Takeover of the town of Villa Virgen

On May 3, 1984, the town of Villa Virgen in Vilcabamba was taken over by the PCP-Sendero Luminoso. This event was part of a series of subversive actions in the Apurimac River Valley during 1984. Days later, on May 17, the town of Pomabamba in the same province of Vilcabamba was also assaulted. These attacks occurred in the context of the expansion of Shining Path's armed actions in the region of La Convención, before the consolidation of the Counter-Subversive Civil Defenses (DECAS) that would later gain control of the valley.