Promulgation of DL No. 741 on Self-Defense Committees

On November 8, 1991, Decree Law No. 741, called 'Law for the Recognition of the Self-Defense Committees', was enacted. This legal framework accepted the existence of multiple and diverse organizations of the civilian population, especially in rural areas, whose main function was to fight against subversion. According to the decree, the Self-Defense Committees are organizations of the population that arose spontaneously and freely to develop self-defense activities for their community, prevent the infiltration of terrorism, defend themselves from terrorist attacks and support the Peruvian Armed Forces and National Police in pacification tasks, whose characteristic is that they are transitory. This Decree had been preceded by DL Nº 740, enacted a few days before, which stated the recognition of the peasant patrols.