Peru Unearthing the Bodies

This remote hamlet on fertile Andean slopes beside the Apurimac river has been a ghost town for three decades, inhabited only by the buried bodies of villagers slain by security forces who considered them rebel sympathizers.

Earlier this month, forensic investigators began unearthing the remains of the nearly two dozen victims of the July 14, 1984, massacre in this region where government forces regularly hunted alleged collaborators of the Shining Path guerrillas.

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In this Sept. 6, 2014 photo, Dolores Guzman combs archeologist Soledad Mostacero's hair in the Paccha village of Peru. Guzman, sole survivor of a 1984 massacre in Paccha, set aside the street stand where she sells hard-boiled eggs in Lima and journeyed to the Paccha to help forensic investigators find the common graves with the bodies of villagers slain by security forces who considered those slain adherents of the Shining Path rebels. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 9, 2014 photo, a warning sign nailed to trees and posted by the local Civil Defense Committee reads in Spanish, "It is forbidden to be out between 8:00PM. and 4:00 A.M. due to a curfew," in the Torre village, Peru. This rugged southeastern region known as ìOreja de Perro,î or Dogís Ear, lacks telephones, super markets and good roads. Cocaine-trafficking remnants of the otherwise conquered Shining Path movement coexist here with young Quechua men who ferry coca paste over the Andes in backpacks. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 4, 2014 photo, Dolores Guzman chews coca leaves after eating lunch with villagers hired by forensic anthropologists to assist in an exhumation of mass graves of people slain by government security forces in the Paccha village of Peru. Guzman, sole survivor of the 1984 massacre, journeyed to Paccha to help in locating the common graves. She was spared, she says, because one of her cousins was a police guide. The day after the killings, she was marched out of the village and released. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 4, 2014 photo, Belen Chapi Civil Defense Committee members arrive after walking five hours from their village to assist in an exhumation of mass graves with the bodies of villagers slain by security forces, in Paccha village of Peru. Before the 1984 massacre, the hamlet was a refuge for dozens of families trying to flee the conflict, said sole survivor Dolores Guzman, who was 20 years old and four months pregnant at the time. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 7, 2014 photo, a spent bullet casing is seen in an unearthed grave during an exhumation of mass graves of villagers slain by security forces, in the Paccha village of Peru. The exhumation was part of an effort by the Peruvian government to find out more about the human rights violations committed during the 1980-2000 internal conflict, and try to identify those who were responsible. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 6, 2014 photo, Eusebio Cuadros, right, watches as forensic anthropologists Soldad Mostacero, left, and Osvaldo Calcina, center right, exhume a mass grave of people slain by security forces, in the Paccha village, in the district of Chungui, Peru. Cuadros' aunt, Natividad, was one of the villagers slain in the July 14, 1984 massacre in Paccha, a hamlet located in the Andean slopes beside the Apurimac river where government forces regularly hunted alleged collaborators of the Maoist guerrillas. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 7, 2014 photo, a forensic anthropologist places an unearthed skull in a bag during the exhumation of mass graves of villagers slain by security forces, in the Paccha village of Peru. In all, 21 sets of human remains were recovered, including those of eight children and a fetus, said Luis Rueda, the forensic archaeologist overseeing the dig. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 5, 2014 photo, a weasel hunted by members of the Belen Chapi Civil Defense Committee lies dead on a stone before it is skinned and added to the evening's soup, at a makeshift camp set up by forensic investigators, in the Peruvian village Paccha, the site of a 1984 massacre. The group traveled to the rugged southeastern region known as ìOreja de Perro,î or Dogís Ear, which lacks telephones, grocery stores and good roads, to begin unearthing the remains of the nearly two dozen victims of the July 14. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 4, 2014 photo, Felix Casa, right center, and Cipriano Huaman, back left, pose for the visual anthropologist, pointing to the graves where they believe their relatives were buried during an exhumation of mass graves of villagers slain by security forces, in the Paccha village of Chungui, Peru. In all, 21 sets of human remains were recovered, including those of eight children and a fetus, said Luis Rueda, the forensic archaeologist overseeing the dig. