A woman from Huamanga, the capital of Ayacucho, was asked by a cousin if he could stay in her house one evening. Even though she knew her cousin was said to be a membermof the insurgent group Sendero Lumiso, she let him stay. Her husband, a member of the security forces, was furious when he found out, and acussed her having sympathy for Sendero. He took her to the local military headquarters, where she was interrogated as to her cousin´s whereabouts. After enduring physical abuse, she told them. He was detained and “disappeared” the next day.

This story dramatizes the many dimensions of the conflict underway in Peru today. Families have been torn apart by a fratricidal civil war that has killed 23,000 –the majority incent campesis- and forced 200,000 to flee their homes in searh of safety. Incent civilians have been killed by the security forces in brutal massacres, and torture and enforced disappearances have become commonplace.

How are we to understand violence that racks Peru today? What factors have led to a situation in which neutrality is interpreted by both sides as provocation? Why has terror become so pervasive in Peruvian society? How has this situation affected the extensive network of popular organizations throughout the country, and what has been their response?
This document is an attempt to provide some tools to help asnwer these questions. Organized in eigth independent sections, it was designed so that the reader can focus directly on a particualr issue of interest, or read the entire book for a more comprehensive overview