Leftist Peruvian presidential candidate leading elections

April 10, 2011

Humala, leader of the Peruvian Nationalist Party, led a brief rebellion against former president Alberto Fujimori.

Some 20 million Peruvians are to head to the polls on Sunday for a tight presidential election, in which four candidates are regarded as having good chances of making it to the June 5 runoff.

Polls have showed that none of the 10 candidates were expected to reach the threshold of half the vote needed to avoid a runoff.

Former anti-government rebel Ollanta Humala maintains a slim lead over his closest rival, the daughter of a jailed ex-president, a poll showed on Saturday.

The Ipsos poll gave Humala, the leader of the Peruvian Nationalist Party, 28.1 per cent of the vote, followed by congresswoman Keiko Fujimori, the daughter of the former president, with 21.1 per cent, pointing to a close runoff between them.

Humala, a lieutenant colonel in the army, launched a small rebellion against Fujimori’s father, Alberto Fujimori, in 2000. Fujimori was removed from office that year and has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for his role in human rights violations perpetrated during the country’s battle against leftist guerillas in the 1990s.

The poll of 6,000 people, which was carried out on Saturday, gave former Prime Minister Pedro Pablo Kuczynski 19.9 per cent and former President Alejandro Toledo 16.8 per cent, a source with access to the survey told the Reuters news agency. The margin of error was not available. There are 10 candidates in all.

Fujimori, Kuczynski and Toledo are favoured over Humala by the business community in one of the world’s fastest-growing economies, although Humala has sought to portray himself as a moderate leftist who has moved on from his radical past.

Humala created his party in 2005 and ran for president the following year, losing to the man who currently occupies the office, Alan Garcia.

Garcia is prevented by law from runing again, but his ruling party, the American Popular Revolutionary Alliance (APRA), backed Kuczynski on Saturday, a step one pollster said could boost the former Wall Street banker’s chances of making it into the expected runoff.

A second round will be held on June 5 if no candidate gets more than 50 per cent of the vote.

Ruling support could boost Kuczynski

The APRA said Kuczynski had “democratic convictions” that would guarantee the continuation of current government policy.

“Our support is unconditional and we haven’t even spoken with (Kuczynski). We’ve done this with the country’s interests in mind,” Jorge del Castillo, an APRA figure, told Reuters.

Humala’s enjoys strong support among Peru’s low-income population, and Fujimori carries the legacy of her father’s corruption with her, but many still appreciate the former president for overseeing years of economic expansion and improved infrastructure.

Much of the campaign has focused on who can guarantee continued growth while also spreading the benefits to the one in three Peruvians who still lives in poverty.

Despite the strong economic growth seen during his presidency, Garcia has a disapproval rating of about 60 per cent, and his party is not running its own candidate.

Some political analysts say APRA’s support could help swing the tight race, though others point to its weakened influence in recent years.

“The backing of APRA could mean about 3 percentage points,” said Manuel Saavedra of the CPI pollsters. “APRA’s support is very important. It it wasn’t for that, it would look tricky for (Kuczynski) to get to the second round.”

Kuczynski, 72, known as “El Gringo” because of his European parents, is backed strongly by wealthy voters in the capital, Lima. But he could struggle to gain traction farther afield.

Most recent polls have shown him gaining ground. The previous Ipsos poll, published on Thursday, gave him 18.4 percent.

Humala has surged in the race by shedding his hard-line image and recasting himself as a soft leftist in the mold of Brazil’s popular former president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Source

Shining Path militants, out of prison, running for office in Peru on pro-amnesty slate

The fact that these ex-militants are out of prison & now running for office is news enough for me to promote this article on my site. Though, I don’t agree with a great amount of propaganda it’s stating against how the Sendero’s operated while still under a militant cause. To read the truth behind the Sendero Luminoso, click here.

Sep 30, 2010

The Shining Path spilled rivers of blood two decades ago as it tried to impose an agrarian-based communist state on Peru, its fighters known to cut off the fingers of voters to discourage participation in elections.

