Terrorism: Legal Treatment

Since the 1980s, thousands of our compatriots — among them humble peasants, members of the National Police and the Armed Forces as well as political, regional and local authorities — have been murdered or wounded by members of the terrorist organizations Sendero Luminoso and the MRTA; and an important part of the country's basic infrastructure has been seriously affected by the attacks carried out. Terrorism has been rejected by the vast majority of Peruvians, and the concrete criminal acts have been condemned by all citizens, it being understood that the right to life and liberty cannot be subordinated — under any circumstance — to any ideological reasoning or political calculation, and that the efforts to build a Peru where we can live with dignity do not travel along the paths of violence, intolerance and dogmatism. Despite the persistence of some cells of the criminal organizations, at present, fortunately, terrorism is in frank retreat. In its actions against the grave threat of terrorism the Peruvian State has affirmed, in the legal sphere, an exceptional model of control that has disregarded certain principles and freedoms that guide the conduct of a democratic society. (Excerpt from the introduction).