Perú dispatch: new amnesty law for military, police, and self-defense groups reopens wounds from 1991 massacre Dispatches
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Perú dispatch: new amnesty law for military, police, and self-defense groups reopens wounds from 1991 massacre

Perú’s President Dina Boluarte recently shook up the country’s political landscape by enacting a new law on August 13 granting amnesty to members of the Armed Forces, the National Police, and self-defense committees who participated in the fight against terrorism between 1980 and 2000. The law has divided public opinion and reignited debate about human rights violations that occurred in Perú during that time. Cases such as Barrios Altos and La Cantuta remain central in Perú’s collective memory, complicating the legal landscape because of their conflict with previous amnesty laws passed by Congress that shielded military, police, and self-defense committee members from prosecution. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) strongly rejected those earlier laws. Will something similar happen with this new amnesty law?

“We are restoring their dignity, a dignity that should never have been questioned,” President Dina Boluarte said during the ceremonial address as she offered her support and approval of proposed Law No. 34219, the “Law granting amnesty to members of the Armed Forces, the National Police of Peru, and the self-defense committees that participated in the fight against terrorism between 1980 and 2000.” The law seeks to pardon members of Perú’s security forces accused of committing human rights violations during the country’s internal conflict that took place from 1980 to 2000. It would halt ongoing trials, overturn convictions, and allow for the release of personnel convicted of crimes such as aggravated homicide, disturbing the peace, criminal association, forced disappearances, kidnapping, and aggravated kidnapping. The law also provides for the release armed forces members over the age of 70 who have already been convicted—including those still under investigation or prosecution. This decision would undermine legal precedent set in cases such as Barrios Altos and La Cantuta and could place Perú in the spotlight of criticism from international organizations like the IACHR and the United Nations, while straining diplomatic relations with countries party to the American Convention on Human Rights (Pact of San José, Costa Rica).

The Barrios Altos massacre took place on November 3, 1991, when six members of the military squad known as “Grupo Colina”—part of the Peruvian National Intelligence Service—stormed a neighborhood celebration. Neighbors described the men as masked by balaclavas and armed. Their assault resulted in the deaths of 15 people, four wounded, and one left permanently disabled. A judicial investigation into the case did not begin until April 19, 1995, because the Congress of the Republic of Perú had passed two amnesty laws shielding the perpetrators. Former Judge Antonia Saquicuray did not apply those laws during her tenure, exercising constitutional control at the time. The case was ultimately escalated to international bodies, including the IACHR, which ruled the amnesty laws incompatible with the American Convention on Human Rights.

A similar case occurred at La Cantuta on July 18, 1992, when members of “Grupo Colina” entered university dormitories and killed nine students and one professor. This case also reached the IACHR, which again ruled that Perú’s amnesty laws violated the American Convention on Human Rights.

Opinions expressed in JURIST Dispatches are solely those of our correspondents in the field and do not necessarily reflect the views of JURIST's editors, staff, donors or the University of Pittsburgh.
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