Experiences on state terrorism in Peru (1980-2000)

The present work stems from a problematic topic, so far insufficiently addressed by academic research: the possibility of accepting that certain practices, generally attributed to state terrorism, took place in Peru. Such an assertion is based on the murder of more than 25,000 people by state agents from the Police, the Army and the Navy in three consecutive presidential terms: Fernando Bela Unde's (1980-1985), Alan Garcia's (1985-1990) and Alberto Fujimori's (1990-2000). Hence, such a serious matter ought not be considered merely as an isolated or odd phenomenon. Much to the contrary, it represents an allegedly systematized and institutionalized reality, though it should not necessarily compromise the whole of Peru's Military Forces. Firstly, the theoretical framework -framed within a wider range of critical studies on terrorism in order to encompass the complexity and topicality of the academic debate on this dry and multi-faceted object of study- will be presented. After that, the implications of state terrorism will then be explained from a double perspective. On the one hand, the Final Report wrote by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) in 2003 will be thoroughly reviewed. This report makes it possible to account for the numerous cases of deaths and disappearances for which the Peruvian State was exclusively responsible and may be, therefore, charged with State terrorism. On the other hand, a number of narratives derived from different in-depth interviews conducted in May 2018 will also be analyzed. Most of the interviews were conducted with victims of violence in Lima and Huancavelica (Peru), but also with former and prominent members of Shining Path (PCP-SL) and the Military Forces, which provides a comprehensive account of the significance of political violence in Peru.