Callao Naval Base () is the main naval base of the Peruvian Navy. Located north of the main port of Callao, it is also a high-security prison, where members of terrorist groups such as the Shining Path and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) are located. The base hosts a dockyard and naval aviation base, as we;; as the Naval Medical Center, which contains the U.S. Navy's Naval Medical Research Unit Six.
A project to modernise the base started in the northern part of the facility on June 21, 2023.
History
The naval base was first built in the 1930s as a levee and a naval arsenal. In 1992, then presidential advisor Vladimiro Montesinos proposed the construction of a penitentiary centre in the base, where he himself was confined after he was extradited from Venezuela in June 2001.
Notable inmates
Abimael Guzmán, chairman of the Shining Path
Víctor Polay Campos, co-founder of the MRTA
Óscar Ramírez Durand, chairman of the Shining Path
Vladimiro Montesinos (June 2001 – August 2021), former director of the National Intelligence Service , leader of the MRTA Wilmer Arrieta, member of a criminal organisation Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala, member of the Shining Path