Soledad Mostacero and Angela Hinostroza, members of Ayacucho's Specialized Forensic Team before delivering to family members the skeletal remains of victims of Peru's internal armed conflict (1980-2000). At the center of the room, there's a coffin and, above, a map of Chungui and Oronccoy districts, the territories in which forensics carried out exhumations between 2011 and 2014. October 25, 2014.

Nelida Orihuela looks through the window of her house where there are excavations of exhumation of bone remains that correspond to 12 victims killed by members of the Peruvian order during the internal armed conflict, in the town of Tastabamba in the district of Oronccoy. Nelida is married to Walter Guzman, who lost two family members: aunt on her mother's line Humbertina Tello and her grandfather Alberto Tello Orihuela. Both family members were killed by members of the armed forces of Peru during the internal armed conflict that confronted the subversive Maoist movement Shining Path against Peruvian law enforcement. November 16, 2018

A resident of Oronccoy carries a sack with ollucos and other tubers that he will take to the house of relatives 4 hours away from the capital of the Oronccoy district. In general, the farmers of Oronccoy grow subsistence crops that are consumed by the residents and only a minimal part is destined for commerce because they do not have an adequate road network that allows them to move and transport the crops more comfortably. The first highway that reached Oronccoy was inaugurated in 2021. However, the almost 15 population centers that make it up lack an adequate road network.

Toy in a house in Chungui. October 5, 2010

Poultry and a guinea pig are fed by Nelida Orihuela inside her kitchen. The majority of Tastabamba residents are dedicated to planting tubers, broad beans and beans, as well as raising free-range animals for their own food. This is because in the town center of no more than 150 residents they do not have roads that facilitate the transportation of their agricultural products. Nélida is married to Walter Guzmán, who lost two relatives: her maternal aunt Humbertina Tello and her grandfather Alberto Tello Orihuela. Both family members were murdered by members of the Peruvian armed forces during the internal armed conflict that pitted the Maoist subversive movement Sendero Luminoso against the Peruvian law enforcement forces. November 16, 2018

A relative of the Aspur Ccaicuri family removes stones from the wall of an abandoned house in the village of Totora, to use it in the construction of the tombs of Sabina Ccaicuri Castro and her children Mario, Amelia and Yolanda Azpur Ccaicuri. The mortal remains of the victims were buried in the town of De Totora located in the district of Oronccoy. The 4 people were killed by members of the Peruvian police forces during the 1980s in the context of the internal armed conflict that devastated Peru. 30 years later remains have been located, exhumed and handed over to the family for burial in their homeland, Totora, located in the Oronqoy district, in the Ayacucho region. The mortal remains left from Huamanga and for 6 hours traveled to the capital of Chungui by road. After a small ceremony in the church, the relatives had to sleep the night and then leave at dawn the next day and travel two more hours by road, to finally cross the mountains for 4 hours, the coffins being loaded on horses until they reached their final destination. December 4, 2016

Rosilda Orihuela points to her relatives murdered during the 1980s in a photograph from before the massacre that she still has. The remains of 4 of her relatives were exhumed, identified and recently delivered in 2022.

In a school in the Oronccoy district, members of the Specialized Forensic Team of Peru place a protective cloth to prevent blows on the coffin containing the bones and clothing of the deceased Eugenia Rimachi Lima in front of her relatives. Eugenia Rimachi was one of the 64 people murdered by members of the Peruvian law enforcement forces in Oronqoy, Ayacucho in the sites of Staccayoc and Cabracancha during the internal armed conflict in Peru. Of the 64 murdered people who were exhumed by forensic experts in 2015, only 20 were fully identified. The remaining 44 bodies (the other 44) were buried with keys in a funeral pavilion, so that identification can continue in the future. August 6, 2019

Félix Pacheco, with the pickaxe, searches for the remains of his father, murdered in 1984, next to a mountain near the Apurímac River, Huallhua, Ayacucho Region. November 8, 2013 When the forensic expert Dannal Aramburu (who was carrying the rooster) found Félix, halfway to a mass grave, he had already been looking for his father's body for 48 hours. He could not find it and could only accompany forensics to help excavate other skeletal remains of victims. According to Felix, his father was murdered by members of the Peruvian army and also by members of the self-defense committee.

