Massacre in Cayara: fifty peasants killed
On May 14, 1988, members of the Peruvian Army killed 35 peasants in Cayara, Victor Fajardo, in retaliation for an ambush on a military convoy. The government initially denied the massacre, but a mass grave was later discovered in August.
On May 14, 1988, members of the Peruvian Army, in retaliation for an ambush on a convoy, entered the district of Cayara in the province of Victor Fajardo. They gathered the entire population and killed 35 peasants without explanation. On May 21, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers denied the massacre, pointing out the "falsity of an alleged massacre of peasants" and declaring not to have found "samples of bombings, fires or combats in the locality". The government affirmed that most of the testimonies presented to the ad hoc prosecutor Carlos Escobar Pineda came from the subversives themselves. On August 13, a mass grave containing several corpses was discovered in Cayara.