Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru) - History

History

The Commission focused on the massacres, "forced disappearances", human rights violations, terrorist attacks, and violence against women, during the internal conflict in Peru, abuses that were committed by both the rebel groups Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) and Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), as well as the military of Peru. Its work encompassed holding public meetings, collecting testimonies, and making forensic investigations. It also made recommendations for reparations and institutional reforms. Its estimate of the total number of deaths caused by the rebels and government during the period was 69,280.

In the ceremony marking the end of the Commission's work, its chairman, Salomón Lerner, then president of the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú said:

"The report we hand in contains a double outrage: that of massive murder, disappearance and torture; and that of indolence, incompetence and indifference of those who could have stopped this humanitarian catastrophe but didn't."

In its final report, the CVR identified the Shining Path as the major perpetrator of human rights violations (including torture, kidnapping, assassinations), with the Armed Forces in second place. They also noted violations by MRTA.

The CVR criticized the failures of the Catholic Church to take a stand against the abuses, especially of then Archbishop of Ayacucho Juan Luis Cipriani. A member of the Opus Dei, a conservative Catholic group, he was notable in Peru for having said, "La Coordinadora de Derechos Humanos es una cojudez" (The Human Rights Coordinator is bollocks). While Cipriani was Archbishop, he was criticized for refusing to get involved in any cases of human rights violations. His supporters in Lima and Ayacucho deny these accusations.

Some politicians, military commanders, and members of the Congress believed to have ties to Opus Dei opposed the conclusions and work of the Commission. They accused the commission of an alleged leftist bias, including suggesting that Commissioners were "pro-Senderistas". They criticized the methods used to account for the deaths committed during the violence. Supporters of the Commission's work accused critics of supposedly defending impunity for those accused and of wanting to bury the past.

The CVR set up a photographic archive. This was the basis of materials for the exhibit Yuyanapaq (Quechua, meaning "To remember"), which displayed photographs documenting the twenty years of violence. The exposition included images of terrorist attacks, terrorist propaganda, torture victims, remains and similar documentation of the victims. This exhibition is housed in the Museum of the Nation in Lima, where it is open to the public.