The Fight for Memory, Justice, and Reconciliation

According to the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission, an estimated 8,500 Peruvians were disappeared during the country's civil war from 1980-2000. Human rights activists estimate a total of 13-15,000 given investigators did not fully scour the remote areas of the Andean highlands. As a Peace Fellow with the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) and The Advocacy Project, I documented their work with families of the disappeared to find and return the remains of their loved ones. (Read the blog of my experience here).

For my assignment, I routinely blogged and filmed videos about EPAF's work in Peru. This included my documentation of the La Cantuta memorials (below, in sequential order), which celebrated the return of remains of nine students and one professor who were killed by the Colina Group death squad during the administration of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori. I also filmed a series of conversations with individuals and activists impacted by the war regarding their perspectives on the judicial trial of Fujimori in 2008.

go beyond the surface. | akosiewicz@gmail.com