Updated

Forensic teams have begun the long-delayed exhumation of members of an Amazon tribe that suffered mightily during Peru's 1980-2000 conflict with Shining Path rebels.

The first Ashaninka body was unearthed over the weekend.

Ivan Rivasplata is a leader of the group of forensic anthropologists from the prosecutor's office and he says they hope to exhume about 130 bodies. They're located in in five common graves in the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro river valleys.

Remnants of the Shining Path continue to exert influence in the valley, living off a vibrant cocaine trade. So soldiers escort the team.

A truth commission determined that some 6,000 Ashaninka were killed in the conflict with 5,000 enslaved and 10,000 forcibly displaced.

The valley where they live is currently the world's No. 1 cocaine-producing region.