Seizure of Villa Virgen and Pomabamba

In May 1984, the towns of Villa Virgen and Pomabamba were taken over by the PCP-Sendero Luminoso. This event is part of the expansion of violence in the department of Apurimac during 1984, when the internal armed conflict began its upward trend in the southern Andes. The seizures of these towns occurred in the context of the arrival of the conflict in the high provinces of Apurimac, where the counter-subversive forces were beginning to organize the first Self-Defense Committees to enter the most remote communities and hamlets of the province.