Peru army and navy continue with war memorial plans

Retired military and their supporters are going ahead with plans to build a monument to the ‘Defenders of Democracy’, in honor of those who fought against Sendero Luminoso and the MRTA rebels during the 20 years of internal war (1980-2000).   The monument is planned to be ‘complementary’ to the Museum of the Memory, according [...]

Peru forensic team finds bodies of 25 children killed in Ayacucho during internal war

A forensic team last week in Ayacucho unearthed the bodies of 25 schoolchildren and five adults, buried 26 years ago in three mass graves in the village of Umasi, nine hours south of the city of Huamanga, Ayacucho. The exhumation was ordered by the Ayacucho sub-provincial criminal court, acting on testimonies from five witnesses who [...]

Peruvian serving in U.S. Army among dead in soldier’s deadly rampage in Iraq

Sergeant Christian Bueno Galdós, a Peruvian-American serving in the U.S. Army, was among the servicemen murdered by another U.S. soldier who inexplicably opened fire on his fellow troops, daily El Comercio reported Wednesday. Bueno, a 7-year veteran, who was serving a third tour of duty in Iraq, was killed Monday, along with four other soldiers [...]

Peru’s new army chief says no to politics, considers latest Peru-Chile dispute closed

Peru’s new army chief, General Otto Guibovich Arteaga, promised Friday that Peru’s army would “never again” get involved in politics, in an attempt to turn the page on the latest ongoing diplomatic spat. “There is a constitutional reason for the power that weapons have and they should never again get mixed up in political matters,” [...]

President Garcia silences army chief in diplomatic spat with Chile

Peru’s President Alan Garcia has asked his country’s army chief, Gen. Edwin Donayre, to remain silent in a diplomatic spat with Chile, triggered by a YouTube video of the general making anti-Chilean comments during a private cocktail party — and then reignited when he later reneged on his apology. “In spite of news brought to [...]

Peru Army’s Controversial Commander General to Resign in December

General Edwin Donayre, who has been in the headlines regarding a corruption investigation into the misuse of gasoline allotments, announced Sunday in his native Ayacucho that he will be leaving his post as commander general of the Peruvian Army on December 5. During the civic-military ceremony, the controversial and flamboyant general also blamed the press [...]

Defense Minister denies claims of U.S. military presence

Defense Minister Ántero Flores-Aráoz denied claims made by opposition leader Ollanta Humala that personnel from the United States military are currently operating in Peru’s jungle region. Humala said Peruvian military sources told him that U.S. military personnel are operating in the country’s north-east Loreto Department, which shares a porous border with Ecuador, Brazil and Colombia, [...]

U.S. judge awards victims of Peruvian massacre $37 million

A Miami federal judge has ordered a retired Peruvian army major to pay $37 million for his role in the 1985 massacre of 72 peasants in a remote Andean village during Peru’s internal conflict with Shining Path and MRTA guerrillas, daily Correo reported.

SIE chief arrested for 1996 kidnapping and murder

The former head of the Army’s Intelligence Service, SIE, was arrested last Thursday for the 1996 murder of a SIE agent who was suspected of providing information to the press. Col. Carlos Edmundo Sánchez Noriega led the SIE from 1996 to 1997 and is accused of authorizing the murder of 28-year-old Mariela Barreto as part [...]

La República: Military budget increases by more than 50 percent

Peru’s military budget will reportedly increase by 53 percent in 2008, with a large percentage of it intended to upgrade equipment and reinforce the country’s borders. The military’s budget will increase from about 1.7 billion soles, about $585 million, in 2007, to more than 2.7 billion soles, about $930 million, in 2008, daily La República [...]

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