Santiago Martín Rivas

Santiago Martín Rivas
Born (1957-11-04) 4 November 1957
Lucma, Peru
Allegiance Peru
BranchPeruvian Army
RankMajor
CommandsGrupo Colina
ConflictsInternal Conflict in Peru, La Cantuta Massacre, Barrios Altos Massacre, Santa Massacre
Other workCurrently imprisoned

Santiago Martín Rivas (born 4 November 1957)[1] was a major in the Peruvian Army, a member of the Army Intelligence Service, and the leader of a death squad known as Grupo Colina, responsible for several massacres, kidnappings, murders and forced disappearances during the era of terrorism during the government of Alberto Fujimori.[2][3]

In 1994, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for human rights violations, but was later pardoned by the Fujimori majority-controlled Congress.[4][5] In 2002, Martín Rivas was arrested again on charges of perpetrating the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos massacres, as well as the murder of his former partner, agent Mariela Barreto.[6][7] In 2010, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.[8]

Biography

Santiago Enrique Martín Rivas studied at the Chorrillos Military School, graduating as a second lieutenant in the engineering branch on January 1, 1978, as part of the 82nd "Lieutenant Luis García Ruiz" class. In 1981, he participated in the False Paquisha conflict, where he met his mentor, Captain José Colina, who died in 1984 under mysterious circumstances.[9] In 1983, he met Benedicto Jiménez, who would later become head of the GEIN and with whom he would maintain a rivalry.[10]

He worked in the army in the fight against insurrection. In 1987, he joined the Army Intelligence Service (SIE), attached to the Army Intelligence Directorate (DINTE).[11] In 1988, he met Vladimiro Montesinos during the Cayara Case, a scandal that engulfed the army due to the indiscriminate attack on the population of Cayara by troops following an attack by the Shining Path. At that time, Martín Rivas acted as the case manager and liaison with Montesinos, who was acting as an informant, on the orders of Colonel Osvaldo Hanke Velasco, head of the SIE.[12] At the end of the 1980s, he traveled to Colombia where he studied at the Colombian Intelligence School. During the 1990 presidential campaign, Martín Rivas worked on an anti-subversive plan as a member of the SIE, which was proposed to FREDEMO, the party of then-candidate Mario Vargas Llosa, because the army supported Vargas Llosa's candidacy.[13] In December 1990, Martín Rivas was summoned to Peru from Colombia. Upon his arrival, he was received by agents of the National Intelligence Service (SIN), who took him to a meeting with Montesinos. Although Martín Rivas did not belong to the SIN, he attended its meetings as a representative of the army.[14] After the capture of the Shining Path archives by the GEIN, Martín Rivas was one of those in charge of analyzing said documents.[15] As a result of the analysis, Martín Rivas, together with Carlos Pichilingue, prepared a report on how to confront Shining Path. For this action they received a commendation from Fujimori in June 1991.[16] From this report a meeting titled the "Round Table Meeting" was organized with the presence of high military commanders where Martín Rivas explained the strategies of the Shining Path and the recommendation to move to low-intensity warfare where "terrorism would be confronted with its own methods" with the objective that "no Shining Path member feels safe anywhere." The meeting ended with the approval of the recommendations.[17]

In 1991, while living undercover, he had a daughter with non-commissioned officer Mariela Barreto, an intelligence agent and subordinate of Martín Rivas.[18] That same year, together with other army officers, he formed the so-called Colina Group,[5][19][20][21][22] and they committed their first major paramilitary action: the Barrios Altos massacre. Martín Rivas, according to Sosa Saavedra (member of the aforementioned group), would call that group "Lima".[23]

Judicial processes

On May 3, 1994,[24] after a court martial,[9] Martín Rivas was sentenced to 20 years in prison for human rights violations.[25] After serving thirteen months in the Simón Bolívar Barracks in Pueblo Libre, he was granted a presidential amnesty on June 14, 1995.[24][6] This sentence was annulled after Fujimori fled Peru.[5][24] After the 1995 amnesty,[26] Martín Rivas remained living in the Bolívar Barracks, where he had been imprisoned.[27] During his stay in the Bolívar Barracks (until March 1997), he was subjected to surveillance by Montesinos' agents.[28] By 1997, Martín Rivas was no longer working for either the SIN or the SIE.[29]

On March 23, 1997, on the road to Canta,[30] the dismembered and decapitated corpse of Mariela Barreto was found,[31][32] who, along with another SIN agent, Leonor La Rosa (who claimed to have been tortured),[33][34] was suspected of leaking information about the Grupo Colina's crimes to the press.[18][35][36] Martín Rivas was identified as the prime suspect in Barreto's death,[18] although Martín Rivas stated that such action was carried out by Montesinos.[37]

