A Desperate War. Human Rights in Peru After a Decade of Democracy and Violence. Americas Watch Report

This is the sixth report that Americas Watch has produced on Peru, following its close monitoring of the situation of political violence and human rights violations in that country since 1984. This report covers a period with which a "crucial and painful" decade draws to a close. This report describes and analyzes the essential aspects of the Peruvian crisis up to the moment when the leadership of the State was to change, with President Alberto Fujimori assuming the government. At the end of the decade, Peru, as this report states, must contend with a brutal movement like Sendero Luminoso, an unprecedented economic crisis, serious human rights abuses, and the grave phenomenon of drug trafficking. In a situation like this, the analysis carried out by Americas Watch constitutes an important contribution both for the quantity of information it contains and for its balanced approach to a reality as complex as that of Peru today. (Excerpt from the foreword).