AERIAL VIEW OF LOS CABITOS AND LA HOYADA

Army Barracks No. 51, better known as Los Cabitos, is situated at the edge of a narrow plateau, once difficult to access, that overlooks Huamanga. Alongside it runs the only runway of that city's airport. At Los Cabitos, terrible crimes were committed during the years it served as headquarters for the Political-Military Command tasked with ending the terrorism caused by Sendero Luminoso in Ayacucho, taking advantage of the State of Emergency declared by President Belaúnde. The generals responsible for that command were: Clemente Noel in 1983, Adrián Huamán in 1984, and Wilfredo Mori in 1985. In 2003, the CVR report stated that "members of the Army garrisoned at Barracks No. 51, known as Los Cabitos, and intelligence unit personnel known as 'La Casa Rosada' (both based in Huamanga) ordered, permitted, or committed human rights violations against the local population between 1983 and 1984. They carried out arbitrary detentions, tortured, selectively released, disappeared, and extrajudicially executed at least 136 citizens." Since 2003, investigations point to a much higher figure, though the exact number of people murdered at Los Cabitos is still not known with certainty. The relatives of the disappeared estimate more than 500 — perhaps a thousand? Unfortunately, justice has been unable to penetrate the infamous secrets of Los Cabitos. The only certainties so far are the following: · On land adjoining Los Cabitos there is a depression known as La Hoyada, covering an area equivalent to about 6 football fields. At the northern end, a concrete cistern was built to fuel two furnaces. Although abandoned, the cistern still exists; the furnaces have been dismantled. · In the ravine behind the furnaces, charred remains of human bones and clothing scraps — such as zippers, buttons, etc. — have been found. On the La Hoyada grounds themselves, 109 corpses have been exhumed to date. 54 of them are complete; the other 55 are missing parts. The Instituto de Medicina Legal determined that some were "young minors and children, with bullet holes in their skulls." · Adding to the pain and shock, forensic evidence, including DNA analysis, has not matched that of relatives from Huamanga who are searching for their disappeared; this would confirm accounts that the prisoners were executed far from where they lived. In other words, the corpses exhumed from La Hoyada were brought from other places. At the time I write these lines (October 2011), La Hoyada is in danger. "Certain ill-wishers" are promoting the illegal occupation of the site with housing, which would prevent further exhumations and desecrate a sacred place for the thousands of victims' relatives. The apparently humble squatters are using expensive, heavy machinery to haul construction materials. To protect La Hoyada, several organizations have erected a cross in memory of the victims and have asked authorities to declare it a SANCTUARY FOR MEMORY.