PERU:
All-Out War on Remnant
of ‘Shining Path’
Guerrillas
By Ángel Páez
LIMA (IPS) - The
armed forces have
launched a major
offensive against the
most combative remaining
column of Sendero
Luminoso (the Maoist
Shining Path guerrillas)
which is operating in
the jungle valleys of
the Ene and Apurimac
rivers in southeastern
Peru, where most of the
country’s coca leaf and
cocaine is produced.
By order of the armed
forces’ Joint Command,
5,000 troops belonging
to army infantry
brigades No. 2 and No.
31, 200 members of
Special Operations and
the marines, and 200
more from the air force
Defence and Special
Operations unit, have
been mobilised to the
area.
The enemy they are
facing is made up of
only 200 combatants.
In addition to sending
the large contingent of
troops, the Joint
Command ordered up two
MI-25 and MI-17
helicopter gunships, as
well as reconnaissance
airplanes, and set up a
river base manned by two
patrols.
"Never before have so
many and such
highly-trained personnel
been concentrated in the
valleys of the Apurimac
and Ene rivers (a region
known by the acronym
VRAE) to fight the
Senderistas," a Joint
Command source told IPS.
The troops are commanded
by General Raymundo
Flores of the VRAE
Special Detachment,
which is based in the
village of Pichari, in
the province of Cuzco.
"The objective is to
neutralise the column of
200 heavily armed men
led by ‘Comrade José,’ a
battle-hardened
Senderista with
extensive knowledge of
the area," military
sources said.
"Comrade José’s" real
name is Víctor Quispe, a
49-year-old Shining Path
member who joined the
guerrilla group when he
was an anthropology
student at the National
University of San
Cristóbal de Huamanga.
At that university in
the capital of the
southern Andean region
of Ayacucho, philosophy
Professor Abimael Guzmán
began the armed struggle
based on Maoist
doctrines on May 17,
1980, unleashing a civil
war which by 2000 had
cost 69,000 lives.
On Sept. 12, 1992,
police in Lima captured
Guzmán and nearly all
the members of the
Central Committee of the
Peruvian Communist
Party-Shining Path. In
October 1993, Guzmán and
the other detained
leaders signed a peace
accord with the
government of Alberto
Fujimori (1990-2000).
However, the leaders of
the Central Regional
Committee, which
operates in the VRAE
region, and the Huallaga
Regional Committee,
active in the jungle
valley of the Huallaga
river, did not accept
the negotiations or
their outcome, and
continued to wage what
they call the "people’s
war."
Óscar Ramírez, one of
the founders of Shining
Path, also known as
"Feliciano", commanded
the Central Regional
Committee.
On Jul. 14, 1999
"Feliciano" was captured
in a military operation
and was replaced by his
right-hand man, Quispe.
Shortly afterwards
Quispe proved his
military expertise and
in-depth knowledge of
the area. On Oct. 2, he
and his men ambushed an
MI-17 helicopter,
killing five soldiers.
Quispe became the most
notorious Senderista
leader among those who
continued the insurgent
war. Coca cultivation
and cocaine production
in the VRAE region
contributed to
consolidating the
Senderistas’ position
there, according to
several sources.
In a proclamation,
Quispe announced the
beginning of the "third
phase of the people’s
war," following the
first phase, led by
Guzmán (1980-1992) and
the second, conducted by
Ramírez (1992-1999).
"Víctor Quispe used
small coca farmers’
resistance to forced
eradication of coca
plantations in order to
expand his power," said
a source within the
anti-terrorist police (DIRCOTE).
"The Senderistas ambush
the armed forces and the
police, and they tell
the campesinos (small
farmers): ‘We defend
your interests, we are
the people’s army, we
aren’t going to kill
you.’ Apparently their
strategy has changed,
because when Guzmán was
the commander, they
killed the campesinos
who opposed the
Senderistas," the source
said.
According to the 2007
report by the United
Nations Office on Drugs
and Crime (UNODC),
cocaine production in
Peru rose from 141
tonnes in 2000 to 280
tonnes in 2006, an
increase of 98.6
percent.
Military sources said
that the Senderistas
"are now part of the
cocaine production
process. They are drug
traffickers."
An intelligence report
by the division of the
National Anti-Drug
Directorate (DIRANDRO)
that investigates and
controls chemical
substances used to
refine illegal drugs
says that wanted members
of the Shining Path have
been captured during
interdictions of
vehicles transporting
products for
manufacturing cocaine.
"The Senderistas have
plenty of money since
they joined the cocaine
production chain," an
investigation division
official told IPS.
"Not only are they a
private army for the
drug traffickers, but
they are an integral
part of the drug mafia
itself, because they
produce pure cocaine and
sell it. They finance
their war with those
funds," he said.
Two of Quispe’s
brothers, Jorge and Iván,
are part of the Shining
Path leadership. The
Quispe family is from
Umaru, Ayacucho, the
main theatre of
Senderista actions.
According to the
authorities, the rebels’
modus operandi is to
ambush police patrols on
their rounds in the
area.
On Mar. 23, presumed
Senderistas attacked two
police vans in Quinua,
close to Huamanga. One
police officer died and
another 13 were wounded.
The attackers made off
with 14 Kalashnikov
assault rifles.
A report from the
Interior Ministry’s
Directorate-General of
Intelligence, which IPS
saw, says that Quispe
has organised a "support
network" in Lima.
"There is no military
solution. Not only
columns of troops are
needed, but also columns
of teachers, doctors,
builders, and
agronomists" to reduce
violence in these very
poor areas, admitted the
Joint Command sources.
"Poverty cannot be
eliminated with
bullets."
According to these
sources, the first phase
of the strategy against
Shining Path has been
set in motion, and by
the end of the year they
hope to have Quispe
within their grasp. May
17 will be the 28th
anniversary of Quispe’s
war against the Peruvian
state. |
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