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On
August 28, 2003, the Truth
and Reconciliation Commission set up by the Peruvian
Congress to investigate the violence in Peru during the
years 1980-2000, handed its report over to the President
of the country, Alejandro Toledo. In
the two years of its existence the Commission gathered
17,000 testimonies in 530 districts of the country, had
various public hearing around the country, organized
exhumations of 4,600 common graves where there had been
massacres and listed the names of victims who were known
to have been killed or disappeared. In
their findings they came up with a total of 69,280
people killed. Of
these, 79% lived in rural areas and 75% were Quechua
speakers. More than 40% of the dead came from one province, Ayacucho. The
head of the Commission, Salomon Lerner said on
presenting the report:
“We still live in a country in which exclusion
is so absolute that it is possible for tens of thousands
of people to disappear and nobody in the integrated
society (the society of those not excluded) notices.” |
The
Report strongly condemns the terrorists groups,
primarily the Maoist terrorist group, Sendero Luminoso
(Shining Path). The Report believes it was responsible
for the death of 50% of those who died violently. Also
held responsible were the Armed Forces and the police
who were responsible for massacre, torture, rape and
forced disappearances. The hope now is that the Peruvian government will not leave to one side this deeply disturbing report but will take the steps necessary to begin the healing process and seek to eradicate the deeper causes of this tragedy – racism, class prejudice and authoritarianism. Vigil for Truth and Reconciliation Contact us: columbansrs@eircom.net
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Peru
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report.