Mass Detention of Residents of the Alto Yurinaqui Native Community - Report

In 1994, Aureliano Leiva Barboza hired Edwin Vásquez Entrega (18) in the city of Andahuaylas to work on his farm in Alto Yumnaki. Vásquez worked there from March to July 1997 and then left for the locality of Alto Chicarmas. In Alto Chicarmas he was detained by the Army. As a result of torture, he accepted the repentance law and remained to work for the Army at the Military Base in Pichanaqui, La Merced. In July 1995, one year after his detention, as part of his repentance, he named Edgar Elguera Machari, brother of Augusto Elguera Machari (currently detained), as an alleged subversive. Edgar Elguera spent 18 days in the Counter-Terrorism Section (SECOTE) of La Merced. No connection to terrorism was found, but even so the Provincial Prosecutor filed criminal charges against him. He had to remain imprisoned for 6 months unjustly to prove his innocence and go free. (Introduction excerpt).