surviving accoarca
Approximately 156 convictions and more than 600 ongoing investigations could be wiped out by the pending amnesty law, according to human rights organizations.
It would not only shield police and members of the armed forces from legal action, but it would also grant “humanitarian” amnesty to retired military personnel over the age of 70.
The bill heals many of Peru’s armed conflict’s survivors, healing old wounds.
Particularly affected by marginalization and inequality are rural and indigenous communities, which continue to struggle.
Between 1985 and 2000, an estimated 79 percent of the victims lived in rural areas, and 74 percent, like Quechua, were native speakers of indigenous language.
Ochoa himself currently leads a group that represents the victims’ families in Accomarca. He claimed that the Congress’s actions are “outrageous and betrayed” by its members.
The events of 1985 shattered his life. He attributes his academic obstruction to the trauma he experienced. He continues to be affected by what transpired outside the village the morning of the incident.
Ochoa explained, “The military had arrived and asked people to gather for a town assembly,” evoking his thoughts with protracted pauses.
They separated the women from the men and placed them inside one of the villagers’ huts after they had all gathered. The hut was shot upon and burned with everyone inside, and the men were tortured as well.
A terrified Ochoa and his father fled the area after learning about the bloodshed. They were not safe because the military was still conducting raids in the area.
He currently resides with his partner in Lima, where he works as a construction worker.
Later, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Peru would discover that 62 people had died as a result of the Accomarca massacre, including children, elderly, and women.
Ochoa’s mother, brother, and 6-year-old sister were among them. In the gunfire, he also lost his aunts and cousins.
The military operation Operation Huancayoc, which was meant to target suspected Shining Path members, led to the executions in Accomarca.
However, a military unit led by Second Lieutenant Telmo Hurtado Hurtado carried out their executions despite the lack of any conclusive evidence linking the villagers to the rebel group. Hurtado even assisted in the village’s murder with a grenade.
The operation was also planned and approved by high-ranking army officers in Ayacucho, a nearby city.
Ochoa recalled that the order was to kill everyone. According to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the military killed seven witnesses in the days that followed.
The commission came to the conclusion that military strategy overall was followed by massacres like those that occurred in Accomarca.
Source: Aljazeera
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