Decline and Survival of the Peasant Self-Defense Patrols of Northern Peru
The peasant patrols of northern Peru formed an increasingly solid movement over fifteen years. Emerging from the people to combat the problem of cattle rustling, the first patrol was organized in a hamlet in the department of Cajamarca in December 1976. Quickly demonstrating their effectiveness, the patrols rapidly spread throughout the departments of Cajamarca, Piura, Lambayeque, Amazonas, La Libertad, and Ancash. By the mid-1980s they were beginning to appear in the central and southern highlands of Peru. By 1990 there were almost 3,500 communities in Peru that had organized patrols.