Search results for Archdiocese of Ayacucho o Huamanga, Peru
3 Accused in this Diocese
- Obispo Auxiliar Gabino Miranda Critica Su Expulsion, La Republica, 23 de septiembre de 2013
- Peru: Ex-Bishop Accused of Sex Abuse Admitted Acting ” Imprudently”, This Week in Peru, 23 de septiembre de 2013
- Cipriani Por Exobispos: ” Se Esta Haciendo Un Circo Politico Y Mediatico”, Peru 21, 12 d octubre de 2013
- Ayacucho: Archdiocese rejects rape accusation against priest, El Comercio, 11.08.2017
- Ayacucho: They seek to include Monsignor Piñeiro as a witness in rape case , Wayka.pe, 01.18.2018
- Ayacucho: Former seminarian lied to cover for priest accused of rape, Wayka.pe, 05.28.2018
- Ayacucho: New trial ordered for priest who allegedly sexually abused a minor , americatv.com.pe, 11.05.2020
- New trial announced for priest investigated for rape , Diario Jornada, 04.27.2022
- Ayacucho: Legal proceedings against priest accused of sexual assault will resume , Diario Correo, February 5, 2022
- Happy Birthday Father Felix Pariona Huacre , Archdiocese of Ayacucho via Facebook, 08.15.2026
- Acusan a Sacerdote De Violacion Sexual Contra Un Menor En Ayacucho, La Republica, 01 de noviembre de 2013
- Ayacucho: sacerdote acusado de violar a seminarista fue suspendido, El Comercio, 5 de noviembre de 2013
- Ayacucho: Sacerdote acusado de violación guardó silencio ante Fiscalía, RPP, actualizado el 14 de noviembre de 2013
- Denuncian Penalmente a Sacerdote Por Abuso Sexual Contra Ex Seminarista, La Republica, 07 de deciembre de 2013
- Sentencia absolutoria, Corte Suprema de Justicia de la República, 16 de agosto de 2016
- Ayacucho: Sacerdote acusado de violación postulará a la presidencia del Perú, NoticiasTrujillo, 23 de noviembre de 2023
- Assolto dalla Corte Suprema, espulso dal Vaticano: chi è Luis Bazalar, il «confessore» di un candidato presidenziale peruviano, Infovaticana, 20 de mayo de 2026
- Comunicado del Arzobispado de Ayacucho sobre caso de exsacerdote, Conferencia Episcopal Peruana, 27 de mayo de 2026
Obispo Gabino Miranda Melgarejo
A member of Opus Dei, Miranda was made a bishop in 2004 by Pope John Paul II. He served as auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese of Ayachucho o Huamanga from 2004 to May 2013, when he was forced to step down at age 53 after being accused of molesting children he is said to have targeted during confession. Pope Francis laicized him in July 2013.
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P. Félix Pariona Huacre
Accused in May 2017 of inappropriately touching and raping a girl when she was ages 15-17, at San Cristóbal de Huamanga Seminary in Ayacucho. Pariona was the seminary's formation director. The alleged abuse was reported to the prosecutor’s office. Pariona was allowed to continue active ministry. The case was closed in July 2017, reopened, then again closed in November 2017. Archbishop Salvador Piñeiro García Calderón issued a statement defending the priest. In May 2018 a former seminarian stated that he had lied to the prosecutor's office to cover for Pariona, after Pariona offered him a better paying job and housing for his cooperation. The former seminarian said he knew about the sexual assault of the girl by Pariona, and that Pariona sexually harassed him after his testimony. In April 2018 he filed a complaint against Pariona with the National Superintendency of Labor Inspection. Pariona was acquitted in 2019 in the case of the abuse of the girl. In November 2020, the Ayacucho Superior Court annulled Pariona's acquittal and ordered a new trial to be conducted by a different panel of judges ("ordenó un nuevo juicio oral a cargo de otro colegiado"). Eighteen months later, it appears that the new trial still hadn't started; in a May 2022 article, Diario Correa reported that Pariona's acquittal had been overturned due to serious irregularities ("serias irregularidades") in the first trial and that he would be tried again. The victim's lawyer said that judges in both the first and second instances had refused to consider the testimony by the victim in the Gesell chamber. In August 2026 the Archdiocese posted a birthday greeting to Pariona on Facebook, stating "today, August 17th, we greet our brother and ask the Lord to grant him health, wisdom, and much joy to continue guiding his community with love. May he remain a priest according to his heart's desire."
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P. Luis Alejandro Bazalar García
In 2013, Luis Alejandro Bazalar García was accused of sexually abusing a 17-year-old seminarian who served as an altar boy at the Ayacucho cathedral, where Bazalar was a priest. In January 2016, Bazalar was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison. In August 2016, Peru’s Supreme Court overturned the conviction.
According to the prosecution’s charges as summarized in the Supreme Court’s eventual acquittal ruling, Bazalar met the boy in July 2012 and, with his superior's consent, became his spiritual guide. Prosecutors said he isolated the boy from his family and from friends his own age, taught him to drink large amounts of wine, and promised to pay for theology studies and take him travelling in Europe. Prosecutors charged that he had anal intercourse with the boy in late October 2013. In the early hours of October 30, 2013, Bazalar came to the boy's home and left with him. In the confrontation that followed, an aunt suffered a broken arm and the boy cut his wrist; prosecutors alleged that Bazalar had told him to kill himself ("mátate"). A second former seminarian alleged that in 2011, while Bazalar was a formator at the seminary, he had touched his genitals and threatened him with expulsion if he told anyone; this young man later withdrew his account.
Archbishop Salvador Piñeiro said he learned of the complaint from the Public Ministry on October 31, 2013. In a press release, he said that he had suspended Bazalar from ministry until the civil and church proceedings ended, opened a penal disciplinary process in the archdiocesan curia, and pledged full cooperation with the Huamanga prosecutor.
On July 10, 2015, according to Piñeiro, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a decree finding "sufficient moral certainty" of Bazalar’s guilt under canon law and dismissing Bazalar from the clerical state.
On January 22, 2016, an Ayacucho court convicted Bazalar of seduction of the 17-year-old and of seriously injuring the aunt. It sentenced him to eight years in prison and S/10,000 in civil reparations. It acquitted him of attempted kidnapping, breaking and entering, and the charge of indecently touching the other seminarian in 2011.
On August 16, 2016, the Supreme Court overturned both convictions and acquitted him of all charges, ruling that there was not sufficient evidence 'to annul the presumption of innocence.' It found the boy's statements contradictory, held that Bazalar had acted as a spiritual guide seeking only to support him, and found that he had pushed the aunt in self-defense. It ordered his immediate release and the expunging of his criminal record.
Bazalar disputed the Vatican’s decision to dismiss him from the priesthood. He said the ruling was retaliation for exposing wrongdoing at Cáritas del Perú and in the archdiocese, and he has repeatedly sought to appeal it. In recent years, he has gained visibility in Peruvian politics.