Below: Quechua women chew coca and keep watch over the expansive hills around Ayacucho, Peru. It was in these hills and in the city of Ayacucho that the Maoist guerrilla movement known as the Shining Path was born.

September 12, 2012 will mark the 20th anniversary of the capture of Abimael Guzmán, founder and leader of the Shining Path, but the group has yet failed to completely disappear. Revitalized with money from its entrance into the cocaine trade, the Shining Path still survives, although Guzmán has proclaimed from his jail cell that the remaining rebels are simple drug traffickers that should not be allowed to claim philosophical affiliation with the Shining Path. As the fight against drugs in neighboring Colombia causes Peru to increase production and become the world’s leading producer of coca, the rebels in the hills are not going anywhere.

Below: The city of Ayacucho, Peru.

Below: Ayacucho’s future. A young boy stands for a portrait with Ayacucho, Peru in the background.

Below: Hortencia Nieto Mendez pictured in her home in Ayacucho, Peru. Her sister disappeared during Peru’s internal conflict and her fate is still unknown.

Families affected by conflict gather in Ayacucho, Peru at ANFASEP (Asociación Nacional de Familares de Secuestrados, Detenidos y Desaparecidos del Perú), which is an organization that provides support for Peruvians that have family members who have disappeared or have been kidnapped, detained, or killed.

Below: Children prepare to perform during Christmas celebrations in Ayacucho, Peru.

Below: Papá Noel, aka Santa Claus, visits with children in Ayacucho, Peru. Santa just isn’t Santa unless he has a llama skin vest.

Today in Ayacucho, Peru I met Edgar, who has an incredible story. During the era of political violence in the 80’s and 90’s Edgar was accused of being a terrorist by the Peruvian military and was imprisoned for ten years. He was tortured. His mother did not know where he was, or if he was going to return. Many others were not as lucky as his mother, Ilda Marina, who did see her son return. But Edgar was in bad shape upon release. Not only did he endure a horrible ten years, but he was also later diagnosed with schizophrenia. He is now doing much better, thanks largely due to support from the Mental Health Commission of Ayacucho. Below are images of Edgar and his mother. Stay tuned for more images from this story.

A bride arrives at her wedding, escorted by her father in La Plaza de Armas, Lima, Peru. Everywhere you go in Lima you will see love – couples at romantic lookouts, kissing on park benches, or even getting married at hundred-year-old churches.