The Massacre at El Frontón

In the early hours of June 18, 1986, Sendero Luminoso inmates initiated a riot in the Blue Pavilion of the El Frontón penal island, in Callao. Simultaneously, riots took place at San Juan de Lurigancho prison and at the Santa Bárbara Women's Prison. As a result of the military actions at El Frontón, at least 118 inmates died, the majority of them tortured and subsequently executed. A large number of disappearances were also recorded. In August 2002, the U.S. State Department declassified documents produced by its embassy in Peru in 1986. These documents would prove that former President Alan García Pérez personally ordered the suppression of the prison riots. It also became known that the former president congratulated the military personnel who participated in the massacre.