Notebook of a forensic anthropologist. The drawings refer to how the bone remains of 2 victims are found in one of the mass graves of Chaupimayu, Oronqoy. November 15, 2013

Dannal Arammburu, Forensic anthropologist, rests exhausted after being lost for three hours trying to find the road to get back with the team of forensic experts in Huallhua. They have to walk around 17 hours to reach the areas where massive graves contain the remains of victims killed during the armed conflict in Peru. Oronccoy. November 8, 2013

Remains of victims found in the Estaccayoc mass grave are analyzed in Oronccoy. Members of the Specialized Forensic Team arrived at Oronqoy on October, 2015, to identify the remains of victims of a massacre. The first time that the probe into the remains of victims of internal violence developed near the site of the killings, and not in the usual headquarters of the laboratory in Huamanga. October 26, 2015.

A girl hides in the church of Chungui and observes from there the religious celebration in Chungui. October 2010

Nelida Valenzuela during her wedding celebrations in Chungui. The wedding celebrations usually take place during the main celebrations of the Chungui district, which are in homage to the Virgin of the Rosary, who is considered the Patroness of the town. These celebrations are usually the ones with the most excitement in the district.

Member of the Chungui Self-Defense Committee observes religious celebrations as well as the burning of fireworks in honor of the Virgen del Rosario in October 2014. Currently, the members of the self-defense committee usually guard the order and serve as support forces for the district's police forces. In the absence of the police, in some remote villages they usually do the work of guarding the order and of arresting those who steal. It is necessary to point out that the area is still used as a transit zone for the transfer of drug shipments (basic paste of cocaine). During the internal armed conflict in Peru in the 1980s, members of these militias played a decisive role in the struggle against Sendero Luminoso members, since they knew the places where they were hiding, just as they were accustomed to the great walks in the Peruvian Andes.

A child cuts coca leaves in a cultivation plot located in the town center of Villa Aurora in the Chungui jungle. The cultivation of the coca leaf along with cocoa and coffee is one of the most profitable products for farmers in the valleys near the Apurimac River. January 2013

Remains of a Peruvian army barracks that has been abandoned in the Chungui jungle, near the Apurímac River in the small town of Villa Aurora. Sandbags were used for a base used by Peruvian police forces. The Chungui jungle is a transit zone for cocaine basic pasta carriers. January 29, 2013

Oronqoy villagers and forensic anthropologists pray kneeling around a common grave of Estacayocc, shortly before beginning the exhumation on the spot. According to villagers In this place a massacre occurred by members of the police. There were recovered bones remains belonging to 39 people.This massacre would have occurred in 1985.30 years later, the exhumations of those who died in that massacre began August 19, 2015

Members of the Forensic Team of the Public Ministry show a woman different clothes that were found in the Chuschihaycco mass grave, in Chungui. Chuschihuaycco, the largest mass grave in Chungui, was the clandestine burial site of the detainees in the military base installed in that town during the internal armed conflict in Peru (1980-1995). After the exhumations carried out in 2011 and 2013, 54 bodies with their respective garments were found. Of these, only 17 have been identified and returned to their relatives. December 2, 2014.

Angelica Cusi Diaz, 75, lies down and laments over the coffin that contains the skeletal remains of the baby of her daughter Lucia Cuadros Cusi, who was murdered in 1984 by members of the Maoist organization Sendero Luminoso in her town of Belen Chapi located in the eyebrow of the jungle of the district of Oronccoy. The old woman had to travel for 2 days: 10 hours walking from her native Chapi to the town of Chupon, from where she had to be transported for 9 hours to the city of Huamanga, where the skeletal remains of her murdered relatives were delivered to her. This image was taken in the town of Chupon where Angelica was transferred after the delivery of her daughter's skeletal remains. She had to walk for 9 hours to return to her hometown and bury her daughter. October 27, 2014

