Peruvian torture victims to be paid

[LeighAnn]

Source: Miami Herald

For two Peruvian girls who survived a massacre in 1985, the vicious memories still haunt them every day.

Nearly 23 years later, the women, now in their 30s, recounted the attack known as the Accomarca Massacre in federal court Monday in Miami. A judge will soon decide what damages to award the women for their pain and suffering.

Teófila Ochoa and Cirila Pulido detailed how on Aug. 14, 1985, at least 30 Peruvian soldiers stormed their village high in the Andes. The soldiers -- led by Second Lt. Telmo Hurtado -- pulled residents from their homes, raping the women and torturing the men and children. By day's end, the soldiers had executed 69 villagers and incinerated their bodies.

<snip>

Hurtado, 46, made a brief appearance during Monday's hearing. Physically fit and dressed in a prison-issued gray sweat suit, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and told Jordan he did not want to attend the hearing.


Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami_dade/story/415590.html

[Judi Lynn]

1. If a death squad member was suddenly missing, and couldn't be brought to justice when his country

regained its decency, where on earth might he be????? Damn! Would he hide in Alaska? No. China? Probably not.

What ARE the chances you'd find a right-wing mass murderer hiding, in, of all places, MIAMI? Probably 100%, of course.

I read an author who said that South Florida makes you think that Latin America has opened its mouth and VOMITED its sorry collection of filthy murdering dictators and torturers and death squads in hiding directly upon its shores.

It's WONDERFUL they found this guy. I'll bet it wasn't that hard, either! They probably all live in the same community, all next door to each other, protected by an army of outrageously overly-armed jackbooted Nazis. Republicans, of course.

From the article:

(already quoted:"Teófila Ochoa and Cirila Pulido detailed how on Aug. 14, 1985, at least 30 Peruvian soldiers stormed their village high in the Andes. The soldiers -- led by Second Lt. Telmo Hurtado -- pulled residents from their homes, raping the women and torturing the men and children. By day's end, the soldiers had executed 69 villagers and incinerated their bodies.")

''It smelled like someone was roasting something, like beef or pork, and the whole town was covered with smoke,'' Pulido testified in Spanish through a translator.

Ochoa and Pulido survived by hiding, but most of their family members were slaughtered. The women filed civil lawsuits last year against former Peruvian military officers Hurtado and Juan Rivera.

ADMITTED ROLE

Hurtado has admitted to a Peruvian commission that he led the massacre in an effort to rid the country of communist insurgents, according to testimony from Peruvian congressman Javier Diez Canseco. The army was looking for members of the Shining Path rebel group, and Hurtado claimed an informant led them to the Accomarca village, Canseco said.

Hurtado was never convicted of the killings. His government granted him amnesty, and he retired from Peru's army as a major in 1999.

Hurtado's amnesty was repealed in 2002, and he fled to Miami Beach. Immigration authorities arrested him there last March and charged him with lying on his visa application.

Thank you, LeighAnn.

[Hulk]

2. We've come a long way, baby......

The US is becoming the sewer of crimes and criminals.....white collar, government and otherwise.