Overview

Since 1980 there has been a growing guerilla war in Peru. The Maoist Shining Path have been fighting special units of the Peruvian Armed Forces, who have been granted political as well as military control over many areas. The war has left over 5000 people dead or "disappeared." In January 1983, the violence in Peru was driven home to the world with the discovery of the bodies of eight journalists in the remote Andean village of Uchurracay. A government commission said the journalists were murdered by peasants who mistook them for guerrillas. Others charged military complicity.