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Locality of Cayara
The town of Cayara, Ayacucho. On May 13, 1988, members of Sendero Luminoso ambushed a military convoy near the community of Erusco, in the province of Víctor Fajardo, Ayacucho. In retaliation, on May 14, Army members entered the town of Cayara — neighboring Erusco — and murdered 35 peasants; witnesses to the massacre were killed months later. The evidence presented demonstrates that the bodies were buried in the nearby Cceschua ravine, from which they were subsequently removed in order to prevent investigations from proving that the community members had been beaten, tortured, and ultimately executed by security forces on the suspicion that they had participated in the Sendero Luminoso ambush.