In 1998, agent Mesmer Carles Talledo accused Grupo Colina of perpetrating of the murder of trade unionist Pedro Huillca.[38][39] To investigate the case, a parliamentary commission was created in which Martín Rivas had to testify as the leader of the paramilitary group, denying its existence.[40] To escape from the victims' families, who were waiting for him at the door of Congress, he had to flee through a window.[41]

In 2001 Martín Rivas went into hiding, and despite having an arrest warrant, he was not dismissed from the army, and thus continued to collect a state pension.[42] As a fugitive from justice, he gave several interviews to journalist Umberto Jara in different places to avoid being captured by the authorities.[43] In one of them, recorded on video,[44][45] he revealed that former President Alberto Fujimori ordered the creation of Grupo Colina;[20][46] a group that Rivas pointed out on Canal N as the author of the La Cantuta and Barrios Altos massacres.[47] Jara subsequently published the book Ojo por ojo, in which he compiled the statements of Martín Rivas about the crimes of the paramilitary group he led.[46][48] According to statements by Martín Rivas, he accepted the interviews because he felt helpless and betrayed by his benefactors in the Peruvian Army.[49]

After a two-year investigation[50] by the Ministry of the Interior,[51] Martín Rivas was captured on November 18, 2002, while giving an interview to Jara[52] at his home in the Lima district of San Miguel.[53][5][6][46] During his transfer to the corresponding police station, he was repeatedly called "Murderer!" by human rights organizations and by relatives of many of the victims of Grupo Colina.[52] He was interrogated about the disappearance of journalist Pedro Yauri in Huacho.[54]

In 2006, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ordered the reopening of the Cantuta case, and Martín Rivas was again tried, this time in a civilian court.[9]

In 2010, he was sentenced to twenty-five years in prison, along with the former advisor of President Fujimori during his term, Vladimiro Montesinos, and the former commander-in-chief of the army, Nicolás Hermoza Ríos, among others; in a trial held for the massacres of Barrios Altos, La Cantuta, and the murder and disappearance of journalist Pedro Yauri.[9] He was also prosecuted along with Montesinos, among others, for the torture, murder, and dismemberment of former intelligence agent Mariela Barreto.[5][19][55]

In 2024, during the judicial process for the Pativilca massacre, Martín Rivas showed no signs of remorse for his actions and threatened those who have tried to bring justice for the crimes committed by the Armed Forces.[56]

