Murder of Todd Smith

Todd Smith was an American journalist born in Jacksonville, Florida. He graduated from Washington and Lee University with an English degree in 1983 and went on to work at the St. Petersburg Times and the Tampa Tribune, alongside freelance reporting assignments. In 1987 he spent ten weeks traveling with the Nicaraguan Contras, later publishing a series on the experience in the St. Petersburg Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

In November 1989, Smith traveled to the Upper Huallaga Valley in Peru, an area where Shining Path guerrilla activity and cocaine trafficking were both prevalent, to investigate links between the two. His body was found near the town of Uchiza. He was 28 years old. Near his body was a wooden sign that read: "In this way die North American spies linked to the Pentagon who are carrying out an anti-subversive plan in Latin America and especially in Peru. Death to the North American imperialism. Long live the Communist Party. Long live the war of the people." Smith was the first foreign journalist to be killed during Peru's internal armed conflict.

An investigation by Peru's Interior Ministry found that Smith had been captured by rebels and then sold to drug traffickers for $30,000. The Lima-based daily Ultima Hora, in its February 1, 1992 issue, reported that it had identified Smith's killers and stated that he had discovered a drug laboratory and a shipment of coca paste leaving a jungle airport prior to his capture. The same report denied any connection between the Shining Path and his death, presenting an account that diverged from the guerrilla-authored sign found at the scene.

In April 1993, a secret counterterrorism court convicted Shining Path member José Manrique of taking part in the murder, sentencing him to 30 years imprisonment. Manrique was later released early under circumstances that remain unclear. Trial transcripts leaked in 2004 implicated drug trafficker Fernando Zevallos in the killing, though the available record does not indicate that Zevallos was charged in connection with Smith's death.

In 1990, Washington and Lee University established a fellowship in Smith's name in his memory.