Now, Shining Path militants are for the first time running for office.

They’ve entered several mayoral and gubernatorial races Sunday under the banner of a movement seeking a blanket amnesty for hundreds of “political prisoners,” including Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman.

Led by two of Guzman’s lawyers, it’s run out of a small office in a Lima slum and is fielding candidates released from prison after serving sentences for terrorism and other crimes. Peruvian law allows former convicts to run for elected office.

While the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights, or Movadef in Spanish, is tiny and its rallies modest, it is provoking alarm among Peruvians who are skeptical of its nonviolent claims and fear a return to political mayhem if it were to gain a foothold in even a few municipalities.

Peruvian historian Nelson Manrique says the movement adheres to Guzman’s plans because following his 1992 capture he ordered his followers to “end the war and find a political solution that includes turning the Shining Path into a political organization.”

The Movadef candidates say their goal is an amnesty that will finally heal a nation still scarred by a brutal war in the 1980s and 1990s that claimed nearly 70,000 lives.

“An amnesty will bring reconciliation to Peru,” said Vasty Lescano, the movement’s best-known candidate, in a recent interview with The Associated Press. “We don’t want any more bloodshed.”

A sociologist from a ranching family, Lescano spent 16 years in prison on a conviction of aiding terrorism. She seeks the governorship of Puno state, where a recent newspaper poll said she was running fourth among 21 candidates.

Though it is not registered as a political party, Movadef was able to field at least seven candidates by allying itself with several small parties: six in Puno, a poor, wind-swept southern highlands state bordering Bolivia, and one in Lima’s most heavily populated district.

Just how many ex-rebels will be on ballots nationwide Sunday is unclear. The National Elections Tribunal said it could not provide a figure. Candidates are not required to reveal criminal pasts.

Asked by reporters about the participation of former rebels in Sunday’s elections, President Alan Garcia recently said that he was not worried.

“The country will always reject anything that comes directly or indirectly from terrorism,” he said.

But a government decree last year ended sentence reductions based on good behavior for people convicted of terrorism-related crimes. Lescano said the decree was intended to smother attempts by activists like herself to organize Peru’s poor against a small, rich minority that runs the country from Lima.

“The government is impeding the revolutionary activity of Maoists,” she said. “It doesn’t want us to run for office or to leave prison.”

Lescano, dressed in a traditional highlands skirt with Inca motifs, said police have been following her constantly ever since her February 2005 release from Lima’s high-security women’s prison in Chorrillos.

For the entire 1990s, she said, rebels suffered “subhuman” conditions in prisons.

“I became convinced that only through Marxism-Leninism-Maoism can Peru advance,” said Lescano, a slight, energetic woman with curly black hair.

She was imprisoned for hiding her husband, Edmundo Cox, a Shining Path leader convicted of terrorism for murders, sabotage and other crimes who is not due to be released until 2028. Lescano said she had rented a house for him and their two children.

Movadef’s proposed amnesty wouldn’t just affect 556 Shining Path and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement prisoners. It would apply to anyone imprisoned for dirty war-related crimes, including former President Alberto Fujimori, who is serving 25 years on a murder conviction for allowing massacres.

Its prospects are dim if Peruvians’ reaction to the May parole of New Yorker Lori Berenson is any guide. An opinion survey found three in four opposed that.

She had served 15 years of a 20-year sentence for aiding Tupac Amaru rebels, had a 15-month-old child and was deemed a model prisoner by the judge who paroled her.

But to many, Berenson symbolized the immense social cost of Peru’s 1980-2000 dirty war and a three-judge panel returned her to prison in August.

The opposition to freeing Berenson would likely be minuscule compared to outcry over the release of Guzman, a 77-year-old former university professor serving life without parole for first-degree murder and terrorism.

Guzman promoted a ruthless “people’s war” built on the teachings of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin and Mao Zedong and at one point his insurgency held sway over large swaths of Peru’s interior while detonating powerful car bombs in its cities. His fighters would cut off the fingers of people who defied them by voting. Voters in Peru dip their index fingers in indelible ink as an anti-fraud measure.

