Presidency denies massacre of peasants in Cayara
On May 21, 1988, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers officially denied the massacre of peasants in Cayara, calling it false and attributing the testimonies to subversives. This denial contradicted the events of May 14 when the military assassinated 35 peasants.
On May 21, the Presidency of the Council of Ministers pointed out the "falsity of an alleged massacre of peasants" in Cayara. The authorities stated that they had found "no evidence of bombings, fires or fighting in the locality". The presidency affirmed that most of the testimonies presented to the ad hoc prosecutor Carlos Escobar Pineda came from the subversives themselves. This official denial came a week after members of the Peruvian Army entered the district of Cayara (province of Victor Fajardo) on May 14 and killed 35 peasants in retaliation for an ambush on a military convoy.