W h e n R a i n s B e c a m e F l o o d s .d e vre se r sth g ir llA .sse rP ytisre vin U e ku D .5 1 0 2 © th g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015. .d e vre se r sth g ir llA .sse rP ytisre A Book in the series vin Latin america in transLation / en traducción / em tradução U e kuD Sponsored by the Duke– University of North Carolina .51 Program in Latin American Studies 0 2 © th g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015. W h e n R a i n s B e c a m e F l o o d s A CHILD SOLDIER’S STORY Lurgio Gavilán Sánchez .d e vrese with the collaboration of Yerko castro neira r sth Foreword by carLos iván degregori g ir llA Introduction by orin starn .sserP Translated by margaret randaLL ytisre vin U e kuD duke universitY Press / durham and London / 2015 .5 1 0 2 © th g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015. © 2015 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by Heather Hensley Typeset in Quadraat Pro by Tseng Information Systems, Inc. ISBN: 978-0-8223-7144-1 (ebook) Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Gavilán Sánchez, Lurgio. [Memorias de un soldado desconocido. English] When rains became foods : a child soldier’s story / Lurgio Gavilán Sánchez ; with the collaboration of Yerko Castro Neira ; foreword by Carlos Iván Degregori ; introduction by Orin Starn ; translated by Margaret Randall. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 978-0-8223-5842-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) isbn 978-0-8223-5851-0 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Gavilán Sánchez, Lurgio. 2. Child soldiers—Peru—Biography. 3. Sendero Luminoso (Guerrilla group—Biography. 4. Quechua Indians—Peru—Biography. 5. Political violence—Peru—History— 20th century. 6. Peru—Politics and government—1980– I. Castro .d Neira, Yerko. II. Randall, Margaret, 1936– III. Starn, Orin. e vre IV. Degregori, Carlos Iván. V. Title. VI. Series: Latin America ser sthg ifn3 4tr4a8n.s7l.agti3o9na/3e1n3 t r2a0d1u5cción/em tradução. ir llA 985.06′4092—dc23 .sse [b] rP ytisrevin 2C0o1v4e0r 4a0rt3:7 A2uthor in uniform on the Huanta base, 1986. U e Photographer unknown. ku D .5 Original title in Spanish: Memorias de un soldado desconocido. Autobiografía 10 y antropología de la violencia © 2012 Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad 2 © th de México. g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015. For my children, Erick and Estela. Don’t let a day end without having been happy, without having fulfilled your dreams. / / / And with sincere and profound gratitude to Yerko Castro Neira for helping this project find its way into the world. .d e vre se r sth g ir llA .sse rP ytisre vin U e ku D .5 1 0 2 © th g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015. This page intentionally left blank .d e vre se r sth g ir llA .sse rP ytisre vin U e ku D .5 1 0 2 © th g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015. CONTENTS ix foreword Carlos Iván Degregori Surviving the Flood: The Multiple Lives of Lurgio Gavilán xiii introduction Orin Starn 1 1. In the Ranks of Shining Path 41 2. At the Military Base 67 3. Time in the Franciscan Convent 87 4. I Return to the Countryside of Ayacucho 99 gLossarY .de 103 acknowLedgments vre ser sth 105 transLator’s note and acknowLedgments g ir llA 107 notes .sserP 121 index ytisre vin U e ku D .5 1 0 2 © th g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015. PASCO Ta mbo River UCAYALI Pichanaki Junín LIMA Satipo Mantaro River SanJtUa RNoÍsNa de Ocopa Ene River Acco Lima MVaanllteayro Huancayo HuancavelicreaviR oratnaMHuaYUyaacwnhaauyrrmacacyaMuyt. Razu- CUZCO Huanta huillca San Miguel Chincho TaCmcabrohuapampa Quinua Auquiraccay HUANCAVELICA Ayacucho Apurímac River Unión Minas Pacific Ocean APURÍMAC ICA AYACUCHO PERU .d e vrese AREQUIPA r sth g ir llA .sse IAnrteeare ostf rP ytisre vin U e ku D .5 1 0 2 © Map of the Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Junín, and Lima regions of Peru. th g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015. Carlos Iván Degregori FOREWORD Surviving the Flood: The Multiple Lives of Lurgio Gavilán this is an excePtionaL book. more PreciseLY, this is the his- tory of an exceptional life. Lurgio Gavilán was a child soldier in the ranks of the Shining Path guerrillas. He was not recruited, nor was he kidnapped or taken by force, a common practice in the years fol- lowing those in which Gavilán joined the organization. At the age of twelve, he decided to join to follow in his brother’s footsteps. He wanted to see the world, to change the world—a t least his world— which was on the margins of, though not marginal to, the rest of the country. It was the beginning of 1983. Shining Path, as he put it, “flooded the countryside,” and for many of the rural poor, its totalitarian na- ture wasn’t yet apparent. And so its authoritarian rigidity was ac- cepted in many places as an expression of the “toughness” necessary .d for restoring an order that seemed unjust or nonexistent. The army e vre had just arrived in Ayacucho. se r sth With his Little Red Book, which he couldn’t read, under his arm, g ir llA the boy Lurgio, a guerrilla fighter now, wandered over peaks and .sse through valleys (more over peaks, to tell the truth, including Apu Ra- rP zuhuillca, the highest mountain in the northern part of Ayacucho).1 ytisre He saw the burning of villages, witnessed more than a few deaths, vinU participated in combat, and took part in executions of adolescents e ku like himself whom Shining Path condemned for errors such as fall- D .51 ing asleep on nightly guard duty or, like the young girl who cooked for 0 2 © and deloused the troops, “because, they said, she had fallen in love th g iryp o C Gavilán, Sánchez, Lurgio. When Rains Became Floods : A Child Soldier's Story, Duke University Press, 2015.