Fujimori eventually defeated Shining Path with a fierce counterinsurgency campaign, though two small cocaine trade-financed remnants operate today in remote regions.

An independent Truth Commission determined that Shining Path — Sendero Luminoso in Spanish — was responsible for 54 percent of the war’s nearly 70,000 deaths.

“It is very difficult for Peruvians to even recognize that the Senderistas have human rights,” said Manrique, the historian.

That may be less true in Puno, where Lescano ran on a clean government platform.

“I am going to vote for Lescano because she is the only one who isn’t corrupt,” 19-year-old Saul Mamani, a university student in Puno, told the AP by phone. “Here, nearly all the authorities take money from the people.”

In the Puno province of Azangaro, Rojer Cruz is seeking its top job of mayor.

An avowed Maoist also running against corruption, Cruz spent 12 years at 12,500 feet (3,800 meters) in the frigid cold of Yanamayo prison on a terrorism conviction by a military tribunal that was later annulled.

Cruz, 40, has been running second in pre-election polls in Azangaro, whose 136,000 inhabitants are mostly poor Quechua-speaking farmers and ranchers.

He told the AP by phone that he doesn’t believe the Shining Path committed excesses.

“The government has painted it to be nothing but bad,” he said. “It was soldiers who created ghost villages.”

Hoping to run candidates in next April’s congressional elections, Movadef is trying to collect the 145,000 signatures needed to register it nationally.

Its leaders say they are sending out signature-gatherers every Sunday in Puno and Lima and also in the states of Huancayo, Apurimac and Ancash.

Movadef’s No. 2 activist, Alfredo Crespo, said he could not estimate how many signatures have been collected.

In the northern municipality of San Felipe near the border with Ecuador, a former Shining Path rebel prisoner was removed from the mayoral ballot after election officials determined that he was still on parole. The candidate, Manuel Campos, was convicted of the November 1992 murder of a Lima police colonel, according to the truth commission.

In Lima, its candidate for mayor of the sprawling San Juan de Lurigancho district was ninth among 17 candidates in a late September poll by the IDICE firm.

An expert on Shining Path who teaches at the City University of New York, Jose Renique, says that, win or lose, the Movadef candidacies are “moving the barriers of perception” about the insurgency by running for office.

“If they get 3 or 6 percent there will still be people who call them terrorists, but it will also be clear that these new candidates have voters who see them otherwise,” Renique said.

Source

Video: This is the American way (props to Immortal Technique)

Peruvians continue strikes against capitalist looting

Lima, Aug 5 (Prensa Latina) It is the tenth day of a general strike in the southern province of La Convencion, after serious riots and no prospect of early settlement.

Quillabamba City, capital of the province, continues paralyzed and the population mobilized, calling on the government to meet their demands, which include regional claims.

Calls for a dialogue between the government and the Central Committee of Struggle, led by the people in strike, intensified after a day of violence in the town of Kiteni, which houses facilities of the pipeline that carries fuel to the coast.

According to an official version, demonstrators attacked two camps and an airfield of the company which operates a pipeline in Kiteni.

The indigenous parliamentary opponent, Hilaria Supa, urged the government to dialogue in order to avoid further consequences, accused police of abuses against civilians and rejected the official and employers’ versions that accuse demonstrators of committing excesses.

