Violence against the Asháninka people in the Central Jungle
Tragedy of the Asháninka people: 6,000 dead, 10,000 displaced, 5,000 held captive
Between the second half of the 1980s and the early 1990s, the Asháninka people suffered a tragedy of enormous proportions. Some 6,000 Asháninka died, 10,000 were displaced and some 5,000 were taken captive by the Shining Path. Approximately 30 to 40 communities were disappeared and at least 60 mass graves were made. This represented about 10% of the total Ashaninka population. The imposition of the Shining Path 'new order' reached its height of cruelty, establishing a totalitarian regime that enslaved the Ashaninka and suppressed their cultural and ethnic difference.