Kidnapping and disappearance of Asháninka leader Alejandro Calderón
MRTA kidnapped and disappeared Asháninka leader Alejandro Calderón during a community celebration.
Masked and black-clad members of the MRTA assaulted the village of Kirichari during the celebration of the community's anniversary. They seized Alejandro Calderón Espinoza, pinkátzari (chief) and president of ANAP (federation of 52 Asháninka communities of the Pichis valley), and took him against his will to Puerto Bermúdez and Palcazu. He has not been heard from since and is presumed dead. The MRTA justified the kidnapping by alleging that Calderón had collaborated with the Army in 1965 against the MIR, considering it a betrayal of the revolutionary cause.