The Enrique Guzman y Valle University, widely known as "La Cantuta," was occupied by the Peruvian army in May, 1991 as part of President Fujimori's effort to combat Shining Path. Located just east of Lima, La Cantuta is the country's leading teachers' college. The security forces had long sus- pected it of being a guerrilla training ground. A military base was established on campus on May 21, 1991. For a time, the university was closed, as sol- diers set up more permanent lodgings and vigilance points on campus. When classes resumed, strict con- trols were put on student movement in and out of campus. Soldiers were posted as guards at key points and patrolled constantly, especially at night during the eight-hour curfew beginning at 10 p.m. Six months later, the government legalized the incursion of the security forces onto formerly autonomous university campuses with Decree Law 726. The law authorized the armed forces to occupy campuses "when they are made aware that terrorist elements or groups disturb peace and internal order." Along with these public measures, the govern- ment apparently also authorized military intelli- gence to infiltrate the student body in search of Shining Path sympathizers. That infiltration alleged- ly led to the events of July 18, 1992, a little over a year after the army's arrival. ln the early hours of that day, eyewitnesses say that about 30 hooded gunmen burst into the male stu- dent dormitory at La Cantuta and forced the 60 stu- dents inside into the hallway with threats and blows. The students were forced to lie face down on the floor. One of the armed men went through the group with a list in hand, ordering that certain students be pulled out. A similiar operation took place in the female student dormitory. The gunmen then pro- ceeded to detain Hugo Munioz in the professors' res- idence in front of his wife and a neighboring couple. Adapted from "Peru: Anatomy of a Cover Uo, The Disappearances at La Cantuta" (September 1993) and' "Per u The Two Faces of Justice" July 1995), published by Human Rights WatchlAmericas To obtain the complete reports, contact Human Right Watch at (212) 986-1980 Soldiers blindfolded the detainees and forced them into pick-up trucks with smoked-glass win- dows. All the vehicles bore license plates with the initials KQ, used exclusively by military intelligence. Before leaving, soldiers tied the remaining students to their beds and left guards beside them. The entire operation took about two hours. It was carried out with the acquiescence-and, at some moments, the active support-of the military forces occupying the campus. At no point did the plain "clothes men identify themselves or explain why they were seizing the students. The army, police and the special anti-terrorist police unit each denied having detained the nine students and the professor when relatives ques- tioned them that morning. The National Intelligence Service (SIN) suggested to the press, in a thesis echoed by pro-government legislators, that guerrillas had staged a "self-kidnapping." For the public and the victims' families, all ten had vanished. E yewitness testimony and information leaked by sources inside the military identified the soldiers as members of the "Colina Group," an elite death squad acting under the direct orders of high-level government officials including Gen. Nicolas Hermoza, Commander-in-Chief of the army, and Vladimiro Montesinos, de facto head of the SIN. After government attempts to discredit the charges, the dissident officer group "Sleeping Lion" in July, 1993 leaked a map detailing where the bod- ies were buried. Despite an active and at times darkly comical cover-up attempt, the government was forced to acknowledge possible military involvement after family members identified some of the remains. Gen. Hermoza insisted that any investigation and trial belonged under military jurisdiction-the ulti- mate guarantor of human rights violators' impunity. While arguing to the press that the soldiers had acted of their own volition, albeit with military weapons, vehicles and logistical support, Hermoza simultaneously clung to the completely contradicto- ry assertion that the killings were acts of service and therefore subject to military discipline rather than civilian prosecution. Eyewitness testimony identified the soldiers as members of the "Colina Group," an elite death squad acting under the direct orders of high-level government officials. It was up to Peru's Supreme Court to decide jurisdiction. While the Court has almost always ruled in favor of the military in disputes over jurisdiction, particularly in human rights cases, the high profile of the La Cantuta disappearances put tremendous pressure on the judges to vote for civilian jurisdiction. As the alternate judge deliberated over how to cast his tiebreaking vote, the Congress stealthfully passed in the wee hours of the morning a bill that changed voting procedures in such a way that ensured military jurisdiction in the La Cantuta case. After 13 days reviewing the 2,000-page case, the military court convicted ten of the 12 soldiers, imposing sentences of one to 20 years. The military court ruled out an investigation of the top-ranking officers suspected of ordering the killings. At the last minute, the more serious sentences were changed to allow the convicts to serve their time in military installations without dismissing them from active service or cutting their pay or benefits. Later press reports revealed that the imprisoned soldiers enjoyed the comforts of tennis courts, cellular telephones, color televisions, a bar, and regular visits from family members and the army paymaster who cashed their monthly checks, augmented by occasional bonuses, in dollars. In June, 1995, the Peruvian Congress passed one of the most sweeping amnesty laws in the hemisphere. The law gives a blanket amnesty to members of the security forces linked to, investigated for, or convicted of human rights crimes from May, 1980 to the present. Among the first to walk free were the eight men remaining in prison for the La Cantuta murders.
