Peru Under Fire: Human Rights Since the Return to Democracy

Although Peru is once again officially a democracy, its human rights abuses have increased steadily over the past decade. The people of Peru are caught in a deadly crossfire between government forces and a brutal insurgent movement, chiefly Sendero Luminoso, as they battle for control of the country. More than half of Peru's citizens now live under a sustained state of in effect governed by the military, they lack basic protections against arbitrary arrest, incarceration, or extra-judicial execution by the armed and police forces or the paramilitary groups that are tolerated. However, although Peru now has the highest rate of disappearances of any nation worldwide, serious public debate about human rights has declined in the face of mounting economic and political turmoil.
In Peru under Fire, Americas Watch shows that the nation's elected leadership, faced with an unparalleled economic crisis, has lacked the capacity or will to combat subversion with reforms that could reduce the economic, racial, cultural, and regional divisions feeding the insurgency. In addition, the government has not been able to curb the corruption and violence caused by the drug traffic that results from Peru's production of coca leaf, the basis for cocaine. Americas Watch discusses in detail the United States's proposal to send military advisers and aid to help the Peruvian military combat Sendero and curtail the narcotics trafficking. The book argues that a military response to these problems cannot substitute for a coherent regional political, military, and economic program, coordinated and supervised by the Peruvian government.