Source

El Sendero Luminoso Revelado: Detrás de las mentiras y la propaganda

Inglés | Español

por BJ Murphy

En un área donde la guerrilla se ha librado en los últimos dos decenios, nos encontramos dentro de una guerra psicológica contra los que se quedan como verdaderos titulares del partido marxista-leninista-maoísta, Sendero Luminoso – o mejor conocido como el brillante Ruta por los principales medios. Encabezados por el Presidente Gonzalo, o también conocido como Abimael Guzmán, el “Guerra Popular” fue la primera librada el 17 de mayo de 1980. A pesar de que ellos [Sendero Luminoso] capacitados ellos mismos bajo el pensamiento marxista-leninista-maoísta, también se incluye bajo la bandera de lo que ellos consideraban como “pensamiento Gonzalo”, en el que se detallan las principales estrategias a través de ciertos guerra de guerrillas y supervivencia. Desde entonces, el gobierno peruano, militar, y los medios de comunicación han librado dos de contrainsurgencia y la guerra psicológica contra el Sendero Luminoso, con la esperanza de eliminar cualquier elemento de izquierda de este ejército guerrillero. A pesar de que han acercado a hacer lo que esta última década, el Sendero Luminoso permanecer en números y todavía, a día de hoy, estamos librando la lucha de clases contra la clase dominante capitalista en el Perú.

La “Guerra Popular” se libra

Los campesinos de Sendero Luminoso

El uso de los medios de comunicación de los campesinos siempre fue una estrategia clave, ya que bien utilizado por los militares peruanos, a fin de tratar y demonizar a Sendero Luminoso, que eran conocidos por su apoyo en la clase de aliados clave, como el campesinado. En 1982, justo dos años después de Sendero Luminoso libraron “Guerra Popular”, los militares peruanos comenzaron a proporcionar capacitación y financiamiento a la “Ronda Campesina” – campesinos militantes contrarrevolucionarios que proporcionó la contrainsurgencia contra el Sendero. [1] En 1983, por Huata, la Ronda dirigió un ataque contra el Sendero Luminoso, en la que condujo a la muerte de 13 miembros de Sendero Luminoso. Apenas un mes después, otro ataque tuvo lugar en Sacsamarca, causando la muerte de los principales comandantes de Sendero Luminoso en la región. Un mes después de ese incidente tuvo lugar otra vez. Esta vez se llevó a la muerte de Olegario Curitomay, uno de los comandantes de la localidad de Lucanamarca. [2] La matanza fue tan brutal como uno podría tener, en el que fue apedreado, acuchillado, prendió fuego, y luego dispararon a muerte.

Debido a este ataque, que contó con la ayuda financiada por el ejército peruano, Sendero Luminoso respondió a estas ejecuciones a través de contraataques en la región de Huanca Sancos – consistió en ciudades como Yanaccollpa, Ataccara, Llacchua, Muylacruz Lucanamarca y – en la que se informó a la muerte de 69 personas. Esto se conoció como la “Masacre de Lucanamarca”. Después de esto, otros ataques eran entonces se ensaña contra la Ronda dentro de otras regiones, en el que los medios de comunicación culparon al Sendero a lo largo de este ataque a través de solicitudes de ejecuciones contra los “campesinos inocentes, mujeres y niños”. [3] Los informes oficiales no han aclarado la evidencia detrás de las muertes de los niños, y aun en el caso, la aclaración de que hayan sido víctimas, deliberadamente o por los actos de fuego cruzado se quedó claro también. La utilización de los derechos de los campesinos “inocente” de ser atacado y asesinado por Sendero Luminoso fue meramente propaganda dirigida por los medios de comunicación peruanos. Ni una palabra de la Ronda o que están siendo financiados por se hacen públicas, y es más bien cubiertos con el fin de culpar falsamente a los de Sendero de matar a “inocentes campesinos”.

Cuando se trata de las reivindicaciones de matar a las mujeres, me gustaría señalar el hecho de que, ya sea a través del Sendero Luminoso o la Ronda Campesina, las mujeres eran vistas como militantes, así, la utilización de tratar de crear una imagen de víctima de las mujeres en estos ataques no son más que una fijación sexista de las mujeres en la guerra de guerrillas. Muchos de los reclamos se hicieron contra el Sendero de las reclamaciones de atacar, torturar y matar a las mujeres. Sin embargo, como Amnistía ha ayudado a destacar, las mujeres también han dado a conocer a las víctimas por los militares peruanos y con los actos de tortura [4] y la violación. [5] Aunque, Amnistía tendían a culpar de Sendero Luminoso en estos mismos cargos y sin la comprensión del papel de la mujer a través de la guerra de guerrillas. Lo que es interesante, sin embargo, es que, a pesar de muchas reclamaciones de la mayoría de las mujeres sean víctimas de Sendero Luminoso, hecho del asunto es que las mujeres son víctima clave a través de la sentencia penal ilegal, en el que pone el 74% de las mujeres encerradas siendo cargos por “terrorismo”. [6]

