From 1980 to 2000, the Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path, waged a brutal guerrilla war against the Peruvian state. Both sides inflicted extreme violence on civilians, including massacres, torture, rape, and disappearances, resulting in between 50,000 and 70,000 deaths and over 600,000 displacements, mostly among indigenous Quechua-speaking campesinos.
ANFASEP (the National Association of Relatives of the Kidnapped, Detained, and Disappeared of Peru) was founded in 1983 by Angélica Mendoza, whose 19-year-old son was disappeared by the military. Over the following decades, ANFASEP organized marches, petitions, and meals for up to 500 orphans of the conflict. Their work played a crucial role in the creation of Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and in 2005 they established the Museo de la Memoria.
Today, the museum tells the story of both the conflict and ANFASEP’s resilience through personal accounts, mementos, photographs, and art installations, many presented by the museum’s own staff.