Callao Naval Base

Callao Naval Base (Spanish: Base Naval del Callao) is the main naval base of the Peruvian Navy. Located north of the main port of Callao, it is also a high-security prison, where members of terrorist groups such as the Shining Path and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) are located. The base hosts a dockyard and naval aviation base, as well as the Naval Medical Center, which contains the U.S. Navy's Naval Medical Research Unit Six.^[1]

Callao Naval Base
President Ollanta Humala and Defence Minister Jakke Valakivi during a ceremony at the base in 2016
Site information
Type	Naval base, prison
Owner	Peruvian State
Operator	National Penitentiary Institute, Peruvian Navy
Site history
Built	1930 (1930)s
Garrison information
Current commander	V.A. Jorge Millones Gonzales

A project to modernise the base started in the northern part of the facility on June 21, 2023.^[1]

History

The naval base was first built in the 1930s as a levee and a naval arsenal.^[2] In 1992, then presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos proposed the construction of a penitentiary centre in the base, where he himself was confined after he was extradited from Venezuela in June 2001.^[3]

Notable inmates

• Abimael Guzmán, chairman of the Shining Path
• Víctor Polay Campos, co-founder of the MRTA
• Óscar Ramírez Durand, chairman of the Shining Path
• Vladimiro Montesinos (June 2001 – August 2021),^[3] former director of the National Intelligence Service
• Miguel Rincón Rincón, leader of the MRTA
• Wilmer Arrieta, member of a criminal organisation
• Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala, member of the Shining Path

See also

• Port of Callao
• Peruvian Naval School