“Derechos Humanos” de la burguesía

Otra táctica que se utilizó, en el que se ayudó a promoverse a través de Amnistía Internacional, las pretensiones de ir en contra de los “derechos humanos”. A pesar de que el 18 de junio de 1986, en la cárcel de Lurigancho de Lima, a unos 300 miembros encarcelados de Sendero Luminoso fueron asesinados por las Fuerzas Armadas, [7] las reclamaciones de los “derechos humanos” violaciónes siguen siendo atribuidos a la de Sendero. Aunque, como se afirma en un documento por el Sendero Luminoso, el uso de los “derechos humanos”, afirma a continuación, se señaló a cabo por no ser los actos de los derechos humanos de la clase obrera, pero los derechos humanos en lugar de la burguesía:

“Empezamos por no atribuir a cualquiera de la Declaración Universal de los Derechos Humanos o la Costa Rica [Convención sobre los Derechos Humanos], pero hemos utilizado sus dispositivos legales para desenmascarar y denunciar el viejo Estado peruano … Para nosotros, los derechos humanos son contrarias a los derechos de la gente, porque los derechos de base en el hombre como un producto social, no al hombre como un abstracto con derechos innatos. “Los derechos humanos” no existe más que para el hombre burgués, una posición que estaba en la vanguardia del feudalismo, como la libertad, igualdad y fraternidad fueron avanzadas para la burguesía del pasado. Pero hoy, desde la aparición del proletariado como clase organizada en el Partido Comunista, con la experiencia de las revoluciones triunfantes, con la construcción del socialismo, la nueva democracia y la dictadura del proletariado, se ha comprobado que los derechos humanos sirven al opresor clase y los explotadores que dirigen el imperialismo y los estados burocráticos propietario. Estados burgueses en general … Nuestra posición es muy clara. Rechazamos y condenamos los derechos humanos porque son burgueses, reaccionarios, contrarrevolucionarios derechos, y hoy son un arma de revisionistas e imperialistas, principalmente imperialistas yanquis.” [8]

Las facciones de Sendero surgen

En 1992, los militares peruanos se vieron capturar al líder de Sendero Luminoso, Abimael Guzmán. Desde su encarcelamiento, las facciones comenzó a salir fuera de la original de Sendero Luminoso. Uno, en el que está siendo dirigida por el camarada Artemio, continúa manteniendo las políticas originales de Sendero Luminoso. Ellos han huido a la zona selvática del Valle del Huallaga, en la que se dice que es en el número de miembros de la izquierda 200-300. La otra facción está encabezada por los comandantes Víctor Quispe Palomino y Jorge Leonardo Huamán Zúñiga y, también, respectivamente, conocido en toda su partido como el “Camarada José”, “camarada Raúl”, y “camarada Alipio”, [9] que están ahora dentro de la VRAE, en calidad de “ayudantes” a los campesinos en el cultivo de coca y de producción.

El VRAE rebeldes mercenarios marchando en formación, al proteger los cultivos de coca de producción en toda la región.

