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Judi Lynn

(160,219 posts)
Tue Jun 10, 2014, 12:51 PM Jun 2014

Amazon Indians, victims of war, exhumed in Peru

Amazon Indians, victims of war, exhumed in Peru
By FRANKLIN BRICENO, Associated Press Writer | June 10, 2014 | Updated: June 10, 2014 11:24am

LIMA, Peru (AP) — Forensic teams have begun the long-delayed exhumation of members of an Amazon tribe that suffered devastating losses during Peru's 1980-2000 conflict with Shining Path rebels.

The first body, unearthed over the weekend, wore the standard ochre robe of the Ashaninka, said Ivan Rivasplata, leader of the forensic anthropologists from the Peruvian prosecutor's office engaged in the mission with army escorts.

He said in Lima that the team hopes to exhume about 130 bodies from five common graves in two communities in the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valleys, where remnants of the Shining Path continue to exert influence, living off a vibrant cocaine trade.

Some 6,000 Ashaninka were killed, 5,000 enslaved and 10,000 forcibly displaced by the Shining Path during the conflict, according to a government-convened truth commission, which reported that 30 communities disappeared. The entire ethnic group numbers only about 97,000, according to Peru's 2007 census.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Amazon-Indians-victims-of-war-exhumed-in-Peru-5541674.php

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