El Frontón
El Frontón is an island off the coast of Callao, Peru.
For much of El Frontón's history, the island was used as a prison. Fernando Belaúnde Terry, who was twice president of Peru, was imprisoned on the island as a political prisoner. During his imprisonment, Belaúnde Terry made an unsuccessful attempt to swim to freedom. Hugo Blanco was also imprisoned on the island.
During the insurgency of the Shining Path, the island was used as a prison for Maoist militants. On June 18, 1986, the Shining Path led an uprising on El Frontón as well as two other prisons. The government of Alan García treated the prisons as war zones, and the Peruvian Navy was sent to the island. Many of the prisoners involved in the rebellion were killed, and Human Rights Watch claimed that evidence suggested that "no fewer than ninety" of the prisoners killed were victims of extrajudicial executions.
The behavior of the Peruvian Government during the uprising in the prison led to by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
El Frontón is the main setting for Alberto Durant's film Alias 'La Gringa'.