References

  1. ^ "Captura y traslado de Martín Rivas a la cárcel (Canal 7) | CDI". lum.cultura.pe. Retrieved 2025-07-17.
  2. ^ "Paramilitary death squad leader cites decree 1097 in attempt to halt La Cantuta trial". Peruvian Times. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  3. ^ "Death squad secrets in Fujimori trial". MSN. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  4. ^ "PERU SENTENCES 9 OFFICERS IN '92 KIDNAP-KILLINGS". The Washington Post. 1994-02-22. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Arrestado Santiago Martín Rivas, el jefe del paramilitar Grupo Colina". LARED21 (in Spanish). 2002-11-19. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  6. ^ a b c "Perú: capturado ex jefe paramilitar". BBC. 2002-11-19. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  7. ^ Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law: Volume 5, 2002. Asser Press. p. 587. ISBN 90-6704-189-0.
  8. ^ Iqbal, Muhammad (2012-07-21). "Peru court cuts sentence of top Fujimori aide". Brecorder. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  9. ^ a b c d Bergman was right Films (2016-05-30). Documental SU NOMBRE ES FUJIMORI (2016). Retrieved 2025-08-10 – via YouTube.
  10. ^ Jara 2017, p. 84.
  11. ^ "Santiago Martin Rivas: el soldado (Pequeños dictadores)" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  12. ^ Jara 2017, p. 18.
  13. ^ Jara 2017, p. 54.
  14. ^ Jara 2017, p. 55−56.
  15. ^ Jara 2017, p. 73.
  16. ^ Jara 2017, p. 74.
  17. ^ Jara 2017, p. 78−79.
  18. ^ a b c "Suerte Sellada". Caretas. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  19. ^ a b "Caso Mariella Barreto persigue a Vladimiro Montesinos". Peru21 (in Spanish). 2013-03-28. Archived from the original on 2018-10-21. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  20. ^ a b "Jefe del grupo Colina Santiago Martin Rivas es interrogado en juicio a Fujimori". andina.pe (in Spanish). 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  21. ^ "Biografía, captura y traslado de Santiago Martin Rivas | CDI". lum.cultura.pe. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  22. ^ "El supuesto jefe del Grupo Colina niega la existencia de 'escuadrones' en Perú". El País (in Spanish). 2008-02-28. ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  23. ^ "Sentencia a Fujimori" (PDF).
  24. ^ a b c "Juicio a Martin Rivas fue una farsa". La Republica (in Spanish). 2002-11-24. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  25. ^ "Arrestado Santiago Martín Rivas, el jefe del paramilitar Grupo Colina". LARED21 (in Spanish). 2002-11-19. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  26. ^ Uceda, Ricardo (2019-03-08). Muerte en el pentagonito (in Spanish). Planeta Perú. p. 248. ISBN 978-612-319-428-4.
  27. ^ Jara 2017, p. 162.
  28. ^ Jara 2017, p. 164.
  29. ^ Uceda, Ricardo (2023-07-09). "Crítica de una sentencia". El Comercio (in Spanish). ISSN 1605-3052. Retrieved 2025-08-10.
  30. ^ "Martín Rivas niega haber asesinado a Mariela Barreto, según su abogado". Panamericana Televisión. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  31. ^ "Biografía, captura y traslado de Santiago Martin Rivas | CDI". lum.cultura.pe. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  32. ^ "Hallan fotos que revelan cómo asesinaron a Mariella Barreto". larepublica.pe (in Spanish). 2010-08-16. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  33. ^ Relea, Francesc (1997-07-31). "La espía que desenmascaró a Fujimori". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  34. ^ "¿Ha mentido Leonor La Rosa todo este tiempo?". www.agenciaperu.com. Archived from the original on 2006-03-30. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  35. ^ "Revive el caso de "descuartizada" en Perú". BBC News Mundo (in Spanish). 2010-08-18. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  36. ^ Puertas, Laura (1998-03-19). "Nuevas acusaciones de torturas y asesinatos contra el servicio secreto de Peru". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  37. ^ Jara 2017, p. 166.
  38. ^ "INFORME N.º 55/98. CASO 11.768: PEDRO HUILCA TECSE". September 25, 1998.
  39. ^ "Caso: Huilca Tecse, Pedro | CDI". Centro de Documentación e Investigación LUM. June 22, 2002. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  40. ^ "Aprietan A Arrieta". Caretas. 1998. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  41. ^ "1998 | Centro de Documentación e Investigación". Centro de Documentación e Investigación LUM (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  42. ^ "Prófugo Santiago Martín Rivas continúa recibiendo pensión | CDI". lum.cultura.pe. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  43. ^ "En cuatro videos Martin admite que grupo Colina tuvo respaldo político". www.bcasas.org.pe. Archived from the original on 2018-10-21. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  44. ^ "Video de la entrevista Umberto Jara a Santiago Martín Rivas en la clandestinidad que vincula a Montesinos y Alberto Fujimori en la lucha contra la subversión | CDI". lum.cultura.pe. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  45. ^ PERÚ, Empresa Peruana de Servicios Editoriales S. A. EDITORA (2008-02-29). "Martin Rivas reitera que entrevista con Umberto Jara fue solo un "ensayo"". andina.pe (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  46. ^ a b c "Confesiones De un Sicario". www2.caretas.pe. Archived from the original on 2018-09-16. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  47. ^ "Martin Rivas admite que Grupo Colina es autor de matanzas de La Cantuta y Barrios Altos". La República. May 22, 2001. Archived from the original on 2007-06-24. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  48. ^ S.A.P, El Mercurio (2003-09-24). "Perú: Libro dice que Fujimori ordenó ejecución de terroristas presos". Emol (in Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  49. ^ "Martin Rivas aceptó la entrevista porque se sintió 'traicionado' por sus superiores | El Comercio Perú". elcomercio.pe (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 2018-10-21. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  50. ^ "Arrestado Santiago Martín Rivas, el jefe del paramilitar Grupo Colina". LARED21 (in Spanish). 2002-11-19. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  51. ^ "Capturado jefe paramilitar". El Universo (in Spanish). 2002-11-19. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  52. ^ a b "Captura de Santiago Martín Rivas | CDI". lum.cultura.pe. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  53. ^ "Captura y traslado de Martín Rivas a la cárcel (Canal 7) | CDI". lum.cultura.pe. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  54. ^ "RPP Noticias: Martin Rivas fue interrogado por muerte de periodista". www.rpp.com.pe. Archived from the original on 2002-12-08. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  55. ^ "El asesinato de Mariella Barreto pasa a juicio". La República (in Spanish). 2016-08-24. Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2025-09-01.
  56. ^ Catacora, Por Mariana Quilca (2024-11-02). ""Es absurdo pedir perdón": Jefe del Grupo Colina, lanza amenazas en audiencia por casos Pativilca-La Cantuta". infobae (in European Spanish). Retrieved 2025-09-01.

Bibliography

  • Jara, Umberto (September 9, 2017). Ojo por ojo. Grupo Planeta - Perú. ISBN 9786123191962.
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