Peru Suffered Brutal Massacre, and Ex-President May Be to Blame | News | teleSUR English

1.10.16

Peru Suffered Brutal Massacre, and Ex-President May Be to Blame | News | teleSUR English: Seven years later, no one has been held responsible for the bloodbath that blotched Peru’s history as the most violent political clash since the height of the government’s conflict with the notorious guerrilla army, the Shining Path. Many argue that Peru’s then-President Alan Garcia, aided and abetted by Washington, should be held ultimately responsible.

Last week, a Peruvian court acquitted 52 people, most of them Indigenous, accused of killing 12 police officers and causing other damages during the June 5 “Baguazo” on the section of Amazonian highway known as the Devil’s Curve, some 600 miles north of Lima near the city of Bagua. Autopsy reports had revealed that gunshots killed the police officers, while witnesses claimed that the Indigenous protesters only wielded sticks and spears. Critics argued that the defendants — initially 53 before charges against one were dropped — were politically targeted.