Barrios Altos massacre

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Barrios Altos massacre took place on 3 November 1991, in the Barrios Altos neighborhood ofLima, Peru. Fifteen people, including an eight-year-old child, were killed, and four more injured, by assailants who were later determined to be members of Grupo Colina, a death squad made up of members of the Peruvian Armed Forces. The victims were partygoers, mistaken for Shining Path(Sendero Luminoso) rebels, a Maoist organization.

The murders became a symbol of the human rights violations committed during the presidency ofAlberto Fujimori (July 28, 1990 – November 22, 2000). The case was taken to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In August 2001, in conformance with the judgment of the Inter-American Court, the Peruvian government agreed to pay $3.3 million in compensation to the victims and families.^[1] The case was also part of the material reviewed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru) after the fall of the Fujimori government in the 1990s.

The Barrios Altos massacre was one of the crimes for which Fujimori was extradited from Chile to Peru on September 20, 2007. The killings at Barrios Altos were cited in the request for his extradition submitted by the Peruvian government to Japan in 2003.

Contents [hide] 1 Background 2 Massacre 3 Aftermath 4 Amnesty 5 Inter-American Court of Human Rights 6 Case reopened 7 See also 8 References 9 External links

[edit]Background

Peru had been struggling to control the rebellion by the group known as Shining Path. For more than a decade, they had committed acts of terrorism against government officials, community leaders and innocent bystanders: assassinations, car bombings and other violence.

[edit]Massacre

On the evening of 3 November 1991, a neighborhood barbecue was being held at 840 Jirón Huanta to collect funds to repair the building. People from the community were gathered on the first floor. At approximately 23:30, six heavily-armed individuals burst into the building. They had arrived in two vehicles, found to have been stolen. These were said to be equipped with police lights and sirens, which were turned off when they reached the location.

File:Barrios Altos matanza.jpg

One of the victims of the Barrios Altos massacre

The assailants, who were said to range from 25 to 30 years of age, had their faces covered with balaclava masks and ordered the victims to lie on the floor. They fired at them for about two minutes, killing 15, including an eight year-old boy, and seriously wounding another four. One of the injured was permanently disabled. The assailants quickly fled in their vehicles, sounding their sirens as they left.

During their investigation, the police found 111 cartridges and 33 bullets of the same caliber at the scene. They determined the assailants had used sub-machine guns equipped with silencers.

[edit]Aftermath

Judicial investigations and newspaper reports revealed that those involved worked for military intelligence; they were members of the Grupo Colina, which was known for conducting an anti-terrorist program including direct attacks on suspects. The assailants appeared to have intended to attack a meeting of Shining Path rebels, which was being held at the same time on the second floor of the same building.

Several weeks later, Congress convened an investigation committee to look into the massacre. In December, the Committee conducted an inspection of the building where the events took place, interviewed four people and performed other tasks. It was unable to complete its investigation, because of Fujimori's "palace coup" on April 5, 1992, in which he dissolved Congress. The Democratic Constitutional Congress elected in its place in November 1992 did not take up the investigation again nor publish the senatorial committee's preliminary findings.

[edit]Amnesty

Judicial authorities were unable to launch a serious investigation of the incident until April 1995, at which time the military courts responded by filing a petition before the Supreme Court for jurisdiction over the case. Before the Court ruled on the petition, the case was effectively closed by Congress' passage of law No. 26479, which granted a general amnesty to all those members of the security forces and civilians who were the subject of a complaint, investigation, indictment, trial or conviction, or who were serving prison sentences, for human rights violations committed after May 1980.

Prior to the amnesty law being passed, investigations had revealed compromising information. In May 1993, and again in January 1995, some officers from the Peruvian army stated publicly that members of Grupo Colina were responsible for the Barrios Altos massacre. The officers also stated that the head of the Joint Command of the Armed Forces and of the National Intelligence Service (SIN) had full knowledge of the massacre.

[edit]Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Advocates, survivors and victims' relatives filed a suit in the Inter-American Court of Human Rightsagainst the Peruvian government for violation of human rights. Established in 1979 by the Organization of American States (OAS), the court made its judgment of 14 March 2001, finding that the government was in the wrong and ordering compensation be paid to the victims. Because the Peruvian government underwent a change in administration that year, the court agreed to postpone signing the settlement agreement until a new government was elected and had taken office.^[2][3]

[edit]Case reopened

After the fall of the Fujimori government in 2000, Congress repealed the Amnesty Law. The Barrios Altos case was reopened, and a number of suspects were taken into legal custody. On March 21, 2001, the Peruvian Attorney General Nelly Calderón presented charges against Fujimori in Congress, accusing him of being a "co-author" of the massacre. She presented evidence that Fujimori, acting in concert with Vladimiro Montesinos, head of the SIN, exercised control over Grupo Colina. The charges allege that the group could not have committed crimes of this magnitude without Fujimori's express orders or consent, and that the formation and functioning of the Colina group was part of an overall counter-insurgency policy that involved systematic violations of human rights. According to the report, Fujimori went to SIN headquarters to celebrate with intelligence officers after the massacre took place.^[4][5]

As a result of the August 2001 ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of the OAS, which had heard the case, the government of Peru agreed to pay USD $3.3 million in compensation to the four survivors and the relatives of the fifteen people murdered. It waited until the new government had been elected to sign the ruling later that year.

