Javier Heraud

Who was Javier Heraud?

Javier Heraud Pérez was a Peruvian poet and member of the Ejército de Liberación Nacional.

In January 1963, a group led by the 21-year-old poet Javier Heraud and Alain Elias crossed through Bolivia, where they picked up weapons, and entered southern Peru. Plagued by Leishmaniasis infection however, the 15 member team decided to enter the city of Puerto Maldonado to seek out medical supplies. The local police were warned of the group's advance, and on May 15 Heraud was shot in the chest and killed while he drifted past the town in a dugout canoe.