Red April

Wednesday, May 3

The bullets found in the body of Commander Carrión came from the same weapon that had been fired in the parish house. Based on this evidence and on statements attributing recklessly violent attitudes to Prosecutor Chacaltana, as well as the presence of motive and opportunity for the crimes, the Fourth Criminal Court of the Judicial Branch has initiated proceedings against him for multiple aggravated homicides, a procedure which for the moment is pending until the accused appears in person for the oral hearing.

The officials who are supposed to testify as witnesses in this case, however, have been transferred following the bloody deeds recorded during Holy Week: Colonel Olazábal, promoted to the rank of general, is currently responsible for logistical supply in the Second Police Region. Captain Pacheco, although he did not receive a promotion, was transferred to the district of Máncora, on the northern coast of Piura, to guarantee the security of the area. Judge Briceño, for his part, is a regular member assigned to the Family Court of Iquitos. As for the accused, the whereabouts of Félix Chacaltana Saldívar are unknown.

It must be emphasized in this extensive report that the armed forces, in conjunction with the institutions responsible for maintaining public order and the Army Intelligence Services, have been able to keep the facts out of the press, thus avoiding the spread of panic throughout the region. Similarly, it is a noteworthy achievement to have removed all the files related to the case, which have been transferred to the National Intelligence Service so that it may act in accordance with its judgment and at its own discretion. It should be noted that the opening of proceedings in criminal court lacks binding power with relation to the aforementioned Intelligence Service, and by the same token, civil institutions lack competence in cases that may be related to national security, such cases being automatically transferred to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Military Justice.

Remitted to the Intelligence Service, along with these files, is the totality of documents referring to disappearances, torture, and mistreatment engaged in during the period of the state of emergency by the following members of the military and police, to wit: Alejandro Carrión Villanueva, commander in the Army of Peru; Alfredo Cáceres Salazar, lieutenant in the Army of Peru; Gustavo Olazábal Goicoechea, general in the National Police. For the moment, it is not expected that these cases will be brought to civil justice or to the attention of the press, lest they be manipulated by unscrupulous elements with the intention of damaging the image of our nation abroad or obscuring the significant achievements of the government with regard to the countersubversive struggle.

The documents missing from the records, that is to say, the reports signed by Associate District Prosecutor Félix Chacaltana Saldívar and the lower-case notes written by Commander Alejandro Carrión Villanueva, are attached to this report, along with a detailed and exhaustive narration of the facts known firsthand by the undersigned, due to his having carried out his duties close to the suspects during the interval of time corresponding to the first six-month period of the year 2000.

Recently, new reports from the Army Intelligence Service indicate that the accused, Félix Chacaltana Saldívar, Associate District Prosecutor, has been seen in the environs of the Ayacuchan localities of Vischongo and Vilcashuamán, on the occasion of his attempting to organize “defense militias” with intentions that remain unclear. Our informants state that the abovementioned prosecutor displayed evident signs of psychological and moral deterioration, and that he still retains the murder weapon, which he flourishes constantly and nervously at the least provocation, although it lacks the appropriate ammunition.

Neither the patrols in the area nor the outposts of the forces of law and order have attributed excessive importance to the bellicose attitude of the abovementioned prosecutor, whom they do not consider to constitute a serious danger for the moment. Although members of the police have requested instructions in this regard, the command staff has issued orders not to carry out the detention and capture of the accused, at least while the nation is still engaged in the electoral process, since under these circumstances the case could come to light, with lamentable consequences for our institutional structures.

Having taken these steps, the undersigned official considers his work in the district concluded and takes the liberty of recommending that, for reasons of security, he be transferred to a new post. My sky-blue tie has been destroyed and my connections to the military forces, in expectation of a replacement for Commander Carrión, have been weakened. Furthermore, the intervention of the Intelligence Service in this case has fulfilled its mission of safeguarding the peace and security of the region, at the same time that it has directed information to the channels most suited to the interests of law and order, thus collaborating in the future development of a nation like ours.

In witness whereof the above is hereby signed, on May 3, 2000, by

Carlos Martín Eléspuru

Agent of the National Intelligence Service