Exactly 16 years after nine agrarian university students and a professor were brutally murdered and their burnt remains buried in shallow graves by a paramilitary death squad, loved ones and students held a wake for the victims of the La Cantuta massacre Friday. The memorial service is to be held on Saturday.
“It’s important to us […]

Ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s once-feared intelligence chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, testified Monday that his former boss is innocent of charges he sanctioned the Colina group paramilitary death squad.
Fujimori, 69, could hardly contain a grin as his former spy chief depicted him as a “courageous” hero who defeated a bloody leftist insurgency and lifted Peru from its knees. […]

The Organization of American States on Tuesday accepted Peru’s request to hold a special meeting of the Permanent Council in Washington later this week to address the European Union’s approval of a tough new illegal immigration law.
The law passed by the European Parliament last week calls for detention of illegal immigrants for up to 18 […]

~ By Annie Thériault ~

Growing from a small urban grassroots organization to a regional leader in promoting women’s rights, the Lima-based Manuela Ramos Movement or MMR celebrated its 30-year anniversary this week.
“We never thought, or at least I never thought, that we would be celebrating our 30th anniversary,” Alicia Villanueva, a founding member of the […]

Human rights activists unleashed heavy criticism Tuesday on Congresswoman Keiko Fujimori for her suggestion that she would not hesitate to spring her father from prison if she is elected president.
“The congresswoman must be reminded that people who have committed crimes against humanity and have violated human rights, crimes for which her father will be condemned, […]

Jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori’s eldest daughter and probable 2011 presidential candidate says she “would not hesitate” to grant her father amnesty if she takes up residence again in the Government Palace as commander and chief.
“I trust that my father will be declared innocent, but if the time comes, and if I am president, I won’t […]

Former President Alberto Fujimori’s lawyer, César Nakazaki, said Thursday that he has filed a 20-page appeal to the Lima Bar Association in response to its Ethics Commission resolution that he be suspended from practicing law for two years for misconduct.
Nakazaki, one of Peru’s top criminal defense attorneys, allegedly violated the Peruvian code of legal ethics […]

Congress’ Constitutional Oversight Commission has voted to overturn a decree by President Alan Garcia that critics say was designed to snuff out political dissent by, among other things, granting soldiers and police freedom to use their firepower during protests without fear of prosecution for injuring or killing civilians.

Jailed ex-President Alberto Fujimori will get an eight-day break from his human rights abuse trial for allegedly sanctioning a paramilitary dead squad during his decade-long authoritarian regime so that doctors can treat him for a pre-cancerous lesion in his mouth.

The Peruvian government’s response seemed unified and swift last week against a proposal by the vice president to defy verdicts by Inter-American Court of Human Rights against Peru for brutal excesses during its 20-year battle to crush leftist guerrilla insurgencies.
It was just such a decision in 1999 by ex-President Alberto Fujimori — now on trial […]