Asháninka uprising in Puerto Bermúdez
Between 2000 and 2500 Asháninka natives rose up in Puerto Bermúdez in January 1990, forming the "Asháninka Army" in response to the assassination of their leader Alejandro Calderón. The uprising resulted in violence against settlers and massive displacement.
In the first days of January 1990, between 2,000 and 2,500 native Ashaninka settled in Puerto Bermudez, armed mainly with bows, arrows and some hunting shotguns. On January 29, 1990, a large contingent of Asháninkas entered Ciudad Constitución. This uprising, known as the "Asháninka Army", was a response to the assassination of leader Alejandro Calderón in December 1989 by the MRTA. The uprising resulted in the kidnapping, torture, rape, detention-disappearance and murder of many settlers, causing many families to flee the area. The natives tried to settle old scores from the past, although the advance of the Asháninka Army was halted in part by the protest and mobilization of the coffee growers' guilds of the Pichanaki district.