US embassy cable - 05LIMA5203

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 LIMA 005203 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/07/2015 
TAGS: PTER, PGOV, SNAR, PE 
SUBJECT: FIVE PNP OFFICERS KILLED IN AYACUCHO AMBUSH 
 
REF: A. LIMA 5031 
     B. LIMA 4985 
 
Classified By: PolCouns Alexander Margulies Reason: 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) On the morning of 12/5 between 15 and 20 armed 
individuals ambushed and attacked two DIRANDRO vehicles en 
route from the new NAS-funded DIRANDRO base at Palma Pampa to 
San Francisco, both in the VRAE (reftels).  Five police 
officers were killed, and a prosecutor and one other police 
officer were injured.  The vehicles were transporting the 
prosecutor and a detained narcotrafficking suspect who 
remains in custody.  The ambush took place at the Cantute 
bridge about 20 minutes outside of San Francisco.  The PNP 
officers killed in the attack were based at Palma Pampa. 
According to Post sources, remnants of Sendero Luminoso (SL) 
were involved in the ambush. 
 
2. (SBU) Wounded, surviving Special Operations (GOES) officer 
Loja Tafur said the attackers hid in ditches on the side of 
the road and in the hill above the road.  The first vehicle 
carrying the detainee had accelerated well ahead of the 
second vehicle, which suffered all the casualties; the first 
vehicle was never engaged.  The driver of the second vehicle 
was shot by a sniper causing the vehicle to careen out of 
control; three PNP were thrown out of the back of the truck. 
The attack continued with heavy automatic weapon fire from 
high ground.  Tafur was severely wounded in his right hand 
and rolled under the vehicle.  The prosecutor was covered by 
a wounded GOES officer, William Quispe, who received several 
shots to his back sparing the prosecutor's life; Quispe died 
on site from his wounds.  The two survivors in the second 
vehicle feigned death and heard attackers on the ground 
receiving radio orders to collect the victims' weapons. 
Tafur estimates some of the attackers collecting weapons were 
13 - 14 years old.  According to Tafur the ambush was 
improvised; he says the attackers likely were in the area, 
saw the first vehicle pass, and seized the opportunity to 
attack the second vehicle. 
 
3. (U) NAS provided helicopter airlift support to evacuate 
the wounded, now in Lima, and to transport senior PNP 
officers from Lima to the scene.  The Prosecutor is in a 
hospital with fragment wounds. Tafur is in a PNP hospital; 
his thumb was amputated and a specialist is working to save 
his hand.  Minister of Interior, Romulo Pizarro, told press 
that 50 special operations PNP officers were sent to the area 
to find the perpetrators, who he described as 
"narcoterrorists."  We understand about 200 police will be 
moved to the area to track the perpetrators. 
 
4. (U) The attack on the officers was reported widely and 
made front page news on most dailies.  Leading dailies "El 
Comercio" and "La Republica" drew links between the 12/5 
attacks and SL operating in the area; the "El Comercio" 
headline identified the attackers as "narcosenderistas." 
 
5. (SBU) Palma Pampa is in the heart of the Apurimac/Ene 
Valley (VRAE), a primary source zone for coca cultivation and 
cocaine production and an area where SL is becoming 
increasingly involved in the narcotics trade (Ref B).  The 
Palma Pampa base serves to establish a police presence in the 
area and is successfully increasing interdiction operations 
in the area.  (Note: On 12/4 Poloff and media representatives 
accompanied DIRANDRO officers from the base and the 
prosecutor on an interdiction operation in the nearby 
community of Comumpiari; a prosecutor is present for all 
interdiction operations.  Six coca maceration pits were 
identified and destroyed in the operation.  The community was 
vocally hostile and threw rocks at the police and 
participants.  Palma Pampa base commander Enrique Blanco 
referred to Comumpiari as a "narco-community" where the 
residents work together to process coca paste and police are 
not welcome. Blanco said similar communities fill the VRAE. 
End Note.) 
 
6. (SBU) Comment: The attack and murder of DIRANDRO and GOES 
police has galvanized the PNP into action. Embassy is 
providing transport and other support. The influence of armed 
narcotraffickers in the region is evident.  Though the 
identities of the perpetrators are unknown, there is clear 
evidence of increasing linkages between SL terrorist 
remnants, narcotraffickers, and coca growers in the area. 
End Comment. 
STRUBLE