Peru: Incinerating the Disappeared in Los Cabitos

I'm cautious about drawing comparisons which are not particularly helpful or enlightening; and don't worry, I'm not about to start. Nevertheless, if you feel a shiver of Auschwitz when you read this headline, perhaps there's a reason for that.

PERU: Furnaces Used to Remove Evidence of Dirty War Killings (IPS)

I first wrote about Los Cabitos here.

Over the past week, the authorities have disinterred another 11 bodies, bringing the total so far to 97, including a number of children. But the forensic experts still have a large area to excavate in the ongoing task.

Several members of the army told the CVR that commanders ordered the construction of furnaces at Los Cabitos, to cremate the bodies of detainees who were murdered, which would explain the large number of charred human remains that have been found.

In April 2008, forensic experts from the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML) found four ovens containing charred bones, which confirmed the witnesses’ testimony.

The Ayacucho provincial political military command functioned in Los Cabitos from 1983 to 1985, under Generals Clemente Noel, Wilfredo Mori and Adrián Huamán. Mori and Huamán are currently facing trial for other cases of human rights violations, and Noel is dead.
[...]
In 2004, after the CVR had completed its work, journalist Ricardo Uceda published the book "Muerte en el Pentagonito" (Death in the Little Pentagon: The Secret Killing Fields of the Peruvian Army), which included the testimony of former Army Intelligence Service (SIE) agent Jesús Sosa about an order that he was allegedly given to disinter bodies and burn them in an oven, because of the possibility of investigations on the site by legal authorities.

Read the full article here.