UCDP

General information

Part of Conflict: Peru: Government

Date of first stated goals of incompatibility: 1983-01-01
Comment on date of first stated goal of incompatibility: The MRTA was a traditional Marxist-Leninist revolutionary movement formed in 1983 whith the aim to rid Peru of imperialism (primarily US and Japanese influence) and establish a Marxist regime. The group was formed by the radical university students Nestor Cerpa and Victor Polay. In 1986 the group merged with the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR), following this up with a widespread bombing campaign throughout Lima.

Date of first use of armed force: 1984-09-07
Comment on date of first use of armed force: Until September 1984 the MRTA was mostly unknown to the public. On 7 September, they bombed a naval hospital in Lima. Other early targets included police stations in Lima and the private residence of the former minister of economy, Carlos Rodriguez Pastor. On 29 September it was reported that the MRTA took on responsibility for a rifle attack on the US embassy in Lima.
First Battle Related Death: 1987-12-01
Comment on First Battle Related Death: On 1 December 1987, three soldiers died in fighting with MRTA in Perus remote Amazon jungle. These are the first confirmed battle-related deaths; however, it is likley the first deaths took place earlier.

Date when dyad reached 25 battle releated deaths: 1989-03-13
Comment on date when dyad reached 25 battle related deaths: At least 20 MRTA rebels and 3 soldiers died on 13 March 1989 during a gun-battle in the Andean foothills, bringing the total battle-related deaths of 1989 to 25.

Conflict issues

Conflict Goal Issues: MRTA (Revolutionary Movement Túpac Amaru)(/#/actor/751) was a Marxist-Leninist rebel group in Peru(/#/country/135) that fought the Peruvian government(/#/actor/021) in an armed conflict(/#/conflict/292) from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s. The dyad here presented (Government-MRTA)(/#/dyad/632) was mainly analyzed from 1988 to 1993, when the group was the most active, but it is worth noting that the rebel group was created years earlier and continued existing after what is approached here. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s emerged many opposition forces as a reflex of the discontent with the governing powers in Peru.

Over the year of 1988 the rebel group demanded responses in regards to basic needs, bureaucratic setup, change of a specific law, and change of economic system. Such conflict goal issues are a reflection of the position taken by the group, with a revolutionary stance but not involved in large revolutionary violence, as one could see as common for other rebel groups (e. g. Sendero Luminoso(/#/actor/750)) on that same year. In February 1989 the leader of MRTA Victor Polay "Rolando" Campos was captured and arrested, with Nester Cerpa Cartolini assuming control of MRTA, also leading to an escalation of violence in the given conflict. As the number of casualities rose in this year, the group kept on demanding responses in regards to change in judicial system, children’s rights, civil rights and participation, constitutional issues, Corruption, cultural rights, decentralization, disband para-military forces and conomic reforms. MRTA fought for a Peruvian national identity, sought to moralize the country and the welfare of the people. Between 1990 and 1993 the number of casualities in the conflict feel, but demands kept on growing. On the first half of 1992 were captured many dirigents and leaders of the group, what caused a destabilization.

Among the many stated conflict goals that can be perceived since the creation of the rebel group in 1983, and specially with the escalation of activities in 1989, the main issue regards state structures – more specifically a change of political system, sometimes refered as a Democracy and other times as a Socialist State. All the fight is recognized, by MRTA as a people’s revolutionary war, intended to achieve a “free and just homeland, a socialist homeland”.

Conflict Dynamics Issues: In regards to conflict dynamic issues, the data that was collected is concentrated in the year of 1992, year marked by the decrease of violent acts because of the destabilization inside MRTA. The reclamations by the rebel group focused in the “indiscriminate repression against all forms of popular protest, genocides, disappearances of entire towns, the appearance of paramilitary gangs and the institutionalization of torture”. Accusations by the part of rebels presented the government as “openly inhuman” towards the working class and the military of base-level, as well as an “anti-popular system”, what included massacres, murders and abuses against civilians.

Among the many stated conflict dynamics issues, it is necessary to highlight atrocities and abuses by the part of the government – more specifically, collective targeting. The government responded the actions of the rebel groups with what they called a “brutal dirty war”, with the armed forces being used as “an instrument of the Counterinsurgent Strategy”.

Conflict Resolution Issues: In regards to conflict resolution issue, the data that was collected is also concentrated in the year of 1992. The main conflict resolution issue that was coded regards transnational justice and liability, more specifically the issue of accountability and prosecution. The rebel group reclaimed the “sanction for all those who have become rich with the people's money, for all war criminals” as part of the imagined process of moralization of the country.
Type of conflict issues: Basic needs, Bureaucratic setup, Change economic system, Change judicial system, Children’s rights, Civil rights, Constitutional issues, Corruption, CPS: Democracy, CPS: Socialist state, Cultural rights, Decentralization, Disband para-military forces, Economic reforms, Education system: culture, Electoral reform, Foreign policy reform, Freedom of association, Freedom of expression, Gender rights, Human rights, Labor rights, Land reforms, Language rights, Law and order, Protection of natural resources/the environment, Public services, Reform executive structure, Reform judicial system, Reform parliament, Religious rights, Restructure military forces, Revenues from natural resources, Rule of law, Security sector power-sharing, Water resources *Conflict Dynamics Issues: * Atrocities and abuses, Collective targeting: other group, DFI: Removal of foreign influence, IFI: International monitoring, IFI: Use of foreign influence, Military conduct

*Conflict Resolution Issues: * Accountability/prosecution/investigation

Annual information

This section contains annual information systematically collected by the UCDP.