We Learned to Coexist with the Senderistas and the Military

This work reconstructs the political violence in the communities of the district of Huamanquiquia, in the province of Víctor Fajardo, in the south-central region of Ayacucho. The presence of armed actors in these communities polarized the peasants, generating disastrous consequences for communal organization and the integrity of its members. The possibilities of remaining cohesive weakened during the most intense years of the war, as old inter- and intra-communal conflicts re-emerged, coloring the social process of violence. During this process, the peasants of Huamanquiquia developed survival strategies, adapting to the circumstances of war and to the political objectives of the armed actors. This can be considered a form of peasant response of adaptation-in-resistance.