Detention of Simeón Aucatoma Quispe

Simeón Aucatoma Quispe, varayoc of the Uchuraccay community, was arrested on July 20, 1983 as one of only three community members captured in the judicial process for the Uchuraccay massacre of January 26, 1983. He was accused along with sixteen other community members for the murder of eight journalists. During the oral trial, Aucatoma Quispe was extremely affected and submissive, bursting into tears several times begging the judges to believe in his innocence, pointing out that he did not know the reasons for his arrest because he was "ignorant" and did not know how to read, write or understand Spanish. He was initially sentenced to 6 years in prison for simple homicide in March 1987, a sentence that was increased to 15 years by the Supreme Court in June 1988, although by then he had already died. He died of tuberculosis in the Lurigancho prison on December 29, 1987, after more than four years in prison.