Grupo Colina

Topics: Internal conflict in Peru

Grupo Colina was a paramilitary death squad created in Peru that was active from 1990 until 1994, under the administration of Alberto Fujimori and headed by Vladimiro Montesinos, who was also chief of Peru's intelligence service, Servicio de Inteligencia Nacional (SIN).

In 1980, Peruvian radical Maoist Abimael Guzman launched a guerrilla war with his group Shining Path. This war, as well as a war launched by the radical leftist group the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement continued into the 1990s, when Alberto Fujimori was elected president. Fujmori placed Montesinos' SIN in a position of power over the armed forces in order to hunt down the subversives.

Along the way, various acts of injustice were committed against innocent the civilian population, such as the Barrios Altos massacre, the La Cantuta massacre, and the Santa massacre. During these, people who were suspected of being supporters or members of the insurgent organizations were tortured or executed, in the name of fighting the Maoist insurgency.

When those responsible for the massacre were put on trial by the Peruvian Congress, Fujimori passed several controversial laws stating that those responsible were to be given a military trial. They were subsequently released thanks to a much criticized Amnesty Law.

When the press found mass graves, opponents of the Fujimori administration accused the government of intimidating witnesses and making them disappear. Currently, a number of agents of the death squad, including its leader Santiago Martin Rivas, are under arrest and on trial. Vladimiro Montesinos is currently in Callao Military Prison outside of Lima.