Peru prosecutors recover remains of two forced disappearance victims from 1990s

Peruvian prosecutors have recovered the skeletal remains and clothing of two victims of forced disappearances that occurred in the southern region of Puno during the country's internal conflict in the 1990s. The Public Ministry announced the findings on Wednesday.

The recovery was conducted by the First Supraprovincial Criminal Prosecutor's Office specializing in Human Rights and against Terrorism in Puno. The investigation, led by provincial prosecutor Hugo Javier Vizcarra, identified one victim as Francisco Huayta, who reportedly died in 1994 during an attack by the subversive group Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) in the rural community of Huarahuarani. The remains of Estanislao Sucapuca were also exhumed; he disappeared in 1990 in the Ccochahuma sector after allegedly being kidnapped by an "undetermined" subversive group.

Diligences for Huayta's case took place in the San José district, while Sucapuca's exhumation occurred in Asillo. Archaeologist Miguel Ángel López, part of the Specialized Forensic Team, participated in the operations alongside the victims' families. The Prosecutor's Office emphasized the significance of these discoveries, particularly in the context of the upcoming International Day of Victims of Forced Disappearances on August 30.

These findings allow the relatives of the disappeared to exercise their right to know the whereabouts and final fate of their loved ones. The report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) in 2003 stated that the Shining Path was responsible for most of the 69,000 victims during the internal armed conflict that began in 1980, a period that also saw the rise of the Marxist MRTA.