General information
First Active Year: 1989
Current Name: MRTA
Current Name full English: Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
Current Name full native language: Movimiento revolucionario Tupac Amaru
Original Name: MRTA
Original Name full English: Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement
Original Name full native language: Movimiento revolucionario Tupac Amaru
Actor Chronology
This section contains information about (if applicable) group splinters, name changes, and alliances according to the UCDP definitions of these concepts.
UCDP has not recorded any Chronology Activities involving this group.
Conflict issues
Government of Peru - MRTA
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.
1989
Actor Active in Dyad(s):
Government of Peru - MRTA
1990
Actor Active in Dyad(s):
Government of Peru - MRTA
1991
Actor Active in Dyad(s):
MRTA - Sendero Luminoso
Government of Peru - MRTA
1992
Actor Active in Dyad(s):
Government of Peru - MRTA
1993
Actor Active in Dyad(s):
Government of Peru - MRTA
Group Archive
This section contains annual information no longer systematically collected by the UCDP.
1989 Group Archive
Government of Peru - MRTA
Comment on Name: Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement)
Troop Size: 500
Comment on Troop Size: Mainly urban group
1990 Group Archive
Government of Peru - MRTA
Comment on Name: Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement)
Troop Size: 500
1991 Group Archive
MRTA - Sendero Luminoso
Comment on Name: Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement)
Government of Peru - MRTA
Comment on Name: Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement)
Troop Size: 500
Comment on Troop Size: Mainly urban group
1992 Group Archive
Government of Peru - MRTA
Comment on Name: Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement)
Troop Size: 500
Comment on Troop Size: Mainly urban group
1993 Group Archive
Government of Peru - MRTA
Comment on Name: Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement)
Troop Size: 500
Comment on Troop Size: Mainly urban group