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 4, 2014 photo, Belen Chapi Civil Defense Committee members help transport forensic anthropological equipment, as they journey to the Paccha village of Peru, to help forensic investigators find the common graves of of those killed in a 1984 massacre. Arriving is not easy. This rugged southeastern region known as ìOreja de Perro,î or Dogís Ear, lacks telephones and good roads.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 4, 2014 photo, Severina Osco observes how forensic photographer Angela Inostroza looks for bone fragments in the soil removed in an exhumation of mass graves of villagers slain by security forces in 1984, in the Paccha village of Peru. Osco is trying to locate the body of her sister, Natilda, who disappeared in 1984. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 4, 2014 photo, Belen Chapi Civil Defense Committee members begin digging an area mapped by forensic anthropologists in an exhumation of mass graves of villagers slain by security forces, in the Paccha village of Chungui, Peru. The exhumation was part of an effort by the Peruvian government to find out more about the human rights violations committed during the 1980-2000 internal conflict, and try to identify those who were responsible. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 4, 2014 photo, villagers hired by forensic anthropologists take a break from helping the exhumation of mass graves of people slain by government security forces in 1984, in the Paccha village of Peru. After more than a week of digging, forensic anthropologists reported three mass graves were found, from which 21 sets of human remains were recovered, including eight children and a fetus. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 8, 2014 photo, an orange ribbon outlines skeletal remains in a mass grave, unearthed in the village Paccha of Peru. For three decades, the soil of this unpopulated hamlet on the Andean slopes beside the Apurimac river guarded bodies of villagers slain by security forces who considered them adherents of the Shining Path rebels. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 3, 2014 photo, beef dries on a wooden rack in the Chupon village of Peru. This isolated corner of Peru is witnessing exhumations of mass gives with victims of the 1980-2000 internal conflict, which claimed an estimated 70,000 lives. Since 2003, the remains of slightly more than 2,400 victims have been recovered, but the bodies of an estimated 12,000 more, mostly poor, Quechua-speaking farmers, are believed to remain unearthed. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 7, 2014 photo, the remains of an unidentified villager lies unearthed from a common grave, exhumed by forensic anthropologists in the Paccha village of Peru. Forensic investigators began unearthing the remains of the nearly two dozen victims of the July 14, 1984 massacre in this region where government forces regularly hunted alleged collaborators of the Maoist guerrillas. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 5, 2014 photo, Dolores Guzman blows into a cane reed to stoke a fire at a makeshift camp in the Paccha village of Peru. Guzman, sole survivor of the Paccha massacre, journeyed from Lima to help forensic investigators find the common graves of the people slain by government security forces in 1984. Before the massacre, the hamlet was a refuge for dozens of families trying to flee the conflict, said Guzman, who was 20 years old and four months pregnant at the time. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 5, 2014 photo, forensic anthropologists; Rolando Alvarado, center; Soledad Mostacero, right; and Osvaldo Calcina, break to eat during an exhumation of a mass grave of villagers slain by government security forces, in the Paccha village of the Peru. Since 2003, the remains of slightly more than 2,400 victims of the 1980-2000 internal conflict have been recovered, but the bodies of an estimated 12,000 more, mostly poor, Quechua-speaking farmers, are believed to remain unearthed. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 8, 2014 photo, Cipriano Huaman, who recognized his brother's clothes in an unearthed mass grave, lights a candle during a vigil for remains exhumed by forensic anthropologists in the Peruvian village of Paccha. Forensic investigators began unearthing the remains of the nearly two dozen victims of the July 14, 1984 massacre in Paccha, a village located in a region where government forces regularly hunted alleged collaborators of the Maoist guerrillas during the 1980-2000 internal conflict. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

In this Sept. 3, 2014 photo, villagers leading donkeys loaded with the working tools for anthropologists, traverse a mountain pass on a journey to help forensic investigators locate the common graves of those killed in a 1984 massacre in the Paccha village of Peru. Arriving is not easy. This rugged southeastern region known as ìOreja de Perro,î or Dogís Ear, lacks telephones, grocery stores and good roads. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Text from AP PHOTOS: SURVIVOR OF PERU MASSACRE GUIDES TEAM by RODRIGO ABD AND FRANKLIN BRICENO.

See more photos by Rodrigo Abd 

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