Lucanamarca massacre

The Lucanamarca massacre was a massacre of 69 peasants in and around the town of Lucanamarca, Peru that took place on April 3, 1983. The massacre was perpetrated by the Shining Path, the Maoist guerrilla organization that launched the internal conflict in Peru.

Background

On May 17, 1980 the Shining Path went to war against the Peruvian state. The Shining Path was based in the Ayacucho Region. In March 1983, ronderos killed Olegario Curitomay, a Shining Path commander in Lucanamarca, a small town in the Huanca Sancos Province of Ayacucho. The ronderos took Curitomay to the town square, stoned him, stabbed him, set him on fire, and finally shot him.Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. August 28, 2003. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.6.%20LUCANAMARCA.pdf "La Masacre de Lucanamarca (1983)"] . Accessed February 10, 2008. es]

The massacre

In April 1983 Shining Path militants responded to the death of Olegario Curitomay by entering the province of Huancasancos and the towns of Yanaccollpa, Ataccara, Llacchua, Muylacruz, and Lucanamarca, and killing 69 people. Of those killed by the Shining Path eighteen of were children, including one who was only six months old. Also killed were eleven women, some of whom were pregnant. Eight of the victims were between fifty and seventy years old. Most victims died by machete and axe hacks, and some were shot at close range in the head. Shining Path members also scalded villagers with boiling water. This was the first massacre by Shining Path of the peasant community. Abimael Guzmán, the founder and leader of the Shining Path, admitted that the Shining Path carried out the massacre and explained the rationale behind it in an interview with El Diario, a pro-Shining Path newspaper based in Lima. In the interview, he said:

Aftermath

Ultimately, the Shining Path's war against the Peruvian state faltered, and Abimael Guzmán and several other high-ranking Shining Path members were captured in Lima in 1992. On September 10, 2002, Abimael Guzmán told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission "We, doctors, reiterate that we will not avoid our responsibility [for the Lucanamarca massacre] . I have mine, I'm the first one responsible, and I will never renounce my responsibility, that wouldn't make any sense."

On October 13, 2006, Guzmán and Elena Iparraguirre were sentenced to life imprisonment on a number of charges that included ordering the Lucanamarca massacre. ["La República". October 14, 2006. "Guzmán y Iparraguirre Abimael pasarán el resto de sus vidas en prisión." p 2.] Guzmán was additionally ordered to pay S./250,000 to the victims. ["La República". October 13, 2006. [http://www.larepublica.com.pe/component/option,com_contentant/task,view/id,127343/Itemid,0/ Abimael Guzmán y Elena Iparraguirre pasarán el resto de sus vidas en prisión] . Accessed February 11, 2008.] In January 2008, the Supreme Court of Peru confirmed that Guzmán had ordered the killings and upheld his life sentence. ["La República". January 3, 2008. [http://www.larepublica.com.pe/component/option,com_contentant/task,view/id,197170/Itemid,0/ Ratifican cadena perpetua a Abimael Guzmán] . Accessed February 11, 2008.]

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