Ayacucho: At the Center of History

For Easter weekend, my mom, a friend from medical school, and I traveled to Ayacucho. Ayacucho is in the southern highlands of Peru. It’s about a 1 hr flight or 8 hours by bus. Although it’s name was changed to from Huamanga to Ayacucho in the 1800’s the locals still call it Huamanga.

Ayacucho seems to always find it self at the center of Peruvian history. It is the place where there is evidence of the first human remains in South America (about 20,000 years ago) in the caves of Pikimachay. It is also where the decisive battle for Peruvian independence was fought in 1824. Most recently though, Ayacucho was the center of the terrorist movement that plagued Peru from 1980 – 1992. The leader of Sendero Luminoso, Abimael Guzman, was first a teacher at the University in Huamanga. Although Sendero Luminoso terrorized all of Peru, Ayacucho was the center of their activity. But what was particularly difficult for this mostly indigineous population was that they were caught between the terrorists and the army. Approximately 70,000 people died during this conflict. That part of the country was pretty much inaccessible or cut off from the rest of the country during those years. Los indigenos fled their farms/villages and moved either to the city of Ayacucho or to Lima which were somewhat safer that their homes in the mountains. We heard many stories while we were there that weekend of the atrocities that were committed. I cannot even begin to imagine what it was like to live through that time. It is such a different city now, calm, beautiful, and peaceful.