We study earthquake focal mechanisms in a region of highly contorted subducting lithosphere to identify dominant sources of stress in the subduction process. We observe a stress pattern in the contorted Nazca plate beneath southern Peru from an analysis of hypocentral trend and focal mechanisms of intermediate-depth earthquakes. Expanding on previous studies, we examine the hypocentral trend using 1673 of 2178 well-located local events from the nine-station Arequipa network. The dip of the plate beneath southern Peru averages 25¿--30¿ from 25- to 100-km depth. Below this depth there is an 80- to 100-km-wide contortion between a zone increasing dip (convex) to the southeast and a flat lying (concave) zone to the northwest. Using more than 6000 P wave first motions of events deeper than 50 km, we derive stress orientations from a moving average of composite focal mechanisms ascross a 200 by 350 km region including the contortion. The in-plate distribution of tension (T) and compression (P) axes reveals a coherent stress pattern. The trend is most clear beneath south-central Peru (NW section) and below 100-km depth in southernmost Peru (SE section). Both T and P axes tend to be dominantly in plate, especially below 100-km depth. T axes orient toward the contortion in a fan-shaped trend, which suggests that the deepest part of the seismic zone, within the convex SE section, is sinking and pulling the more buoyant NW section. We conclude that from 50- to 200-km depth, slab-pull forces are dominant in the observed stress. Our results suggest that a significant amount of plate extension occurs in this region of intermediate-depth subduction. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1987