Aucayacu massacre

Aucayacu massacre
Part of 1980 – 2000 internal conflict in Peru
Location of the José Crespo Y Castillo District, of which Aucayacu is the capital
Location	Aucayacu, José Crespo Y Castillo District, Leoncio Prado Province, Peru
Coordinates	8.931369°S 76.130534°W / -8.931369; -76.130534
Date	6 August 1986
Target	Gay men Sex workers
Deaths	10
Perpetrators	Shining Path
Motive	Homophobia Misogyny Anti-prostitution

The Aucayacu massacre was a selective massacre that occurred on 6 August 1986 in the Peruvian city of Aucayacu (Huánuco). The attack was directed at gay men and sex workers. Those responsible for the attack were members of the Shining Path, a terrorist group, during the internal conflict in Peru.

Context

Shining Path and Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) were far-left terrorist organization who had initiated a conflict against the Peruvian state in the 1980s. They exhibited very hostile behaviour towards sectors that they not sympathetic to their ideological positions, especially state officials. Their hostility was not only limited to their political opponents,^[1] they were also against all advances regarding sexual and women's minority rights, which they saw as a consequence of capitalism.^[2]

Background

The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement organized "Crusades against vice" in which Homosexuals, Transgender Individuals, Prostitutes, and others who deviated from the traditional sexual canons were kidnapped and or murdered.^[3][4]

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified the following:

These executions were part of a political project of the subversive groups that sought the eradication of homosexual sex-affective practices and dissident gender expression."Crusades against vice" were organized by the MRTA to punish homosexuals, prostitutes and infidelity (Montalvo, 2017:62-64).^[5]

Massacre

On 6 August 1986, in the city of Aucayacu, capital of the José Crespo Y Castillo District, members of Shining Path killed 10 people, including gay men and female prostitutes.^[6][7][8][9]

Condemnation

The mass murders of homosexuals and sex workers during the conflict is considered one of the greatest acts of misogyny, homophobia, and violent actions against prostitution in the country.^[10] It is also classified as a sample of exacerbated masculinity and a legacy of internalised discrimination against sexual minorities in parts of the rural population.^[11]

See also

• La Hoyada massacre
• Communism and LGBT rights
• Femicides in Peru
• Homophobia
• LGBT rights in Peru
• List of massacres in Peru
• Prostitution in Peru
• Socialism and LGBT rights
• Violence against LGBT people

References

1. Díaz, Antonio López (4 April 2016). "Los indeseables de Tarapoto" [The undesirables of Tarapoto]. El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
2. Carpio, Neptalí (17 March 2017). "Psicoanálisis de un liderazgo homofóbico (2da parte)" [Psychoanalysis of a homophobic leadership (2nd part)]. El Montonero (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
3. Jáuregui, Ariana (16 August 2019). ""No estamos todes": acciones colectivas en conmemoración a las víctimas LGBTI del Conflicto Armado Interno" ["We are not all": collective actions in commemoration of the LGBTI victims of the Internal Armed Conflict]. Revista Memoria PUCP (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
4. "Las otras memorias" [The other memories]. gioinfante.lamula.pe (in Spanish). 28 August 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
5. "Las otras memorias" [The other memories]. gioinfante.lamula.pe (in Spanish). 28 August 2013. Retrieved 20 April 2020.
6. Chuquillanqui, Fernando (21 June 2016). "En Perú también se vivió una matanza homofóbica como la de Orlando" [Peru also suffered a massacre similar to that of Orlando]. RPP (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
7. Moffett, Luke. Reparations and War: Finding Balance in Repairing the Past. Oxford University Press. 2023. Page 275
8. Almanera, Erika. The Language of the In-Between: Travestis, Post-hegemony, and Writing in Contemporary Chile and Peru. University of Pittsburgh Press. 2022.
9. Comunidad LGBTI, las otras víctimas de la época del terrorismo. La Republica. June 28, 2020.
10. Jaúregui, Ariana (1 June 2018). "Recordando los crímenes de odio durante el conflicto armado" [Remembering hate crimes during the armed conflict]. IDEHPUCP (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2020.
11. Anaya, Karen (24 October 2017). "Desde la Memoria Marginada hacia la De-construcción del Estado: Las personas LGBT como víctimas del conflicto armado peruano y los caminos para la no repetición" [From the Marginalized Memory towards the De-construction of the State: LGBT people as victims of the Peruvian armed conflict and the paths for non-repetition]. Pólemos (in Spanish). Retrieved 20 April 2020.