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Press Release August 18, 2008
5 Victims of 1988 Chaupiorcco Massacre Identified
Lima, PERÚ - Two decades after the kidnapping and disappearance of 17 residents of the communities of Socco, Amoca, and Checcasa, in the province of Aymaraes, Apurimac, the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) has successfully identified the remains of five victims exhumed in the area known as Chaupiorcco in December 2004.
The positive identifications resulted after DNA analyses conducted by EPAF in collaboration with Bode Laboratories confirmed additional ante-mortem information gathered by EPAF in 2005 as unofficial experts of the Association for the Advancement of Human Rights (APRODEH), which legally represents the families.
Three men and two women compose the five identified victims.
"These identifications represent a crucial step forward in our attempt to establish what happened that day," said EPAF Executive Director Jose Pablo Baraybar. "We hope this information helps to move forward the judicial process as these families continue their search for justice."
The massacre occurred on January 13, 1988. Five days earlier, according to testimonials from community residents, the Peruvian military detained three people in the community of Socco. Two to three days later, the same military contingent detained 14 more people in the community of Checcasa and one in the community of Amoca, subjecting them all to torture.
On the night of the 13th, while in transit to the Santa Rosa military base, the group was divided into two groups. After members of the first group passed through the small tunnel of Huayquipa, members of the second group heard gunshots and cries of desperation, according to the only survivor of the massacre, who managed to flee. The second group was last known to have been in transit to the Santa Rosa military base.
"The identification of these victims is an important moment for the families because one of their principal demands is the restitution of the remains of their loved ones so they can be given a burial in accordance with their customs and traditions," said APRODEH Attorney Gloria Cano. "Their identification is in itself an act of justice given justice is not only the sanctioning of those responsible - it must also include the return of their loved ones, who remained disappeared for more than two decades."
EPAF's work was made possible through the collaboration of BODE Technology Group and Creative Learning, as well as financial support from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL) of the U.S. Department of State.
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