The massacre took place just two weeks before a polarised second-round ballot between three-time candidate Fujimori, the daughter of the jailed 1990s strongman Alberto Fujimori, and the leftist teacher Pedro Castillo, whose party Perú Libre is accused of containing MPs with links to Shining Path and the rival rebel group MRTA (Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Army) which both battled the state in a conflict that killed more than 69,000 in the 1980s and 90s.
Peruvians remain bitterly divided over the legacy of Alberto Fujimori: his supporters credit him with defeating the guerrillas, but detractors say he used brutal repression to crush dissent. He was sentenced for authorising the death squad killings of 25 people, including an eight-year-old boy.