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Resources > News Service > Bulletins > By Country/Territory > Peru > Peruvian Forensic...

Peruvian Forensic Anthropolgy Team (EPAF) Partners with Vecinos Peru to Launch a Development Plan in Peru's Post Conflict Town of Putis

On Sunday, August 8th, Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team- EPAF and non profit organization, Vecinos Peru, will be launching thier latest campaign “Paradero Esperanza” or (Stop of Hope) in the Centro Poblado of Putis, Ayacucho. The mission of this campaign is to promote human development in the communities most affected by Peru’s internal conflict of 1980-2000. The conflict took the lives of 70,000 people, disappeared another 15,000 and displaced thousands of others. Of the areas most highly affected by the violence were the provinces within Ayacucho.
          
The “Stop of Hope” campaign is intended to help community members in overcoming the victimization and stigmitization that has impacted their ability to overcome poverty. EPAF is aware of the potential that Putis has for growth and wants to strengthen this potential through sustainable development projects.

The first “Stop of Hope” will be in Putis. According to the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) report of 2003 many inhabitants from Putis were displaced by the terrorist group, Shining Path, during the conflict of 1980-2000.  After being informed by military that it was safe to resettle in Putis in 1984, approximately 123 victims from the communities of Cayramayo, Vizcatampata, Orccohuasi and Putis, were then executed by units of the Peruvian Army and buried in a mass grave. 

From May to August 2008, EPAF exhumed and analyzed the remains of the mass grave. Of the 92 remains EPAF exhumed, 28 were formally identified.  The remains were then recovered to the family members and given a proper burial. 

In addition to Putis, EPAF also aims to promote development projects within other communities also affected by the violence, and by doing so, will create a “route of hope” both containing visible and symbolic stops in each community where they have done forensic work.

The “Stop for Hope” in Putis will open its doors this Sunday, with a symbolic ceremony that will begin with “El Pago a la Tierra” (or “Payment to the Earth”). This ceremony will pay homage to the earth in thanks for the discovery of the disappeared family members of Putis in 2008 and for the beginning of this new development stage. On Sunday, the project will be ratified by Putis Mayor Gerardo Fernandez, and with the presence of other local authorities from the region. The implementation of the first phase of the project will also take place through the establishment of a native potato seed bank.

As native potatoes are highly desirable within both the national and international markets, the implementation of the native potato seed bank will be extremely important in that it will improve the quality of the potatoes grown there increasing their market value.

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