A group of people from Tastabamba walk with their acemilas carrying the coffins and skeletal remains of 27 bodies identified and returned to the communities of Tastabamba and Putucunay. The relatives had to travel 17 hours (7 hours on roads and 10 hours on bridle paths) together with their cargo cartridges, since the village has no roads. The next day they had to carry out the burial in the Tastabamba cemetery, with the assistance of about a hundred people. December 11, 2019

A resident of Tastabamba carries the coffin with the skeletal remains of his relative during the burial of 27 bodies identified and returned to the cemetery in Tastabamba. The relatives had to travel 17 hours: 7 hours on roads and 10 hours on bridle paths with their pack animals, since the village lacks roads. December 12, 2019 Un poblador de Tastabamba carga el ataud con los restos oseos de su familiar durante el entierro de 27 cuerpos identificados y restituidos hasta el cementerio en Tastabamba . Los familiares tuvieron que viajar 17 horas : 7 horas por carreteras y 10 horas por caminos de herradura junto asus acemilas de carga, pues el villorio carece de carrreteras. 12 de diciembre del 2019

Rosilda Orihuela carries some flowers towards the new funeral pavilion in Oronccoy where the duly identified skeletal remains of her relatives were buried. Her family members were murdered by law enforcement forces during the internal armed conflict that especially devastated the Oronccoy district in the 1980s. Rosilda lost 5 relatives: her mother Teodosia Orihuela Diaz, and her 8-year-old siblings Margarita; of 10 years ; Gloria, 6 years old, and Juan De Dios, 3 years old. The skeletal remains and associated elements of 35 victims of the Cabracancha and Estacayocc massacres were delivered during a public ceremony of dignified restitution held in Oronccoy, Ayacucho.

Relatives and residents of the Oronccoy district move the 64 coffins to a new cemetery with the bodies of the victims killed in the Estacayoc and Cacbracamcha massacres finalized by Peruvian law enforcement in 1985. The bones of the victims were exhumed by Team members of Forensics of Huamanga in Peru in 2015. Of the 64 people killed who were exhumed by forensics in 2015, only 20 were identified. The remaining 44 bodies (the other 44) were buried with codes in a funeral pavilion, so that in the next months you can continue in your identification work. The slowness of the identification process has a justification: forensics lacked their own laboratory in Ayacucho. Only since the beginning of this year have one. August 8, 2019.

Geraldina Ccaicuri Velásquez reunites and hugs her cousin Daniel Díaz during a ceremony to hand over 35 bodies of victims of the internal armed conflict. This ceremony took place in Oronccoy, Ayacucho between June 21 and 22, 2022. Geraldina was 19 years old when she left her hometown in March 1983. She lost her mother Isabel Velásquez, and 3 of her brothers. Her relatives were murdered, along with about 40 people from the town; between 1984 and 1985 by Peruvian security forces in the Estaccayoc area, an hour and a half walk from the town, along with about 40 people from the town. It should be added that she also lost her husband Ángel Oros Alarcón whose body is still missing.

Gravestone of the deceased Filomeno Cervantes Palomino who was murdered by members of the Shining Path organization ,in 1988 in the town of Huecchues; and later buried in 2013 in the cemetery of the town center of Villa Auora, located in the Chungui jungle, after an exhumation ordered by the Public Ministry of Peru. January 26, 2013

Villagers attend the inauguration of a section of the highway that connects the town of Villa Aurora in the jungle of the Chungui district. This is an area that produces fruits as well as coffee, cocoa and also coca leaves. All these agricultural products are commercialized both within the district and to other surrounding areas. This jungle area was also affected during the period of the internal armed conflict that confronted the Peruvian police and military forces with insurgent members of the Shining Path. April 2015

A cross marks one of the mass graves where several people murdered by law enforcement forces were buried during the internal armed conflict that devastated the Ayacucho region and especially in the town center of Chilllihua, located in the mountains of the Oronqoy district. A forensic team from the Public Ministry of Peru carried out an exhumation in the area, finding skeletal remains of the murdered people. To get to this place they had to walk 8 hours, since the district still does not have enough roads.

A woman with her baby poses at the entrance to the Oronccoy district, shortly before going to work on her farmland. October 27, 2015