Documentation for Rondas Campesinas (Semi-Official)
Feb. 19, 1992
The Independent (London)
One in ten of the ronderos is entrusted with a Winchester rifle.
Shining Path, which dominated the zone for two years until 1990, has been squeezed out, at least for the moment. The army, which has trained and equipped 8,500 peasants in its Mantaro Front region, is starting to pull its own forces out of the area. It is often alleged that anybody who refuses to join the village militias is treated as a subversive
May 26, 1992
The New York Times
Here in Junin, one of Peru's most war-torn provinces, the number of militia members jumped from 20,000 in February to 50,000 today.
"We have 50,000 more who want to join, but we don't have the capacity to train them all," said Lieut. Col. Edmundo Espejo Ramirez, a Peruvian Army officer who is coordinating the formation of militias in this region. Armed with Andean rock slings, iron-tipped staves and shotguns, the lightly armed militias are believed to have killed hundreds of guerrilla suspects last year.
Human rights groups assert that the army poorly supervises the militias, allowing them to veer into vigilantism, the settling of old scores and the renewal of land fights.
July 29, 1992
IPS-Inter Press Service
Today's traditional military parade on Peru's National Day also included columns of "Ronderos," armed rural peasants and urban dwellers belonging to civil self-defense groups, which have become an increasingly important component of Fujimori's anti-insurgency strategy.
These "Rondas" or civilian self-defense groups, initially established in rural areas, are provided with firearms and paramilitary training by the armed forces so that they can defend their own communities.
There are an estimated 12,000 "Ronderos" in the interior of the country, especially in the Apurimac River Valley, Ayacucho, and in the Mantaro Valley in the Central Andes.
"Rondas" have also been formed by inhabitants of Peru's eastern jungles and in Lima's poorest districts, though the army has refused to issue weapons to the latter.
Oct. 23, 1994
The Miami Herald
With four Mausers and about 20 Winchester rifles donated by Peru's army, [name removed]'s Self-Defense Committee and thousands of other ragtag rural militias across the Peruvian highlands are succeeding at what the army proved unable to do -- defeating one of Latin America's most ruthless and stubborn guerrilla movements, Sendero Luminoso, the Shining Path.
Jan. 8, 1996
IPS-Inter Press Service
For while the civil war has officially been declared over, the rural areas are still patrolled by the "rondas campesinas" (rural workers groups), armed paramilitary groups promoted by the Peruvian army.
Jan. 8, 1996
IPS-Inter Press Service
For while the civil war has officially been declared over, the rural areas are still patrolled by the "rondas campesinas" (rural workers groups), armed paramilitary groups promoted by the Peruvian army.
These groups were a traditional element of rural life to defend the people from livestock rustlers until the government provided them with 25,000 rifles and turned them into self-defense organizations.
"The continuing existence of these paramilitary organizations is a daily reminder that there is still a risk of a guerrilla resurgence," said former deputy, Manuel Benza
Oct. 15, 1997
IPS-Inter Press Service
some 300 troops, accompanied by 500 members of the "peasant defense patrol," known as "rondas campesinas," are presently chasing three columns of the dissident faction of Shining Path.
The rondas campesinas is a paramilitary movement organized as a self-defense force under the control of the army. They were first organized as an experiment under the government of Alan Garcia, and then massively promoted by Fujimori, who distributed around 14,000 rifles to peasant communities.
Dec. 8, 1998
IPS-Inter Press Service
The exact number of men and women organized in these peasant militias is unknown. Some estimate the number at 30,000, a calculation based on the fact that the government of President Alberto Fujimori gave them 14,000 rifles and that more than half of these paramilitary units obtained arms on their own. The "self-defense committees," as they are known officially, grew out of a grassroots initiative to combat cattle thieves in the northern highlands of Peru. They emerged spontaneously in 1985 in the central and south-central highlands in communities that found themselves unprotected as the police left the area due to the growing presence of Shining Path guerrillas,The government of social democrat Alan Garcia (1985-90) convinced the military high command to accept the existence of the rondas, which were fighting Sendero Luminoso. But the army refused to allow the state to provide weapons for the self-defense units. Fujimori had more luck, however, convincing the army in 1991 to agree to this policy.Disciplined, armed with rifles, slingshots, spears, sticks and handmade rifles that shoot a single bullet, the self-defense units today remain an integral part of rural social structure.
