Press release 226

TRC Final Report was made public on
August 28th 2003 at noon.

The President, Chairman of the Congress, Chairman of the Supreme Court and the Ombudsman receive the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission handed its Final Report on August 28th at 12:40 pm during a ceremony in the Palace of Government. The President, Alejandro Toledo, received from the hands of the TRC chairman, Salomón Lerner, twelve volumes and seven annexes that condense two years of labor.

At the beginning of his speack, TRC chairman, Dr. Lerner referred to the number of victims that, according to the TRC’s estimates add up to 69,280, and said "The History of Peru registers more than one difficult and painful period, of authentic national prostration. But, sure enough, none of them deserves to be so deeply marked with the stamp of shame and dishonor as the period of history we are forced to tell in the pages of the report we give to the Nation today. The two final decades of the XX Century are –it is obligatory to say so plainly- a mark of horror and disgrace for Peruvian society and State”.

" ...The Report we hand in –he said to President Toledo- contains a double outrage: that of massive murder, disappearance and torture; and that of indolence, incompetence and indifference of those who could have stopped this humanitarian catastrophe but didn’t. We have stated that the numeric data is overwhelming, but insufficient. It is true. Little can this number or any other explain the imbalance, responsibilities and the horror methods lived by Peruvian population. And little does it also illustrate us on the experience of suffering that swooped on the victims and did not abandon them ever since. In this report we carry out the duty given to us, as web as the obligation we voluntarily assumed: to publicly set out the tragedy as a work of humans suffered by humans" TRC chairman stated.

The plenary of commissioners handed its Final Report to the Chairman of the Congress Dr. Henry Pease and to the Chairman of the Supreme Court, Dr. Hugo Sivina. Later in the afternoon, the commissioners also handed a copy of the Report to the Ombudsman, Walter Albán, whose institution will take charge of the document patrimony it inherits from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Final Report Submission to the President of Peru

Supreme Decree 063-2003-PCM, published in El Peruano newspaper on June 26th 2003, recounts the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Final Report will be submitted to the President of Peru and chairmen of other State powers on August 28th, 2003.

Symbolic ceremony in Huamanga, Ayacucho

On August 29th the plenary of commissioners traveled to Ayacucho to carry out a ceremony in the city of Huamanga. At noon, TRC chairman, Dr. Salomon Lerner Febres, read a message containing the main conclusions and recommendations of the Final Report. Also, they uncovered a commemorative plaque in memory of all the victims of the violence lived by our country in the last 20 years. Once the ceremony was over, the commissioners offered a press conference in Huamanga. At 7 pm at the Main Plaza of Huamanga, a concert of Peruvian music was held.

Lima, August 28th 2003

Communications and Public Impact Office
Truth and Reconciliation Commission