On September 13, 2001, Supreme Court Justice José Luis Lecaros issued an international warrant toInterpol for the arrest of Fujimori, then living in Japan. In August 2003, the Peruvian government submitted a request for the extradition of Fujimori to Japan; among the crimes it cited was the Barrios Altos massacre.^[6] Initially Japan had resisted extradition because Fujimori's parents had emigrated to Peru from Japan and it considered him a national of Japan. Its laws prohibited extradition of nationals; in addition, Japan and Peru did not then have an extradition agreement. Peru finally gained his extradition when Fujimori traveled to Chile. He was tried and convicted for his role in the massacre.

In 2004, Peruvian judges ordered the release of several of the Barrios Altos suspects, who had been held for more than three years without a trial or sentence. They had been taken into custody allegedly to comply with a recommendation by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights, as part of its ruling on the Barrios Altos case. Supreme Court of Justice president Walter Vásquez Vejarano said an investigation is under way into the judges who allowed trials to be delayed for so long.^{[citation needed]}

[edit]See also

• List of massacres in Peru

[edit]References

1. ^ "Peru to Pay Relatives for Massacre", Associated Press, 23 August 2001, accessed 10 Nov 2010
2. ^ "Barrios Altos Case", Inter-American Court of Human Rights, 14 March 2001, World Legal Information Institute
3. ^ "Barrios Altos Case, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, judgment of November 30, 2001", University of Minnesota
4. ^ "Questions and Answers Regarding Peru's Criminal Prosecution of Fujimori", Human Rights Watch, 2001
5. ^ CLIFFORD KRAUSS, "Peru, Pressing Japan, Issues an Order for Fujimori's Arrest", New York Times, 14 Sep 2001, accessed 10 Nov 2010
6. ^ "Fujimori Extradition Sought", Japan Times

[edit]External links

• "The Barrios Altos Case". APRODEH.
• (Spanish)"Las Ejecuciones Extrajudiciales en Barrios Altos" (1991) (Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Peru)
• "Amnesty laws consolidate impunity for human rights violations" (Amnesty International, 23 February 1996)
• "Fujimori Extradition Case Stirs Past", Associated Press, August 2003
• "Peru's Fujimori charged with murder", Reuters, 24 March 2001
• "Caso Barrios Altos Revive" (Barrio Altos Case Revived, Caretas, 12 October 2000, 10 Nov 2010 (in Spanish)
• Fuente:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrios_Altos_massacre

Masacre de Barrios Altos

La Masacre de Barrios Altos sucedió el 3 de noviembre de 1991 en los Barrios Altos, una zona tradicional y popular del cercado de Lima en Perú. Quince personas murieron y cuatro más fueron heridas por atacantes que posteriormente fueron identificados como miembros del Grupo Colina, un destacamento militar formado por miembros de las Fuerzas Armadas del Perú. Esta masacre es vista como un símbolo de las violaciones a los derechos humanos perpetradas durante el gobierno delpresidente Alberto Fujimori y fue uno de los crímenes citados por el gobierno peruano en su solicitud de extradición presentada a Japón en el 2003. El hecho perpetrado en Barrios Altos fue por directiva directa de Vladimiro Montesinos, por encargo de Alberto Fujimori.

Contenido [ocultar] 1 La masacre 2 Reacciones al hecho 3 Amnistía 4 Reapertura del caso 5 Véase también 6 Referencias 7 Enlaces externos

[editar]La masacre

La noche del 3 de noviembre de 1991 se llevaba a cabo una pollada en el primer piso del inmueble ubicado en el Jirón Huanta Nº 840 para conseguir fondos para reparar ese edificio. Aproximadamente a las 23:30, seis individuos armados y encapuchados entraron al edificio luego de bajar de dos vehículos.

Los atacantes,¹ cubrieron sus rostros con pasamontañas y ordenaron a los asistentes de la reunión a tenderse en el piso, donde les dispararon indiscriminadamente por cerca de dos minutos, matando a 15 de ellos incluyendo a un niño de 8 años, e hiriendo seriamente a otras cuatro personas, uno de los cuales quedó permanentemente paralítico. Luego, los atacantes salieron en dos vehículos. Durante la investigación, la policía encontró 111 casquillos y 33 balas del mismo calibre en la escena del crimen.

