The unit was first created during the first government of
Fernando Belaúnde Terry as the 48th Command of the
Civil Guard on June 21, 1965, in the town of Mazamari. At that time the
Revolutionary Left Movement, a guerrilla group led by
Luis de la Puente Uceda, was operating in the
province of Satipo. The Sinchis were trained in commando styles by the
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and
United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets), and financed entirely by the United States. In 1966, the
Armed Forces of Peru managed to defeat the guerrillas. After
Juan Velasco Alvarado's coup, the Sinchis no longer received US support. However, in 1969 the unit was sent to
Huanta in the
Department of Ayacucho to put down widespread violent protests against the imposition of a charge of at least one hundred
soles on those who failed a course. In the so-called Huanta Rebellion, some twenty students and peasants were killed by the Sinchis and other police forces. Nevertheless, the Velasco dictatorship repealed the decree. On September 5, 1979, peasants from the community of
San Juan de Ondores occupied the lands of the Atocsaico estate, which had been taken over by the
Cerro de Pasco Copper Corporation in 1926 and in the
Agrarian Reform of 1969 was not returned to the community but rather handed over to the
Túpac Amaru Agricultural Society of Social Interest, although in 1963 a court had annulled the sale of Atocsaico. The peasants demanded the restitution of the lands to the community. On December 18, 1979, the government of Francisco Morales Bermúdez sent 300 Sinchis who forced the peasants to vacate the state lands. The latter responded with stones. The Sinchis opened fire resulting in two peasants being killed, some 15 wounded and 44 detained. On October 12, 1981, when the
Shining Path attacked the Tambo police post in the
La Mar Province in Ayacucho, President Fernando Belaunde Terry declared a state of emergency in Ayacucho and sent 193 police officers, including 40 Sinchis, to Ayacucho. The Sinchis had their headquarters in the city of
Huamanga, where there were never more than 120 of them. However, in their helicopters they arrived very quickly at the towns of the region, never more than nine men. Almost all of the Sinchis were coastal residents who did not speak the language of the region’s peasant population,
Ayacuchan Quechua, or know anything about their culture. According to testimonies kept by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the Sinchis committed numerous human rights abuses. In September 1982, the Sinchis arrived in two helicopters in
Chalcos, presented themselves as protectors against the Shining Path terrorists and organized sports activities. After two weeks, however, they got drunk, arrested the teachers and killed them, accusing them of being terrorists. One of the most well-known atrocities was the Socos (or Soccos; ) massacre, a community in
Huamanga Province, in which 32 men, women and children were murdered on November 13, 1983 by one unit of Sinchis. On February 8, 1984, criminal proceedings were opened by the First Court of Huamanga for aggravated homicide and attempted homicide, and on July 15, 1986, eleven defendants were sentenced, including six Sinchis, for the murder of the 32 inhabitants of Socos and for attempted murder, while 15 defendants were acquitted. The subjects were sentenced to prison terms between 10 and 25 years, but the first was released on December 1, 1988, the last on June 17, 1991, with parole. Civil Guard Lieutenant Luis Alberto Dávila Reátegui, sentenced to no less than 25 years, was released on parole on April 5, 1991. In 1989, the Shining Path began to infiltrate the
Ene River valley in the
Satipo Province in the
Department of Junín. The
Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Green Berets took over the Cutivireni mission in the
Río Tambo District of the same province, where some 700
Asháninka lived with
Franciscan missionaries, as a military base to combat terrorists and drug traffickers. Some Ashaninkas abandoned the mission and joined Shining Path, while others began to fight with the Sinchis against the guerrillas. Many Ashaninka on both sides fell. 169 Asháninka under the direction of Father Mariano Gagnon were transferred to
Kirigueti, a
Machiguenga town in the
Urubamba valley. ==See also==