean provinces, the shantytowns of Lima have provided the greatest political Ayacuchanas selling coca leaves in front of Sendero graffiti support for the United Left coalition...
...We thought...
...Look at the number of documents that have come to me today...
...and a diminishing group strain to verify the strength of an emerging democracy...
...he said...
...Today political/military commands rule in 25 provinces in six departments and observers predict that the model will spread...
...who have installed a sub-society at the prison...
...and a diminishing group strain to verify the strength of an emerging democracy...
...At times everything looks worse than before...
...As the marine commander from Huanta, Luis Gavidia Balarezo, harassed the local Peruvian journalists, calling them sensationalists trying to defame the military, shots rang out...
...The local police had been unable to beat back Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), the guerrilla movement which surfaced in 1980...
...As the families awaited the boat under the watchful eyes of uniformed and non-uniformed security agents, the group broke into chants for the benefit of the international press: 'Massacres, torture, assassinations will be avenged by the armed people...
...Everyone present during the attack agrees that the marines were the only ones logistically capable of staging the incident, though we have no conclusive evidence proving them responsible...
...Tracing the Disappeared Model of Control Spreading Imprisoned Senderlatas contInue theIr study of Mao Ze-dong have often fled to the cities.* Recently the government has expanded its use of paramilitary peasant patrols in the war against Sendero, frequently resettling indigenous communities to areas under military control...
...Human rights officials estimate that 2,000 people have disappeared while the survivors Ayacuchanas selling coca leaves In front of Sendero graffItI 6 REPORT ON ThE AMERICAS The streets of Lima are a testimony to Peruvians' creative survival tactics...
...At times every- thing looks worse than before...
...From frustration, many families join Sendero Luininoso...
...Everyone present during the attack agrees that the marines were the only ones logistically capable of staging the incident, though we have no con- clusive evidence proving them responsible...
...I went down to the port of Lima where every Saturday and Sunday morning the families of political prisoners are ferried out to the island fortress prison...
...Massive marches to the government palace frequently protest the lack of basic services and the catastrophic economic situation...
...Since 1982, living conditions for thousands of Ayacucho residents have sharply deteriorated...
...The security personnel stood quietly on the sidelines as a woman denounced the 'reactionary government" and praised "popular war...
...Look at the number of documents that have come to me today," Zamora said...
...A local reporter investigated and filed a story...
...When I visited in midMarch...
...SecurIty checks have become commonplace in Ayacucho 8 REPORT ON ThE AMERICAS Security checks have become commonplace In Ayacucho ed my companions as we were swept away under military escort...
...Long live the people's armed struggle...
...He is also the father of a Sendero leader...
...But they continue kidnapping, they continue disappearing people...
...It's Sendero Luminoso...
...The next day we joined a dozen local journalists, the judge and the district attorney as they formed a convoy under military protection to unearth the grave site...
...A Sendero flag flies over the jail yard and inmates gather daily to recite chants in praise of their leader...
...The site appeared to be a cave that had been dynamited to close up the opening...
...Many neighborhood organizations have formed communal kitchens, attempting to provide affordable meals...
...Zamora at her desk, sifting through piles of legal documents...
...In pursuit of Sendero and its suspected supporters, the military-the army, marines and Sinchis, a special police counterinsurgency force-has extended its rule into every town and village...
...We thought, we had faith, that when the holy Pope came here to Ayacucho last February, things would calm down...
...As the families awaited the boat under the watchful eyes of uniformed and non-uniformed security agents...
...Young and Quechua During my final days in Peru...
...Everyone on the ground...
...In the areas under political/military control, not even Peru's attorney general is respected...
...As the marine commander from Huanta, Luls Gavidia Balarezo, harassed the local Peruvian journalists, calling them sensationalists trying to defame the military, shots rang out...
...A professor from Lima, Zamora has moved her four daughters back to the safety of the capital...
...I saw the military everywhere: on roadsides, in restaurants and hotels, outside churches, in the town square...
...In the areas under political/military control, not even Peru's attorney general is respected...
...Traditionally ignored by the major centers of commerce and industry, Ayacucho lacks the social services found in other parts of the country and most of the department's inhabitants are peasants, cultivating potatoes in a barren, inhospitable landscape...
...Airforce and army personnel fill all airline jobs, from ticket collectors to porters...
...Santos Tenorio's sister, Marcelina, believes her brother was killed because he was young...
...Following the women of the Ayacucho Committee of Families of the Kidnapped, Detained and Disappeared leads one through all the doors Imprisoned Senderistas continue their study of Mao Ze-dong of civilian power...
...we had faith, that when the holy Pope came here to Ayacucho last February...
...It's Sendero Luminoso...
...A column of soldiers ran off toward the shots, while others sent rounds of machine-gun fire down the hillside...
...As the residents become organized, they are joining APRA, the Left and independent organizations...
