SUMMARY

The Government of Peru has engaged in repeated episodes of one-sided violence against civilians, particularly during periods of internal conflict and political crisis. The most significant period occurred between 1980 and 2000, during the internal armed conflict against Sendero Luminoso and MRTA. Counterinsurgency efforts, especially in rural and Indigenous areas, often blurred the lines between combatants and non-combatants. Massacres such as Accomarca, Barrios Altos, and La Cantuta, in which state forces or state-aligned death squads executed unarmed civilians, exemplify the scale and brutality of state violence during this era.

Although large-scale political killings declined after the conflict’s formal end, one-sided violence persisted in lower-intensity forms in Peru, often linked to resource-related protests and social mobilization in marginalized regions. In many cases, police and military forces responded to demonstrations with disproportionate force, resulting in civilian casualties, though often below UCDP’s fatality threshold.

A major resurgence of one-sided violence occurred between December 2022 and early 2023, following the ousting of President Pedro Castillo. Protests demanding early elections and President Dina Boluarte’s resignation erupted across the country, especially in historically excluded Andean regions.

The Government of Peru first became active as a one-sided actor in UCDP data in 1989. In February of the same year one-sided violence resulted in over 25 civilian deaths when three men were assassinated in Lucanas, Ayacucho.