June 22, 2000
orbis
By 1991, the self-defense groups served as a major obstacle to Sendero advances in the countryside. The Ashaninkas permanently eliminated MRTA's presence, and Cajamarca never became a favorable area for Sendero. But it was in Ayacucho, Guzm[acute{a}]n's original staging point, that the rondas made the greatest difference. Traveling through that department at the beginning of 1999, Iwitnessed first-hand the high level of security, despite the almost total absence of the military. [43] To be sure, some of the armed groups also took the opportunity to abuse their power. Rondas in the Apurimac Valley used their weapons and legal status not only to eliminate the terrorists' local presence, but also to engage in drug trafficking once Sendero was unable to impose its own "tax." On balance, however, their transgressions must be weighed against the progress made in defeating Sendero.
Sept. 12, 2003
NotiSur - South American Political and Economic Affairs
The CVR attributed responsibility for 54% of the victims to Sendero Luminoso, for 31% to the security forces, for 13% to paramilitary groups and "rondas campesinas" or government armed and backed campesino militias, and for 1.5% to the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA).
March 2, 2009
IPS (Latin America)
Similar 'rondas campesinas' or peasant self-defence groups emerged in northern Peru in the second half of the 1970s to fight cattle rustling and impose justice in property boundary disputes. But they later expanded to a total of around 400,000 local vigilante committees in that country.
Aug. 12, 2010
IPS-Inter Press Service
"The navy, which set up bases in the district of Huanta, was the first military institution to real-ise the usefulness of the villagers' armed response against Shining Path," former CVR member Carlos Tapia told IPS.
"That is when the military gave the 'rondas' carte blanche to take action against anyone sus-pected of being involved in Shining Path. The members of the 'rondas' were themselves indige-nous peasants, and many were victims of the subversives. But they also committed excesses of their own," he said. (...)
In 1991, the government of Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) issued a law that gave the "rondas" legal status, officially naming them "self-defence committees" and providing them with weapons and military training.
June 8, 2011
Inter Press Service
In the face of the state's shortcomings, many rural and peri-urban communities have relied on community-based dispute-resolution institutions, such as rondas campesinas ("peasant pa-trols") or justices of the peace.
Compared to the often hostile, time-consuming and ineffective official justice system, these institutions are considered easily accessible, fast-moving and efficient. But the rondas, because they are based on customary and/or ancestral law, tend to push for reconciliation and the res-toration of community relations at the expense of more vulnerable groups, such as women.
June 5, 2013
ENP Newswire
Rio Alto Mining Limited announces that it has temporarily suspended mining activities at its La Arena Gold Oxide Mine due to a blockade of the Trujillo to Huamachuco public road by a group led by the Central Unica de Rondas Campesinas. (...)
Starting May 29, 2013, the CURC of the Province of Sanchez Carrion - La Libertad, declared an indefinite blockade of all the public access roads in the area of the Province as a protest against the Peruvian judicial system, the local District Attorney and the Peruvian Police Force.
Feb. 23, 2014
The New York Times
In late December 2012, three American tourists pulled their camper off the highway one night, parking it on a small dirt road in Ocongate. (…) According to Santader, the villagers who initially approached the tourists were part of a ronda campesina -- the Andean version of a voluntary police squad. When the Americans refused to show them their IDs, he said, the villagers decided they were thieves. After the melee, local officials convened the members of the ronda campesina to try to persuade them that tourists should be welcomed, not chased away.
Nov. 28, 2014
Associated Press International
"People turn to the rondas because they are more accessible," said Cajamarca state's chief judge, Fernando Bazan. "People rely on them daily, and daily tell us to our face that we are incapable of guaranteeing security."
Cajamarca's 800-member rondas are an outgrowth of rural peasant patrols, or rondas campesinas, that are legal.