[editar]Reacciones al hecho

Las investigaciones judiciales y los reportajes de la prensa revelaron que los sujetos envueltos en el crimen trabajaban para la inteligencia militar; habían sido miembros del Grupo Colina que era ya conocido por perpetrar un programa anti-terrorista por órdenes del gobierno de Alberto Fujimori. Se verificó luego que los atacantes buscaban atacar una reunión de subversivos senderistas que en realidad tuvo lugar en el segundo piso del inmueble (mientras que la pollada y el ataque se llevaba a cabo en el primer piso).

Varias semanas después, el Congreso de la República designó una comisión investigadora para averiguar sobre la masacre. En diciembre, la comisión inspeccionó el edificio donde sucedieron los hechos, entrevistó a los heridos y realizó otras investigaciones. Sin embargo, no pudo completar su tarea debido al autogolpe que ejecutó Fujimori el 5 de abril de 1992 en el que disolvió el Congreso. ElCongreso Constituyente Democrático elegido en su lugar en noviembre de 1992 no continuó la investigación ni publicó las conclusiones preliminares que se habían logrado.

[editar]Amnistía

Las autoridades judiciales no pudieron realizar una investigación seria del incidente hasta abril de1995. En esa oportunidad las cortes militares respondieron presentando una petición a la Corte Suprema de Justicia para que se le otorgue jurisdicción sobre el caso. Sin embargo, antes de que la Corte Suprema pudiera resolver la petición, careció de sentido pronunciarse sobre el fondo del asunto, debido a que el Congreso aprobó la Ley Nº 26479, que ordenó una amnistía general para todos aquellos miembros de las fuerzas de seguridad del estado así como civilies que fueron sujetos de una denuncia, queja, investigación, sindicación, juicio o detención, o que estuvieran cumpliendo sentencias de prisión por delitos contra los derechos humanos por actos cometidos luego de mayode 1980.

Antes de la aprobación de la ley de amnistía, sin embargo, las investigaciones revelaron información comprometedora. En mayo de 1993 y nuevamente en enero de 1995, oficiales disidentes del Ejército del Perú hicieron público que los miembros del Grupo Colina fueron los responsables de la masacre de Barrios Altos. Los oficiales también señalaron que tanto el Jefe del Comando Conjunto de las Fuerzas Armadas del Perú como el Jefe del Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (SIN) tenían pleno conocimiento de la masacre.

[editar]Reapertura del caso

Luego de la caída del gobierno de Fujimori en el año 2000, la ley de amnistía fue derogada y el caso reabierto con lo que un buen número de los acusados fueron detenidos. El 21 de marzo del 2001, laFiscal de la Nación Nelly Calderón denunció a Fujimori ante el Congreso, sindicándolo como "co-autor" de la masacre. Presentó evidencia que Fujimori, actuando de acuerdo con Vladimiro Montesinos, jefe del SIN, tuvo control sobre el Grupo Colina. La denuncia señala que dicho grupo no hubiera podido cometer crímenes de esa magnitud sin el consentimiento expreso o las órdenes directas de Fujimori, y que tanto la formación como el funcionamiento del grupo Colina fue parte de una política integral de contra insurgencia que implicó sistemáticas violaciones a los derechos humanos. De acuerdo a lo señalado, Fujimori fue a los cuarteles generales del SIN para celebrar, junto con los oficiales de inteligencia, el supuesto éxito de la operación en Barrios Altos.

En el 2001, el gobierno peruano aceptó pagar USD $ 3.3 millones en compensación a los cuatro sobrevivientes y a los parientes de las 15 personas asesinadas. El 13 de septiembre del 2001, el Vocal Supremo José Luis Lecaros presentó una solicitud internacional a la Interpol para que se efectúe el arresto de Fujimori, que, en ese entonces, vivía en Japón. En agosto del 2003, el gobierno de Perú presentó una solicitud de extradición de Fujimori y entre los crímenes que se citan en el documento se encuentra la masacre de Barrios Altos.

En el 2004, los jueces peruanos ordenaron la liberación de varios de los sospechosos de la masacre de Barrios Altos, quienes habían estado presos por más de tres años sin sentencia. Ello debido a una recomendación de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. El Presidente de la Corte Suprema de Justicia dijo que se estaba llevando a cabo una investigación para determinar las causas de por que los jueces permitieron que los juicios se extendieran tanto.

[editar]Véase también

• Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación (CVR)
• Grupo Colina

[editar]Referencias

1. ↑ http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.45.%20BARRIOS%20ALTOS.pdf

[editar]Enlaces externos

• Caso Barrios Altos
• Informe de la CVR
• Fuente:http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masacre_de_Barrios_Altos