Peru
Peru’s ammunition history has been shaped by events in the last 50 years, including cold war arm flows, military governments and an armed conflict, as well as the rise of urban criminality and narco-traffic. The illegal and uncontrolled diversion of small arms is responsible for increased gun deaths and growing gang violence in the region1.
The UN Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC); the Mines Advisory Group (MAG); Norwegian People's Aid (NPA); and the GICHD have provided support to the Peruvian government in carrying out humanitarian demining activities and improving the through-life management of small arms and conventional ammunition. Efforts have mainly focused on training Peruvian armed forces, holding national workshops and courses to share knowledge on ammunition management and international guidelines, and supporting the destruction of surplus weapons and ammunition.2
1 “Peru," MAG, accessed May 13, 2022, https://www.maginternational.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/peru/.
2 “Ammunition Management Activity Platform (A-MAP),” GICHD, 2022, https://a-map.gichd.org.
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Further information
Accidental explosions
Since the Small Arms Survey began collecting data in 1979, six accidental explosions have been reported in Peru.
Table 1. Accidental explosions in Peru (1979–2021)
Year | Location | Owner/manager | Deaths | Injuries |
2023 | Quillabamba, Cusco | State (military) | 0 | 17 |
2022 | La Joya, Arequipa | State (military) | 0 | 0 |
2015 | San Juan de la Virgen, Tumbes | State (military) | 0 | 0 |
2014 | Lima | State (police) | 0 | 2 |
2003 | Tumbes | State (military) | 7 | 98 |
1997 | Piura | State (military) | 0 | 6 |
Source: “Unplanned Explosions at Munitions Sites (UEMS) Database,” Small Arms Survey, updated December 15, 2021, https://smallarmssurvey.org/database/unplanned-explosions-munitions-sites-uems; "Comando Conjunto: explosión en cuartel de Quillabamba se habría dado por “la exudación de algunos explosivos,” apnoticias.pe, February 6, 2023, https://www.apnoticias.pe/peru/rpp/comando-conjunto-explosion-en-cuartel-de-quillabamba-se-habria-dado-por-la-exudacion-de-algunos-explosivos-938111.
Cases of diversion
Several cases of diversion have been reported since 2004 in Peru.
Table 2. Reported cases of diversion of arms, ammunition and explosives in Peru since 2004
Year | Location | Description |
2021 | Tumbes | The theft of 76,800 rounds of ammunition from a storage area of the army was investigated.1 |
2014–15 | N/A | A total of 1,000 grenades and more than 100,000 cartridges were stolen from Peru's main army warehouse.2 |
2004 | N/A | In 2004, Colombian troops seized an FAL assault rifle with Peruvian Air Force markings from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). A 2011 Colombian inquiry revealed that, according to official records, the rifle had been decommissioned in 2005, and destroyed along with more than 1,200 other rifles in 2008. A Peruvian military investigation found that only 165 were destroyed. The rest were allegedly taken by a group of people who entered the military installation and took the weapons without showing any documentation, claiming they were taking the arms to another base.3 |
1 “Fiscalía militar policial investiga robo de municiones en Tumbes,” Plataforma digital única del Estado Peruano, December 2, 2021, Fiscalía Militar Policial investiga robo de municiones en Tumbes - Noticias - Fuero Militar Policial - Gobierno del Perú (www.gob.pe).
2 “Congresistas viajarán a Pisco e Iquitos para ver robos e incendio en polvorines,” El Heraldo, Congresistas viajarán a Pisco e Iquitos para ver robos e incendio en polvorines. (congreso.gob.pe); “Perú: Roban 1,000 Granadas y Más De 104,000 Balas De Almacén Del Ejército,” Univision, November 23, 2015, https://www.univision.com/noticias/asaltos-y-robos/peru-roban-1-000-granadas-y-mas-de-104-000-balas-de-almacen-del-ejercito.
3 Mimi Yagoub, “Arms Theft from Peru Army Supplies Points to Official Complicity,” InSight Crime, April 3, 2014, https://insightcrime.org/news/brief/arms-theft-from-peru-army-supplies-points-to-official-complicity/.
Disposal
To decrease the above-mentioned risks of accidental explosions and diversion, Peru has disposed of its ammunition since 2016.
Table 3. Disposal of tonnes of ammunition in Peru (2016–21)
Year | Tonnes of ammunition |
2021 | 531.7 |
2020 | 109 |
2019 | 427 |
2018 | 56 |
2017 | N/A |
2016 | 38 |
Sources: Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, US Department of State, To Walk the Earth in Safety, reports published in 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022 (Washington, DC: US Department of State).
Needs
To further enhance safe and secure ammunition management, the following needs have been identified for Peru:
- Development or refinement of standards and procedures on stockpile management;
- Capacity development for the destruction of surplus stockpiles; and
- Risk assessment of ammunition storage areas.
Source: Peru, National Report on the Implementation of the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) and the International Tracing Instrument (ITI) (New York: Permanent Mission of Peru to the UN, 2020), "Needs Analysis Dataset," AMAT (Ammunition Management Advisory Team), 2022; UNIDIR Country Insight series, https://unidir.org/publication/.
