The Peruvian prison massacres occurred on June 18–19, 1986, after a series of
riots
A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people.
Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targeted ...
in the
San Pedro,
Santa Mónica, and
El Frontón
El Frontón is a deserted island and former penal colony off the coast of Callao, Peru.
Geography
Dry, deserted and without vegetation, it is located 7 km from the coast, to the west of La Punta District and to the southeast of San Lorenzo Islan ...
prisons in
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
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 ...
. The military repression of these riots resulted in the loss of at least 224 lives.
Antecedents
During the
internal conflict in Peru
The internal conflict in Peru is an ongoing armed conflict between the Government of Peru and the Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, Maoist guerilla group Shining Path. The conflict began on 17 May 1980, and from 1982 to 1997 the Túpac Amaru Revolu ...
, the bloody campaign by the 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 ...
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 ...
was responsible for the deaths of thousands of inhabitants of the rural regions of Peru. The
Military of Peru
The Peruvian Armed Forces ( es, Fuerzas Armadas del Perú) are the military services of Peru, comprising independent Army, Navy and Air Force components. Their primary mission is to safeguard the country's independence, sovereignty and territoria ...
, which had been dispatched to put down the
insurgency
An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion against authority waged by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare from primarily rural base areas. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregu ...
, was also responsible for the deaths of thousands of Peruvians, as it treated ''
campesinos'' as potential
terrorists
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
or terrorist sympathizers.
At the beginning of his 1985–1990 term, President
Alan García
Alan Gabriel Ludwig García Pérez (; 23 May 1949 – 17 April 2019) was a Peruvian politician who served as President of Peru
The president of Peru ( es, link=no, presidente del Perú), officially called the president of the Republic of ...
demonstrated an interest in changing the counter-subversive strategy of his predecessor,
Fernando Belaúnde Terry
Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...
, with the purpose of reducing
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 ...
violations against the civilian population, by calling on the civil society to propose solutions to the problem of political violence in Peru. Nevertheless, his government authorized a swift and violent takeover of the prisons to regain control, placing Peru's human rights violations back into the national and international spotlight.
Riots
On June 18, 1986, at approximately 6:00 AM, prisoners rioted within multiple prison facilities in Lima and Callao. The riots took place while a congress of the
Socialist International
The Socialist International (SI) is a political international or worldwide organisation of political parties which seek to establish democratic socialism. It consists mostly of socialist and labour-oriented political parties and organisations. ...
, of which Alan García's
APRA APRA or Apra may refer to:
Places
*Apra, Punjab, a census town city in Jalandhar District of Punjab, India
* Apra Harbor, the main port of Guam
Acronyms
* American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana), a Peruvi ...
political party was a member, was being conducted in Lima. The prisoners in San Juan de Lurigancho, El Frontón, and the women's prison in Santa Mónica, who had tacit control of the prison interiors, rose up and took prison guards and three journalists as
hostage
A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or ref ...
s. They demanded the immediate release of 500 people imprisoned for terrorism. García and his government were caught off-guard by the uprising. At 10:00 AM an emergency cabinet session began with the participation of García and military commanders. Three hours later, the Minister of the Interior,
Abel Salinas
Abel Salinas Izaguirre (May 12, 1930 – August 1, 2012) was a Peruvian politician. In 1985 under Alan García's government he served as Interior Minister, and in 1987 as Energy Minister and in 1988 Minister of Economy and Finance. In 1990, he was ...
, announced that if the prisoners did not surrender, the prisons would be retaken by force. That day, the Shining Path launched a wave of attacks in Lima that left several dead.
Negotiations
The government of Peru sent a negotiating commission formed by Caesar Samamé, Augusto Rodriguez Rabanal and Fernando Cabieses, arriving at El Frontón Prison at 4:30 PM. However, negotiations did not bring about results.
Assault
6:00 PM, as the negotiations failed, the order to assault the prisons was given. The first attack began in the women's prison at Santa Mónica, where the
Republican Guard
A republican guard, sometimes called a national guard, is a state organization of a country (often a republic, hence the name ''Republican'') which typically serves to protect the head of state and the government, and thus is often synonymous wit ...
, which at the time was responsible for protecting Peru's borders and prisons, regained control relatively quickly. They demolished a wall and sent tear and paralyzing gases into the prison. In two hours the hostages were released, and two people had died.
