PHOTOS: Peru still mourning victims killed during their 20 year conflict
September 3, 2013
Aquilina Cardenas, right, and her sister Luciana, look into the coffin containing the remains of their father in a forensic laboratory, in Ayacucho, Peru. Their father is one of the Chaca residents tortured and killed on Jan. 8,1988 by Shining Path militants in retaliation for forming a self-defense committee. The remains of the victims were exhumed in 2012 from a mass grave and released to family members on June 13, 2013. A mass burial was held in Chaca two days later. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
After attending a brief memorial service marking the return of their relatives' exhumed remains, family members carry coffins containing the remains through the main square in Ayacucho, Peru, before returning to Chaca for a mass burial. The remains were exhumed in 2012 from a mass grave and released to family members on June 13, 2013. The victims were killed in 1988 by Shining Path militants in retaliation for forming a self-defense committee. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
A chapel cemetery is adorned with a wooden cross, skulls, bones, and candles, in Chaca, Peru. Peru has failed to address the unhealed wounds of thousands of families, most of them poor, Quechua-speaking peasants, traumatized by the country's 1980-2000 conflict. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission blamed Shining Path for 54 percent of the conflict's nearly 70,000 deaths. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Rosa Sandoval chews on coca leaves as she keeps vigil next to the coffins that contain the remains of the victims of the 1988 Chaca massacre in San Miguel, Peru. Judges have not accepted that in Peru there were systematic violations of human rights. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Junior Edgar, 4, sleeps in the corner of an evangelical church in Chaca, Peru, as his mother participates in the evening service, after attending a mass burial. Peru has failed to address the unhealed wounds of thousands of families, most of them poor, Quechua-speaking peasants, traumatized by the country's 1980-2000 conflict. Ten years after a Truth and Reconciliation Commission of respected academics issued a report on the conflict, few of its recommendations have been heeded. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Eudicia Urbano, 70, standing in front of her former home, near the spot where her husband Marcial Escalante died, weeps as she retells how he was tortured and killed by Shining Path rebels, in Chaca, Peru. The region endured some of the worst atrocities of Peru's 1980-2000 conflict, in which both Maoist-inspired insurgents and security forces committed grave human rights violations. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
A man carries a pick and a shovel over his shoulder, after helping dig 21 graves in preparation for a mass burial at the cemetery in Chaca, Peru. The remains of Chaca villagers who were tortured and killed by Shining Path militants in a 1988 massacre, were released to family members on June 13, 2013 and interred in a mass burial at the Chaca cemetery. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Women prepare "Pachamanca," a feast of meats, vegetables and herbs, buried in a pit along with hot stones and roasted, in honor of a mass burial and to mark Father's Day, in Chaca, Peru. The remains of residents that were exhumed in 2012 from a mass grave and released to family members on June 13, 2013 were interred in a mass burial at the Chaca cemetery. On Jan. 8, 1988, a group of Chaca villagers were tortured and killed by Shining Path militants in retaliation for forming a self-defense committee. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
A boy attending a mass funeral looks at a row of coffins containing the remains of villagers that were killed in a 1988 massacre, in Chaca, Peru. The boy joined other relatives of those slain by the Shining Path rebels nearly three decades ago, to formally bury the remains of the victims. The region endured some of the worst atrocities of Peru's 1980-2000 conflict, in which both Maoist-inspired insurgents and security forces committed grave human rights violations. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
A child sleeps in the arms of a woman in Chaca, Peru. The woman arrived in the village to attend a mass burial of villagers slain by insurgents nearly three decades ago by Shining Path militants in retaliation for forming a self-defense committee. Their remains were exhumed in 2012 from a mass grave and released to family members on June 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Accompanied by her daughter-in-law Gregoria Lapa, Eudicia Urbano, 70, walks to her former home, where her husband, Marcial Escalante, was tortured and killed by Shining Path rebels, in Chaca, Peru. Escalante remains were buried the day before, in a mass burial along with other Chaca residents tortured and killed in 1988 by Shining Path militants. A full decade after a Truth and Reconciliation Commission released a report on the conflict that claimed nearly 70,000 lives, activists say few of its recommendations have been heeded, in large part because most of the victims were poor, Quechua-speaking highlands peasants like Escalante. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Alicia Isabel Colina, 61, poses for a photo holding a portrait of her disappeared son, Javier Crispin Colina, in front of mass grave number 70, discovered by Colina and her husband, in Huancavelica, Peru. For almost a quarter century Colina and her husband scoured the mountains of Peru's poorest region in search of the son hauled away by soldiers from a friend's house in the middle of the night. Completely on their own, the couple found a total of 70 clandestine burial sites and unearthed three dozen bodies. