Free Republic

There is revolution in the air in South America once again, with thousands of Marxist guerrillas operating in Colombia, and signs in Peru of a resurgence of the Shining Path, a militant Maoist group which seeks to install a peasant revolutionary authority. The Shining Path has never been that friendly to journalists, so trying to make contact is very difficult. In Lima I met members of left-wing parties that have traditionally had links with the Shining Path, and put out the word that I wanted to contact the guerrillas who in the early 1990s brought Peru to its knees. When...

"What's the president's name?" "I don't know." "Do you know what Peru is?" "No." These were the surprising answers of a native Ashaninka released by the Peruvian police from the remnants of the guerrilla group Shining Path in the country's central jungle. All of those rescued, scores of children as well as adults and elderly, displayed severe symptoms of malnutrition, infections and parasitic infections due to the peripatetic and inhumane treatment during years in the heights of the Vilcabamba mountain range and deep in the rainforest. The police also retrieved hundreds of natives that were hiding from the "Senderistas," having...

Peruvian soldiers captured a leader of the Shining Path rebel group after a clash in the Andes in which four guerrillas were killed and an officer wounded, the government said on Sunday. "The blow the remaining Shining Path members must be feeling in the Ene and Apurimac area must be very strong because he was the No. 2," Defense Minister Aurelio Loret de Mola told reporters. The Ene and Apurimac valleys, some 312 miles (500 km) southeast of Lima, are considered the last bastion of Shining Path. The rebel movement, once one of Latin America's bloodiest, died down after the...

Peru's Shining Path rebels, who have begun launching attacks there again after lying low for years, are "taxing" illegal logging and drug-smuggling operations on the jungle border with Brazil to raise funds, a top Brazilian policeman said on Monday. Members of the Maoist group also cross the isolated border into Brazilian jungle towns to get supplies or to find women, said Mauro Sposito, head of the Brazilian federal police's Amazon drugs squad. One of Latin America's most ruthless rebel groups at the height of its struggle, Shining Path has been largely dormant since the capture of its leader Abimael Guzman...

Flush with drug money, rebels linked to IRA are stretching their tentacles across South America, reports Jeremy McDermott in Lima Carlos agreed to meet in a hotel in central Lima. There was no question of a real name or any photographs. "Carlos" joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc, Colombia's Marxist rebels, more than 16 years ago and served four years on the front lines. Now he has moved to the Peruvian capital, but he is anything but retired. Instead he is working clandestinely in Peru, as Farc builds up a support base and establishes relations with the...

Standing amid his medals and gold-encrusted ceremonial sword, Gen. Roberto Clemente Noel, now retired, says his wartime past is full of heroism and sacrifice. The way he sees it, his work as military chief in the Peruvian highlands during a barbarous civil conflict in the 1980's stopped rebels from toppling the state. Stepping into the study of his elegant colonial-style home, General Noel showed off proclamations in his honor and his book, "Testimony of a Soldier," in which he defends himself against accusations of vast human rights abuses. "I am proud of the work I have done," said General Noel,...

Darkness had descended outside, and a bare light bulb illuminated Mayor Teófilo Torres in his office here as he explained the danger posed by the reemergence of the Shining Path guerrillas deep in the Peruvian jungle. ''Shining Path could enter San Francisco at any time and shoot me,'' Torres said. ``They look for the mayors first.'' A decade after the Shining Path was believed to have been vanquished, the guerrillas -- known in Peru by their Spanish name, Sendero Luminoso -- are making a comeback in a potentially dangerous alliance with traffickers of coca paste, the basic ingredient of cocaine,...

When Shining Path guerrillas marched into this tiny hamlet deep in Peru's Andean jungle a fortnight ago, Tito Salazar's mind filled with images of neighbors hacked to death by rebels 20 years ago. Able to muster just five useless, rust-caked rifles between them, the poor coffee farmer and his fellow villagers in these lush foothills looked on helplessly this time as the 70-strong, well-armed group of rebels vowed they meant no harm. "'We are no longer terrorists, we are now guerrillas,' they told us. 'We are not going to kill you like before,"' Salazar said. Two days later he was...

Nestled in the rugged Himalayas, the little known mountain kingdom of Nepal could not seem to be more removed from current geopolitical concerns. Yet on its frozen mountains a revolutionary battle rages. For seven years, Maoist rebels have sought to establish a second totalitarian state in central Asia, at the price of thousands killed and an entire nation left ravaged by its violence. Beginning in February 1996, Marxist-Leninist-Maoists led by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) -- CPN(M) -- and its leader “Comrade Prachanda” (his real name is Pushpan Kamal Dahal) launched an ongoing effort to overthrow the Kingdom of...

PICHARI, Peru - Shining Path guerrillas ambushed a 30-man marine patrol in a section of steep, mountainous jungle, killing seven and wounding 10 in the Peruvian military's worst loss to rebels in at least four years, military sources said Friday. A marine captain, four other marines and two civilian guides were killed in the attack Thursday afternoon in the Ayacucho region when rebels opened fire after they stopped to take a break in a clearing, said an army officer who spoke on condition of anonymity. The attack was another strong sign of a resurgence in Shining Path activity. Last month,...

LIMA, Peru, June 9 (Reuters) - Armed raiders on Monday kidnapped about 60 workers employed by an Argentine company to help build a natural gas pipeline in southeastern Peru, a government statement said. "They are asking for $1 million, high-tech communications equipment and explosives," said a police officer in Ayacucho, some 360 miles (600 km) southeast of Lima. The officer, who asked not to be identified, called the attackers "presumed terrorists" but a government statement described them as armed criminals. The statement said about 60 kidnappers struck at the Toccate construction camp in La Mar province, seizing a similar...

Peruvian guerrilla forces regroup in the Andes LIMA, Aug. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- Remnants of the Peruvian rebel group, Shining Path (SL), have regrouped and strengthened themselves in Peru's central jungle region, reports here quoted local peasants as saying on Monday. The guerrillas have resumed their patrolling in the Ayacucho, Huancavelica and Junin states, where they were engaged in terror activities between 1980 and 1995. The reports said the SL members have changed their approach and are now trying to win the confidence of locals who collaborate with them in their insurgency against the government. The Peruvian army's intelligence service...

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGASZHZ5QUC.html Peru Says It Uncovers Suspected Terrorist Plot Against U.S. Embassy By Craig Mauro Associated Press Writer Published: Dec 1, 2001 LIMA, Peru (AP) - Peruvian police arrested two suspected members of a leftist guerrilla group who they believe were plotting an attack against the U.S. Embassy, Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi said Saturday. The alleged members of the Shining Path group were arrested in Lima on Nov. 20 with diagrams of the U.S. Embassy, Rospigliosi said. "The suspicion is that they were planning to carry out attacks against the American Embassy and against another site that is linked to U.S. ...

<p>A police officer looks at the damage Thursday after a car bomb exploded Wednesday in front of the U.S. Embassy in Lima, Peru.</p> <p>LIMA, Peru (CNN) -- Peru's interior minister Thursday tied a deadly car bombing near the U.S. Embassy to this weekend's visit by U.S. President George Bush and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.</p>

The following is translated text from Lima Radio Programas del Peru: Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi told a press conference that remnants of the Shining Path [SL] are trying "to reorganize their political activities in some of the country's universities." He also reiterated his warning that the guerrillas could attack US interests this month. "The Counterterrorism Directorate (Dircote) is closely monitoring people linked to the Shining Path who are trying to reorganize their political activities in some universities," Rospigliosi pointed out, although he did not specify in which universities SL was trying to reactivate. "I hope it will not have greater...