At midnight, June 19, the assault on the prison on the island of El Frontón commenced. The assault was carried out under the command of the
Peruvian Navy
The Peruvian Navy ( es, link=no, Marina de Guerra del Perú, abbreviated MGP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with surveillance, patrol and defense on lakes, rivers and the Pacific Ocean up to from the Peruvian littoral. Addit ...
. The director of the prison, a judge, and the public prosecutor had protested against the Navy's intervention, and declared that they were no longer responsible for what occurred inside the prison as a result of the assault. Meanwhile, from the island of El Frontón the vice-minister of the Interior,
Agustín Mantilla
Máximo Agustín Mantilla Campos (December 10, 1944 – November 20, 2015) was a Peruvian economist, sociologist and politician. Considered by analysts as one of the most powerful political figures in Alan García's first administration, he ser ...
, announced that the island was under the control of the
Joint Command of the Armed Forces as it had been declared a restricted military zone. 3 members of the Peruvian navy died during the assault.
Later, the Navy, with
Naval Infantry
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
support, attacked the "Blue Ward" of El Frontón, which was where Shining Path guerrilla members were imprisoned. During the assault three members of the Peruvian Armed Forces, one of the hostages, and 135 prisoners were killed. Simultaneously, Republican Guard SWAT team arrived at Lurigancho prison, and placed explosives around the outer wall of the Industrial Pavilion Part prison where the Shining Path guerrillas held hostages. A joint offensive by troops of the Republican Guard and the
Peruvian Army
The Peruvian Army ( es, Ejército del Perú, abbreviated EP) is the branch of the Peruvian Armed Forces tasked with safeguarding the independence, sovereignty and integrity of national territory on land through military force. Additional missions ...
followed. At 3:00 am, after heavy fighting with guns and grenades, the guerrillas surrendered. Hours later, numerous prisoners that occupied the building lay dead: most had been
executed
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
, one by one, by a shot to the nape of the neck.
According to a cable from the
United States Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other n ...
, "at least 100 prisoners were summarily executed." The Peruvian government itself concluded that all 124 rebellious prisoners in Lurigancho prison died in the assault, and that no fewer than 90 were victims of extrajudicial executions.
[
The national and international scandal that resulted from this multiple crime was enormous. During President García's delayed visit to the scene of the events, he declared that there were two possibilities: "either they he authors of the massacrego or I go." Nevertheless, nothing was ever done to punish the guilty. Luis Giampietri, the naval officer in command of the operation, later became Alan García's vice president.
]
Congressional inquiry
The ensuing international outrage exerted enormous pressure on the Peruvian Government to establish an independent commission of inquiry. The Peruvian Congress quickly moved on to approve a special-mandated body in August 1986, but political negotiations regarding its composition dragged the appointment of its member for a whole year. Finally, in August 1987 the ad-hoc commission of inquiry’ configuration was agreed comprising 6 senators and 7 representatives. The 13 members-body was comprised by twelve men and one woman and its political outline assigned 6 seats for opposition parties and 7 for the Government party (APRA) and allies. However, the chair was yielded to one opposition figure, Senato
Rolando Ames Cobián
The commission was granted 4 months to complete its probe and ultimately became deadlocked between two irreconcilable blocks: one supported by the opposition congressmen's that criticised the state's response and one loyal to the regime, which wanted to avoid attributing responsibility for the abuses.
See also
*National Penitentiary Institute (Peru)
The National Penitentiary Institute of Peru ( es, Instituto Nacional Penitenciario, INPE, links=no) is the government agency charged with incarcerating convicts and suspects charged with crimes. It is part of the Peruvian government's Ministry o ...
References
External links
Propaganda graphics on prison massacres in Peru
Las ejecuciones extrajudiciales en el penal de El Frontón y Lurigancho (1986)
- 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 ...
Peru in "The Eye of the Storm"
- The National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy. The Nat ...
. Declassified U.S. Documentation on Human Rights Abuses and Political Violence. National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 64. Edited by Tamara Feinstein, Director, Peru Documentation Project. January 22, 2002.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peruvian Prison Massacres
1986 in Peru
Massacres in 1986
20th-century executions by Peru
Conflicts in 1986
Internal conflict in Peru
Massacres in Peru
Political repression in Peru
Anti-communist terrorism
Prison uprisings
People executed by Peru by firearm
Prison massacres
June 1986 events in South America
1986 murders in Peru