Red Cross response to invitation from the Armed Forces Command
On April 27, 1994, the Red Cross representative in Peru, George Comninos, refused the invitation of the Armed Forces Command to inspect the Operation Aries zone, insisting on the principle of moving without military escort. The Red Cross never gained access to the conflict zone during the operation.
On April 27, 1994, George Comninos, representative of the Red Cross in Peru, responded to the invitation made by the Commander General of the Armed Forces, Nicolás de Bari Hermosa, to inspect the conflict zone of Operation Aries. The invitation, made on April 23, proposed that the Red Cross representatives inspect the zone accompanied by a commando patrol of the Peruvian Army. In his response, Comninos rejected the condition of being accompanied, pointing out that in Peru, as in all conflict situations in the world where it operates, the Red Cross has as a principle to move alone, under the sole protection of the Red Cross emblem. During the whole time Operation Aries lasted, the International Red Cross (ICRC) did not manage to enter the conflict zone, hoping unsuccessfully to have access to the areas where there were confrontations between the armed forces and the PCP-SL.