Ayacucho Police Officer Describes Extrajudicial Killings
A Police sergeant described to Political Officers the details of his participation in a police death squad based in Ayacucho. The squad killed 300 suspected Sendero Luminoso (SL) terrorists in extrajudicial killings in 1989. Most of the targets were peasants who were not enthusiastic participants in the rondas, and he explains how targets were selected. The cable notes that the officer appeared "neither proud nor ashamed of his role as an extrajudicial killer" and seemed eager to tell his story to someone "official," since few people (even within the police force) knew of the existence or activities of that death squad.