Mass Grave Of 30 Skeletons Unearthed In Peru

Lima, Peru (AP - September 25, 1997) The skeletal remains of at
least 30 men who apparently died violently have been found in a
cave in a region of northern Peru where in the 1980s there was
heavy counterinsurgency activity.
     The skeletons, their limbs and skulls fractured, were found
by journalists Wednesday in the province of Ancash, 200 miles
north of Lima. They were alerted to the site by an anonymous tip.
     "We have photographed 30 skulls, and as we continue digging
we keep finding more", said Pedro Maguino, publisher of the
newspaper Ya, in the nearby city of Huaraz.
     The skeletons belonged to men who appeared to be between the
ages of 15 and 25 at the time of death, said doctors who examined
the site. The mass grave appeared to be 10 years old, they said.
     Maguino said rocks had been piled in front of the mouth of
the cave and some of the skeletons had been buried under the cave
floor. No clothes or weapons were found among the bones.
     Many people in the area disappeared during the war between
the Peruvian military and Shining Path guerrillas, including 20
students in 1982, he said. Human rights groups have charged that
Peru's army massacred suspected guerrillas during sweeps through
the region.
     Opposition Congressman Luis Chu Rubio on Thursday urged
Congress to investigate the circumstances of the deaths.
     The victims "were beaten, and probably died violent and
brutal deaths", he said.

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Jailed For Terrorism, Pardons Can't Restore Lives Of Peru's
Innocent

Lima, Peru (AP - September 21, 1997) - The first thing Antonia
Alfaro did after she left prison was knock on the doors of family
and friends to collect the children she left behind when
anti-terrorism police took her and her husband away.
     Only then, did the 39-year-old mother of four give in to the
anger she felt for having served four years of a life sentence
for a crime she says she did not commit.
     In pardoning Alfaro last Oct. 4, President Alberto Fujimori
conceded she had been convicted of terrorism on insufficient
evidence.
     But, like hundreds of other terrorism prisoners pardoned in
the past year, Alfaro found life tough on the outside. They still
carry the stigma of conviction, have trouble resuming careers or
finding jobs and face the breakup of families.
     Their plight is a scar from the war with leftist guerrillas
that has killed 30,000 people since 1980 and has included
widespread human rights abuses by both sides.
     "It's been hard. I lost everything and had to start over
again. Plus, the terrorism conviction stays on my record like a
stain", said Alfaro, who sells fish in a market in the poor Lima
barrio of Canto Grande.
     Fujimori's government has freed 226 prisoners it admits were
unfairly convicted by military courts of terrorism or treason.
     Human rights groups claim that in the drive to put
guerrillas behind bars, secret military courts filled Peru's
prisons with the guilty and innocent alike in the early 1990s.
They estimate that of the 3,900 people jailed on
terrorism-related charges, 600 are innocent.
     In 1996, the government admitted errors were made by the
military courts, which are presided over by "faceless judges"
either wearing hoods or sitting behind one-way glass. It formed a
review board to determine which prisoners were wrongly convicted
and recommend their release.
     But the pardoned prisoners have received no compensation and
the government has left the convictions on their criminal
records.
     "They are innocent. They have been pardoned. But they
continue being marked, stigmatized", said Gabriela Joo, a social
worker who assists freed prisoners.
     Suspicion follows the pardoned prisoners. When they apply
for a job or are stopped by police, their records come out,
making it difficult for them to make a living or lead normal
lives.
     In some cases the pardoned prisoners' spouses remarried
thinking they would never get out of prison or their children
were given to other families. Most left prison penniless.
     The years in prison, often surrounded by hardline Maoist
guerrillas in brutal conditions, scarred many of the innocent,
said the Rev. Hubert Lanssiers, a priest who works in Lima's
prisons and is Fujimori's representative on the prison review
board.
     "Prison's effect on the innocent is very hard. I've seen
many who have lost their minds", he said.
     Alfaro was named by a suspected Shining Path guerrilla
during a 1993 interrogation as having helped load a car bomb.
     Police found no trace of explosives on her hands or
incriminating evidence in her house. But a military court
sentenced her and her husband to life in prison.
     Human rights groups say suspected rebels are pressured, even
tortured, to give names of fellow guerrillas during
interrogations. Sometimes they name personal enemies or mere
acquaintances as collaborators.
     Simply being named is often enough for a military court to
hand down a life sentence.
     Alfaro says she did not know the woman who gave her name,
but many people knew her name through her fish stall in a busy
street market.
     While in prison, she lost her children and her house.
Another seller took over her fish stall. Her relationship with
her husband, who also has been freed, collapsed.
     After a fight, she got her children back and her fish stall.
Many of her customers go elsewhere because they are afraid to buy
from her, she says.
     She wants the government to clear her name and compensate
her for the years in prison.
     "It's clearly unjust. The government has admitted it made a
mistake, but will not compensate them or even wipe their slates
clean", said Ernesto de la Jarra of the Legal Defense Institute,
which defended Alfaro.
     Although human rights advocates say more should be done to
help imprisoned innocents, they give the government credit for
trying to right past wrongs.
     "I think it is meritorious that the president has admitted
there were errors and has taken steps to correct them. But
evidently it is not enough", Lanssiers said.
     Even those acquitted by military courts can face a
nightmare.
     Juan Huapaya, 35, was tried and absolved twice by military
courts on charges of belonging to a leftist guerrilla group, but
he still spent almost three years in prison awaiting the trials.
     Since being freed in May, Huapaya, a former leader of the
municipal workers union, has been unable to get Lima City Hall to
rehire him as a municipal policeman.
     "I'm not guilty. Everyone has said so. But I can't get my
old life back", he said.

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