History of the Conflict in Peru
Between the years of 1980 and 2000, the people of Peru lived through an internal war. Those that suffered most were of the rural and poor sectors of society: farmers and quichua-speakers of the indigenous community. Responsible for beginning the wave of violence was the Communist Party of Peru, Sendero Luminoso, which used terror tactics in its attempts to establish a “New Democracy.” The state contributed significantly to the violence by excessive utilization of the Armed Forces, National Police, and Defense Committee. These forces violated the human rights of thousands of families, who suffered forced disappearances, sexual violations, and executions.
According to the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation of Peru, the number of deaths of during this period amounted to approximately 68,000 dead. Following the violence, Peru witnessed thousands become orphans and widows, and thousands more displaced from their rural lands of origin to cities, disrupting the entire social structure once based on a patriarchal system with earnings gained from subsistence farming.
Ayacucho, located in the Huamanga province in the Andes mountain region, was the site of the initiation of the violence, and also the most punished by the onslaught. The founder of the Sendero Lumioso uprising, Abimael Guzman, worked as a philosophy professor at the San Cristobal of Huamanga University in Ayacucho, where he established the clandestine organization. According to the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation of Peru, 40% of victims originated from Ayacucho.
