Rebuilding the Truth to Dream the Future
The two decades we lived under political violence left a very deep mark on Peru. Thousands of innocent Peruvians, the majority peasants, but also neighborhood leaders, small business owners, ronderos, journalists, police officers, as well as many other anonymous Peruvians, were tortured, murdered and disappeared either by the forces of order or by the Senderistas. All citizens lived in those years under uncertainty, distrust and terror. Economic losses from the destruction of buildings, roads, high-voltage towers, etc. are estimated at approximately 26 billion dollars. It was a national trauma of enormous proportions. In recent years, with violence already under control, many sectors of civil society mobilized demanding that a Truth Commission be established to determine these facts. (Excerpt from the preface).