Santiago Martín Rivas

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] He is currently imprisoned.^[4]

Santiago Martín Rivas
Born	4 November 1957 (age 67) Lucma, Peru
Allegiance	Peru
Branch	Peruvian Army
Rank	Major
Commands	Grupo Colina
Battles / wars	Internal Conflict in Peru, La Cantuta Massacre, Barrios Altos Massacre, Santa Massacre
Other work	Currently imprisoned

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.^[5] In 1983, he met Benedicto Jiménez, who would later become head of the GEIN and with whom he would maintain a rivalry.^[6]

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).^[7] 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.^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10] After the capture of the Shining Path archives by the GEIN, Martín Rivas was one of those in charge of analyzing said documents.^[11] 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.^[12] 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.^[13]

In 1991, while living undercover, he had a daughter with non-commissioned officer Mariela Barreto, an intelligence agent and subordinate of Martín Rivas.^[14] That same year, together with other army officers, he formed the so-called Colina Group,^{[15][16][17][18][19]} 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".^[20]

Judicial processes

On May 3, 1994,^[21] after a court martial,^[5] Martín Rivas was sentence to 20 years in prison for human rights violations.^[22] After serving thirteen months in the Simón Bolívar Barracks in Pueblo Libre, he was granted a presidential amnesty on June 14, 1995.^[21][23] This sentence was annulled after Fujimori fled Peru.^[15][21] After the 1995 amnesty,^[24] Martín Rivas remained living in the Bolívar Barracks, where he had been imprisoned.^[25] During his stay in the Bolívar Barracks (until March 1997), he was subjected to surveillance by Montesinos' agents.^[26] By 1997, Martín Rivas was no longer working for either the SIN or the SIE.^[27]