30. On November 5, 1992, the State informed the Commission that the Office of the Attorney
General had reported taking several steps into the ongoing investigation of the incident but, to
date, had obtained no results; consequently, the investigation was continuing.
31. On December 30, 1992, the State informed the Commission that the Ministry of the
Interior had stated that the Chosica police had arrested neither Dora Oyague Fierro nor other
students of La Cantuta University, and on January 6, 1993, it noted that after a number of
investigations, the Department of Public Prosecutions had been unable to identify the persons
responsible for the incident but that it was still investigating.
32. On October 7, 1993, the State alleged that the civilian provincial prosecutor dealing with
the incident had disqualified itself and had referred the investigation of the case to the
Supreme Council of Military Justice’s War Division.
33. On February 5, 1996, the State stated that in proceedings No. 157-V-93, brought against
Maj. Gen. Juan Rivero Lazo and others in connection with Hugo Sánchez Muñoz and others, the
Supreme Council of Military Justice, by means of a final judgment dated May 3, 1994, had
ordered Maj. Santiago Martín Rivas, Maj. Carlos Pichilingue Guevara, and Technicians 3rd Class
Julio Chuqui Aguirre, Nelson Carbajal García, and Jesús Sosa Saavedra to pay, jointly with the
Peruvian State, a civil indemnification to the victims’ families; however, since the embargo
placed on their salaries was no sufficient to cover that payment, the Ministry of Defense had
deposited the amount of the indemnification, equal to three million new sols, which were being
paid to the victim’s relatives.
IV.
ANALYSIS
The Commission proceeds to analyze the requirements for a petition to be admissible set forth
in the American Convention, as follows:
A.
Competence ratione materiae, ratione personae, and ratione temporis of the
Commission
34. As regards its competence over the matter of the complaint, the Commission notes that
the events related by the petitioner and not disputed by the State indicate that the murders of
the professor and students from the Enrique Guzmán y Valle National University were
committed by military agents of the Peruvian State. The massacre was investigated and, as a
result of that investigation, certain individuals were tried. As a result of those proceedings, the
Supreme Council of Military Justice handed down a final judgment on May 3, 1994, in which
the following members of the Peruvian Army were found guilty and convicted: Major General
Juan Rivero Lazo, Cavalry Colonel Federico Augusto Navarro Pérez, Infantry Captain José
Adolfo Velarde Astete, Engineering Corps Majors Santiago Enrique Martín Rivas and Carlos
Eliseo Pichilingue Guevara, and Technicians 3rd Class Julio Chuqui Aguirre, Nelson Rogelio
Carbajal García, and Jesús Antonio Sosa Saavedra. This judgment also ordered indemnification
to be paid to the families of the murdered individuals, to be paid jointly by the convicts and the
Peruvian State. Following that sentence, the petitioner has not questioned the Commission
about the appropriateness of the punishment imposed on the person convicted or about the
amount or the payment of the indemnification granted to the victims’ families. Nevertheless,
the petitioner maintains that Peru violated international obligations enshrined in the American
Convention by enacting Amnesty Laws Nos. 26479 and 26492 and by enforcing their
provisions to release the individuals convicted of the La Cantuta massacre.
35. The Commission notes that the aforesaid amnesty laws did in fact lead to the liberation of
the only persons convicted for participating in the La Cantuta massacre. Thus, although the
incident was investigated by the Peruvian State, as a result of which the individuals found
guilty by the courts were convicted, the Commission has competence over the matter of the
complaint in order to determine whether the effects of enforcing said amnesty laws constituted
violations of the obligations assumed by Peru under the American Convention. In this regard,
the Inter-American Court has stated that:
6