Peru: 28th anniversary of Putis massacre

 13 December marks the anniversary of one of the most notorious massacres in the Peruvian conflict, that of Putis.


The blog Genocidio Ayacucho has republished a comment piece by Nolberto Lamilla (who is, I believe, the former regional coordinator of the NGO Paz y Esperanza). It includes this reminder of the events of 1984 (my translation):

On the third day spent by the campesinos in Putis, the military and heads of the military base turned up at five in the morning, woke all the people and met them in the school yard to propose building a fish farm to alleviate the lack of food. They separated the women and children and ordered the men to start digging the pit.
At ten o'clock, when they had managed to dig a metre deep, the military surrounded the men and proceeded to shoot them point-blank. In the meantime, another group of soldiers raped the women and then murdered them. Finally, having killed both children and adults, they piled the bodies in the pit and covered them with earth and stones. The next day, the soldiers burned and buried the clothing and belongings, to leave no evidence of the slaughter.

Newspaper La Primera has published a number of photos of the area and the survivors, including the image of the cemetery at the top of this post. 

Meanwhile, La Republica reports that families of the victims were once again in Lima to call on the government for further aid. Aurelio Condoray Curo said that the reparation of 10,000 soles was risible and also noted that the area did not have adequate educational and medical facilities.


Reclaman al gobierno que inclusión social no llega a la población de Putis (La Republica)