The (Spanish for "hill group") was a military

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

right wing Right-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position on the basis of natural law, economics, authori ...

death squad A death squad is an armed group whose primary activity is carrying out extrajudicial killings or forced disappearances as part of political repression, genocide, ethnic cleansing, or revolutionary terror. Except in rare cases in which they are ...

created in

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

that was active from 1990 until 1994, during the administration of president

Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenya Fujimori Inomoto ( or ; born 28 July 1938) is a Peruvian politician, professor and former engineer who was President of Peru from 28 July 1990 until 22 November 2000. Frequently described as a dictator, * * * * * * he remains a ...

. The group is known for committing several

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

abuses, including an eight-month period of 1991–1992 that saw a total of 34 people killed in the

Barrios Altos massacre The Barrios Altos massacre took place on 3 November 1991, in the Barrios Altos neighborhood of Lima, Peru. Fifteen people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed, and four more injured, by assailants who were later determined to be member ...

, the

Santa massacre The Santa Massacre was a massacre of nine campesinos carried out by Grupo Colina in the Santa Province of the Ancash Region of Peru. The massacre occurred on May 2, 1992. Carlos Alberto Barrientos Velásquez, Roberto Barrientos Velásquez, D ...

, the , and the

La Cantuta massacre The La Cantuta massacre, in which supposed members of Shining Path—a university professor and nine students from Lima's La Cantuta University—were abducted, tortured, and killed by Grupo Colina, a military death squad, took place in Peru o ...

Background

In 1980, Peruvian

Maoist Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...

Abimael Guzman launched a

guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...

with his group

Shining Path The Shining Path ( es, Sendero Luminoso), officially the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a communist Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla group in Peru following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. Academics often refer to the gro ...

. This war, as well as a war launched by the

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

group known as the

Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement The Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement ( es, Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru, abbreviated MRTA) was a Peruvian Marxism-Leninism, Marxist-Leninist Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla group which started in the early 1980s. Their self-declared g ...

continued into the 1990s, when Alberto Fujimori was elected president. It was then that suspected guerrillas and civilians began dying at the hands of Grupo Colina. The Grupo Colina, under the mandate of Fujimori, victimized trade unions and activists that spoke out against the Peruvian government, by intimidation or sometimes murder.

Investigations

When the

Democratic Constitutional Congress The Democratic Constituent Congress (Spanish: ''Congreso Constituyente Democrático'') was a Constituent Assembly created in Peru after the dissolution of Congress by President Alberto Fujimori in 1992. Its main purpose was to amend the Constitu ...

investigated the La Cantuta massacre, Nicolás Hermoza Ríos, Commander General of the Armed Forces, put

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

s on the streets and declared that he would not tolerate the Congress insulting the armed forces. The Congress largely backed down. Later, some members of Grupo Colina were put on trial. Fujimori signed a controversial law that granted amnesty to anyone accused of, tried for, convicted of, or sentenced for human rights violations that were committed by the armed forces or police. When a court found this law unconstitutional, Fujimori signed a new law removing the right of

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incompat ...

over amnesty laws. This second law was known as the "Barrios Altos Law" because it ensured that those members of Grupo Colina who committed the

would be freed. Eventually, the

Inter-American Court of Human Rights The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR or IACtHR) is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a huma ...

struck down both amnesty laws. Since the collapse of the Fujimori government, several people have been tried for Grupo Colina's crimes, including Fujimori himself, who was tried and convicted for the La Cantuta massacre and the Barrios Altos massacre. Testimony in defense of Fujimori has been offered by group leaders,

Jesús Sosa Saavedra Jesus ( AD 30 or 33) was a Jewish preacher and religious leader who most Christians believe to be the incarnation of God and Muslims believe was a prophet. Jesus may also refer to: People Religious figures * Elymas Bar-Jesus, a Jew in the ''Act ...

and

Santiago Martin Rivas Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

, who claim that Fujimori was an unwitting participant in Grupo Colina's actions. Other trials have established that Grupo Colina was not an informal group of renegade officers but an organic part of the Peruvian state.Sentencia Caso La Cantuta (Julio Ronald Salazar Monroe y otros)

Julio Salazar General Julio Ronald Salazar Monroe was the ''de jure'' chief of Peru's National Intelligence Service (SIN) during the early 1990s. During Salazar's tenure at the SIN, Vladimiro Montesinos acted as the ''de facto'' chief of the SIN and the Na ...

, former ''de jure'' chief of the National Intelligence Service (SIN), was sentenced to thirty-five years of

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correc ...

for his role in the La Cantuta massacre. During Salazar's tenure at the SIN,

Vladimiro Montesinos Vladimiro Lenin Ilich Montesinos Torres (born 20 May 1945) is a former long-standing head of Peru's intelligence service, National Intelligence Service (SIN), under President Alberto Fujimori. In the year 2000, the infamous "Vladi-videos" came ...

was the ''de facto'' SIN chief and national security advisor. Montesinos is currently imprisoned in the

Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists o ...

Military Prison outside of

Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón River, Chillón, Rímac River, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of t ...

and faces over seventy trials for various human rights abuses, as well as charges of

arms trafficking Arms trafficking or gunrunning is the illicit trade of contraband small arms and ammunition, which constitutes part of a broad range of illegal activities often associated with transnational criminal organizations. The illegal trade of small a ...

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

, and

political corruption Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain. Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...

. The operational chief of Grupo Colina, Santiago Martín Rivas, is also imprisoned.

Members

* Fernando Rodríguez Zabalbeascoa (Chief) (25 year sentence) * Santiago Martín Rivas (Operational Chief) (35 year sentence) * Carlos Pichinlingüe Guevara (Deputy Chief) (25 year sentence) * Jesús Mateo Sosa Saavedra (agent) (55 year sentence) * Rogelio Carbajal García (agent) (25 year sentence) * Arturo Pino Díaz (agent) (35 year sentence) * Wilmer Yarlequé Ordinola (agent) (25 year sentence) * Orlando Vera Naverrete (agent) (25 year sentence) * Fernando Lecca Esquén (agent) (25 year sentence) * Héctor Alvarado (agent) (25 year sentence) * Hiver Arteaga (agent) (25 year sentence) * José Concepción (agent) (25 year sentence) * José Alarcón Gonzales (agent) (25 year sentence) * Rolando Meneses Montes de Oca (agent) (15 year sentence) * Jorge Ortiz Mantas (agent) (15 year sentence) * Ángel Sauñi Pomaya (agent) (15 year sentence) * Hércules Gómez Casanova (agent) (15 year sentence) * José Tena Jacinto (agent) (15 year sentence) * Pablo Atúncar Cama (agent) (15 year sentence) * Marco Flores Albán (agent) (15 year sentence) * Isaac Paquiyauri Huaytalla (agent) (15 year sentence) * Julio Chuqui Aguirre (agent) (15 year sentence)

Notes

{{Reflist

External links

Amnesty International report on Peru
*

APRODEH Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH; en, Association for Human Rights in Peru) is a Peruvian human rights organization. It was established in 1983 by a group of professionals who had been providing information to Peruvian congressmen involve ...

The La Cantuta Case
*APRODEH

*APRODEH

*APRODEH

*APRODEH

*APDODEH

*

Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state act ...

br>El Destacamento Colina
Human rights abuses Internal conflict in Peru Political repression in Peru Anti-communist terrorism

Background

Investigations

Members

See also

Notes

External links