...Two days later, (heir bullet-riddled bodies turned up at the morgue, showing signs of torture...
...A local journalist shrugged, and remarked that perhaps it was not the guerrillas, who are well known for attacking only by night...
...refused numerous requests for an interview...
...These people go knocking from door to door, asking for bodies if the victim is dead...
...She won office in 1983...
...is home to thousands of Quechuaspeaking Indians...
...others continue to challenge the government to remedy its abuses...
...command...
...Sales of burglar alarms, locks and weapons are booming...
...Vargas Llosa is closely aligned with the ruling party...
...The city of Ayacucho...
...former dean of the Ayacucho Association of Lawyers and of the University of Huamanga...
...Where did you hide the dynamite...
...On March 10, two campesinos came down to the Ayacucho city of Huanta to report the discovery of a mass grave on a hillside outside town...
...Charles Walker writes for several Peruvian newspapers and magazines...
...They were in the court rooms, at the district attorney's office, in the offices of the Ayacucho Lawyer's Association, carrying the voluminous stacks of legal documents required to investigate the disappearance of a family member...
...When state violence is permanent, the violence which is the response of the people will be permanent...
...In December 1982, the department, or state, of Ayacucho was put under the control of a "political/ military ties will now play the role of the intransigent opposition while the possibility of the Left and APRA combining forces looks dim...
...But they found greater tragedy in Lima and today curse the government that allowed Santos to be murdered...
...Judicial power is not respected and state institutions have little value," explained Pablo Rojas...
...The new APRA government faces a formidable task...
...Despite these difficulties for the next president, the first and second place finish of the opposition parties signifies an historic advance of popular political movements over Peru's old-style "creole liberalism...
...The only institution that has control is the political/military command...
...There is an old saying," explained Morote in an interview in his office in Ayacucho, "When all the doors of reason and of justice close, the doors of violence open...
...For the next few days, I saw the military everywhere: on roadsides, in restaurants and hotels, outside churches, in the town square...
...But they continue kidnapping, they continue disappearing people...
...She won office in 1983, campaigning on a platform that promised to check human rights abuses in the area...
...The only institution that has control is the political/military command...
...A local reporter investigated and filed a story...
...Strong evidence implicating the security forces in deaths or disappearances has been presented, but the military refuses to investigate, or to be held accountable for any of its actions...
...The lawyers, district attorneys and judges supporting their cause pursue their cases as far as they can-to the military's doorstep...
...REPORT ON THE AMERICAS Sendero Luminoso...
...shouted Gavidia...
...Since 1982, living conditions for thousands of Ayacucho residents have sharply deteriorated...
...others continue to challenge the gov- ernment o remedy its abuses...
...Sendero's best ally is the violence from the state...
...Model of Control Spreading When martial law was declared in 1982, it encompassed seven provinces (counties) in the department of Ayacucho...
...Strong evidence implicating the security forces in deaths or disappearances has been presented, but the military refuses to investigate, or to be held accountable for any of its actions...
...campaigning on a platform that promised to check human rights abuses in the area...
...The conservative parPeru Ayacucho Under Siege BY NANCY PECKENHAM AYACUCHO, Peru-Dozens of soldiers surrounded our plane as we landed at the Ayacucho airport...
...It could have been the marines who wanted to get us away from the mass grave," he said...
...frequently resettling indigenous communities to areas under military control...
...The security personnel stood quietly on the sidelines as a woman denounced the " 'reactionary government" and praised "popular war...
...Like thousands of local residents, we were powerless in the face of the political/military command...
...Many conservatives admitted relief at Garcia's victory over Barrantes...
...Today political/military commands rule in 25 provinces in six departments and observers predict that the model will spread...
...Each chant was punctuated by rapid hand-clapping, giving an air of ritual to the performance...
...Young and Quechua During my final days in Peru...
...former dean of the Ayacucho Association of Lawyers and of the University of Huamanga...
...ISee accompanying article.] "The people feel defrauded by what has happened in the past four years because democracy has not been able to create social and economic progress...
...After two hours of digging, no bodies were discovered...
...In 1984 the military ceased issuing reports on its actions against Sendero...
...Everyone on the ground...
...The next day we joined a dozen local journalists, the judge and the district attorney as they formed a convoy under military protection to unearth the grave site...
...Pablo Rojas, director of the National Human Rights Commission, has witnessed the effect of this fruitless pilgrimage...
...Crime has also increased substantially, with iron gates now surrounding most office buildings...
...Vendors sell an assortment of items on virtually every corner while streettheater groups, fire eaters and singers perform for spare change...
...Twenty minutes later, all firing stopped...
...APRA also benefitted from the consolidation of the Left...
...Twenty minutes later, all firing stopped...
...Meanwhile, the working population has been promised a respite from inflation and unemployment...
...As they await their new president, we found Peruvians keenly aware of the overwhelming problems facing their country...
Vol. 19 • May 1985 • No. 3
