initiatives intended to consolidate peace and harmony among Peruvian citizens.” 91 The report
was presented to the different branches of the State, which acknowledged its conclusions and
recommendations and acted in consequence, adopting policies that reflected the significance
accorded to this institutional document. 92 The report is a key point of reference, as it offers a
comprehensive view of the armed conflict in Peru. The Commission, the State and the
representatives in the instant case all based their arguments on the context by pointing to the
CVR report, which has been included in the evidence file of the case. The Court will therefore
use the report as a crucial piece of evidence on the political and historical context in place at
the time of the facts.
140. In previous cases, the Court has recognized that, starting in the early 1980s and until
the end of 2000, Peru experienced a conflict between armed groups and members of the police
and the military forces.93 According to the final CVR report, the armed groups in the conflict
included the Communist Party of Peru (hereinafter “Shining Path”) and the Túpac Amaru
Revolutionary Movement (Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru, hereinafter MRTA), whose
members were known as emerretistas or “MRTistas”. Shining Path decided to launch a socalled “people’s war” against the State to impose its own ideals of political and social
organization in the country,94 which “was the fundamental motivation for unleashing domestic
armed conflict in Peru.95
141. The organization Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement was founded in 1982, inspired
by leftist guerrilla groups in other countries of the region, with the goal of pursuing armed
struggle to achieve its purposes. 96 At the beginning of its “people’s revolutionary war” in 1984,
the MRTA became one of the factors in the insecurity that Peru experienced for several years
and the violation of the fundamental rights of Peruvians. 97 The CVR emphasized that actions
attributable to the MRTA included hostage-taking and kidnappings for political or economic
reasons, which had a particular impact on Peruvian society, given the methods and conditions
by which they were carried out.98
91
Case of Baldeón García v. Peru, supra, para. 72(1), and Case of Espinoza Gonzáles v. Peru, supra, para. 50.
Cf. Case of Cantoral Huamaní and García Santa Cruz v. Peru, supra, paras. 89 and 91, and Case of Espinoza
Gonzáles v. Peru, supra, para. 50.
92
Cf. Case of the Miguel Castro Castro Prison v. Peru, supra, para. 197.1, and Espinoza Gonzáles v. Peru,
supra, para. 51.
93
Cf. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Informe Final, 2003, volume II, chapter 1.1, The Communist Party
of Peru Shining Path, pp. 29 to 31, available in Spanish at www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php.
94
Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Informe Final, 2003, Volume II, Chapter 1.1, the Communist Party of
Peru
Shining
Path,
p.
127,
available
in
Spanish
at
www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php.
www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php.
95
Cf. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Informe Final, 2003, volume II, chapter 1.4, Túpac Amaru
Revolutionary Movement, pp. 385 to 387, available in Spanish at www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php.
96
The MRTA conducted such actions as “seizing” radio stations, schools, markets and low-income
neighborhoods, theft of delivery trucks belonging to major commercial companies, attacks on trucks filled with
essential goods, attacks on water and electric companies, attacks on police stations and the homes of members of
government, selective assassination of high-level public officials and business leaders, execution of indigenous
leaders, and several deaths due to the sexual orientation or gender identity of the victims, with the string of terror
in these cases continuing over a considerable length of time. They also kidnapped journalists and businesspeople to
obtain large sums of ransom money. The hostages were kept hidden during their captivity in so-called “people’s
prisons” (small, unhealthy spaces). Cf. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Informe Final, 2003, volume II, chapter
1.4, Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, and volume VIII, General conclusions, p. 320, available in Spanish at
www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php. See also, Case of Espinoza Gonzáles v. Peru, supra, paras. 52 and 53.
97
Cf. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Informe Final, 2003, volume VI, chapter 1.7, Kidnapping and
hostage-taking, p. 547, available in Spanish at www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/index.php. See also, Case of Espinoza
Gonzáles v. Peru, supra, paras. 52 and 53.
98