The Amazing Story of the Greek Community of San Andres, Peru

By
guest
October 22, 2024

People living in the small town of San Andres, Peru, have Greeks to thank for their existence today.

By Stratos Doukakis

Because of a few Greek sailors and the local women they married, they have lived to tell the tale of what happened during a horrific massacre that occurred during the 1880 war between Peru and Chile.

This tale of love and the cruelty of war all began in San Andres, a small village on the Pacific coast of Peru.

In 1880, Chilean soldiers invaded San Andres and began an indiscriminate slaughter of the entire population of the town. But living among the Peruvians were seven Greek merchant mariners.

During their travels to the west coast of the Americas, they had come to like Peru and they decided to leave their ship and stay behind in San Andres. Some of them married local Peruvian women and started new families.

When the Chilean massacre began, all the Greek men gathered in one house together with their in-laws and friends, and locked the doors. They all together waited out the invasion in anguish, hearing the horrific sounds outside, and not knowing what could possibly be in store for them as well.

More:
https://greekreporter.com/2024/10/22/the-amazing-story-of-the-greek-community-of-san-andres-peru/