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Villagers pray at the end of the day during an evangelical service, after attending a mass burial of other villagers slain by insurgents nearly three decades ago, in Chaca , Peru. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated that Peru's 1980-2000 conflict claimed nearly 70,000 lives, most of them poor, Quechua-speaking people. Some 15,000 of them disappeared. Yet fewer than 3,000 bodies have been exhumed because the country has lagged in healing the wounds of its war. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Simeon Velasque, left, holds a plastic bottle filled with liquor as he sits with his wife, Aurora Saume, in Chaca, Peru. Velasque joined earlier in the day other relatives of villagers slain by insurgents nearly three decades ago to formally bury the remains the victims, including his father, exhumed last year from a common grave in the remote Ayacucho state hamlet. No state agency exists dedicated to locating and cataloguing the conflict's estimated 15,000 disappeared. The bodies of fewer than 3,000 have been exhumed. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
A family eats lunch a day after a mass burial in Chaca, Peru. Relatives and friends joined to formally bury the remains of 21 people slain by insurgents nearly three decades ago. Their remains were exhumed from a common grave last year in the remote region of Ayacucho state that endured some of the worst atrocities of Peru's 1980-2000 conflict. Both security forces and Maoist-inspired insurgents committed grave human rights violations. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Women out on Market Day gather in the main square minutes before the arrival of the coffins containing the remains of residents killed in a 1988 massacre, in Chaca, Peru. The remains of residents that were exhumed in 2012 from a mass grave and released to family members on June 13, 2013 were interred in a mass burial at the Chaca cemetery. On Jan. 8, 1988, a group of Chaca residents were tortured and killed by Shining Path militants, in retaliation for forming a self-defense committee. As weapons the villagers had little more than slingshots and poles with knives affixed. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
A woman and a child eat lunch in front of a row of coffins containing the remains of villagers slain by insurgents nearly three decades ago, in Chaca, Peru. The remains were exhumed in 2012 from a mass grave and released to family members June 13, 2013. Peru has failed to address the unhealed wounds of thousands of families, most of them poor, Quechua-speaking peasants, traumatized by the country's 1980-2000 conflict. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Ayacucho Archbishop Salvador Pineiro helps to carry a coffin that contains the remains of a person killed in the 1988 Chaca massacre, to a waiting vehicle in Ayacucho, Peru. The relatives of villagers slain by Shining Path militants nearly three decades ago, formally buried the victims' remains the following day in a mass burial at the local cemetery in Chaca. The remains were exhumed last year from a common grave in the remote Ayacucho state hamlet. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
A boy holds a machete as he plays alongside a coffin that contains the remains of Juana Quispe, during a mass burial in Chaca, Peru. Quispe is one of the Chaca residents tortured and killed on Jan. 8,1988 by Shining Path militants in retaliation for forming a self-defense committee. Their remains were exhumed in 2012 from a mass grave and released to family members on June 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
A boy pushes another in a makeshift swing in Chaca, Peru, a remote region of Ayacucho state that endured some of the worst atrocities of Peru's 1980-2000 conflict. Chaca is among thousands of communities still waiting for reparations promised by the state eight years ago. It lacks running water and telephone service, medical attention is precarious and, during the four-month rainy season, it is inaccessible by vehicle as the dirt road link becomes mud. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Faustino Vega, 65, holds up a coffin during a mass burial in Chaca, Peru. The remains of Chaca residents who were tortured and killed in their village in 1988 by Shining Path militants were interred in a mass burial about a year after their remains were exhumed from a mass grave. No state agency exists dedicated to locating and cataloguing the conflict's estimated 15,000 disappeared. The bodies of fewer than 3,000 have been exhumed. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Relatives bearing flowers walk to the cemetery to attend a mass burial in Chaca, Peru. Family and friends attended the mass burial of the Chaca residents who were tortured and killed in a Jan. 8, 1988 massacre by Shining Path militants in retaliation for forming a self-defense committee. As weapons, the victims had little more than slingshots and poles with knives affixed. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
Eusebio Velasque mourns over the coffin containing the remains of his father Edwin Velasque during a mass burial at the local cemetery in Chaca, Peru. Velasque is one of the Chaca residents tortured and killed on Jan. 8,1988 by Shining Path militants in retaliation for forming a self-defense committee. Their remains were exhumed in 2012 from a mass grave and released to family members on June 13, 2013. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd) ( Peru War Scars Photo Gallery )
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