Newly declassified documents have revealed the US government was aware of political killings and other human rights abuses in Peru over the past 20 years but chose not to act against Lima.
The 41 documents obtained by the National Security Archive under the Freedom of Information Act and released yesterday, detail military operations in Peru under former presidents Mr Fernando Belaunde, Mr Alan Garcia and Mr Alberto Fujimori.
They also reveal that US diplomats in Lima received a steady flow of information about atrocities committed by Peruvian death squads but were eager to see the Marxist Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movements defeated.
One US Embassy cable dated November 1986 details the massacre of 12 civilians in two villages in Ayacucho.
"Several days later, the charred remains of eight of the twelve missing persons were found at Mungaspinco mountain," said the dispatch, which added that Peruvians were "skeptical that a serious inquiry would ensue."
According to another cable, a Peruvian police officer informed US diplomats in late 1990 of the existence of a police death squad responsible for killing 300 suspected Shining Path "terrorists" in Ayacucho a year previously.
A thorough examination of the matter, however, revealed the victims were not rebels as described by police.
"Most targets were villagers who were not enthusiastic in their participation in army-sponsored rondas campesinas," Ambassador Anthony Quainton wrote to Washington.
Rondas campesinas were paramilitary groups set up by the Peruvian army and intelligence service in areas of guerrilla operations. AFP