Aunque, según los miembros de la original Sendero Luminoso, la facción en el VRAE no están siguiendo las políticas originales de ambas pensamiento “Gonzalo” y el maoísmo marxista-leninista. Según encarcelado líder Abimael Guzmán, que vio de esta facción de “Sendero” como “.. un grupo de mercenarios que vele por sus intereses personales y no los del pueblo. Ellos son simplistas, que no conocen la ideología. Ellos prácticamente han sacudido el marxismo-leninismo-maoísmo a la papelera. “[10] De acuerdo con Laura Eugenia Zambrano, quien es tambien una vida a la sentencia en la cárcel, declaró que ellos [el original] Sendero” rechazó de plano este grupo armado y militares .. “y” .. no son parte del Partido Comunista Sendero Luminoso “. También dijo que “.. [traficantes] de drogas son anti-pensamiento Gonzalo”. [11] Otro de los miembros encarcelados se enfrentan 25 años, Victoria Trujillo, afirmó que los militantes armados en el VRAE “no tienen nada que ver con la fiesta ..” y que son “mercenarios contra el pueblo ..”. [12]

Los medios de comunicación peruanos no parecen poner estos testimonios en cuenta, aparentemente, ya que continúan hasta el día de culpar a los elementos de Sendero Luminoso para el tráfico de drogas, en que se empezó a culpar a ellos, ya que inicialmente comenzó la “Guerra Popular” contra el Estado peruano. No ponen la división facción dentro de sus contextos completa y sólo lo ven como una lucha en expansión, en lugar de una desconexión de la lucha. Debido a esto, se han presentado informes de las reclamaciones que se llevó incluso a la facción del camarada Artemio está ayudando en el tráfico de drogas, junto con las conocidas en el VRAE de dicho cultivo también. [13] Aunque, para responder a estas acusaciones, en la víspera del 30 aniversario de la “Guerra Popular” primera librada por Abimael Guzmán, el camarada Artemio y otros miembros del Sendero Luminoso usó un vehículo para lanzar octavillas en varias calles de Ayacucho, en el que empezó a llamar a los líderes de los militantes VRAE “‘mercenarios’ de los cárteles de la droga y ‘narcocamaradas'”, en la que se está utilizando para “desacreditar a la .. Presidente Gonzalo y Artemio camarada y actividades de la base de PCP Huallaga “para” destruir y desaparecer .. pensamiento Gonzalo “. [14]

Al Jazeera se terminó líder en el Perú a fin de tratar y averigüe la verdad de lo que está ocurriendo en los informes de Sendero Luminoso. Mientras en el Perú, ellos mismos interpuesto dentro de los pueblos de campesinos que están protegidos por los rebeldes VRAE, en la que los aldeanos les daría sus historias del pasado donde una vez temía que la de Sendero, pero ahora están siendo ayudados por los de Sendero a través del tráfico de drogas y , de acuerdo con sus informes, los están tratando [los campesinos] muy bien. Cuando los reporteros trataron de entrar en el corazón del VRAE con el fin de conseguir una entrevista con los miembros del VRAE “Sendero Luminoso”, se les dijo que salir rápidamente. Así que en vez, fueron a Lima a fin de tratar y entrevista encarcelados los miembros de Sendero Luminoso y al ver lo que sus opiniones eran de la facción VRAE. Pero, porque no se les concedió acceso a la prisión con sus cámaras, después de las conversaciones de las negociaciones, se encontraron entrevistar a un vocero de Sendero desde el exterior. El portavoz ha afirmado que:

“.. Los que están ahora en el VRAE no tienen ninguna posibilidad de hacerse cargo del país. No son más que una célula militarizada en medio de la selva, y en ese agujero que lucha por sobrevivir. Lo que estos anti-maoístas del VRAE estamos haciendo hoy no tiene nada que ver con la política del partido, porque se han convertido en mercenarios que ofrecen sus servicios al mejor postor, incluidos los relacionados con el narcotráfico. Nuestra posición siempre ha sido defender a los campesinos, pero debemos recordar que el narcotráfico daña a los campesinos en beneficio de las élites de poder.” [15]

Una vez que una lucha violenta, ahora lucha por una paz

Durante la misma entrevista con el vocero de Sendero Luminoso, se dijo entonces cuando la parte que está hoy y lo que debe dejar atrás, por el momento:

Abimael Guzmán, encarcelado líder de Sendero Luminoso, levantando su puño mientras en el ensayo como una señal de continuar la lucha de clases.

“En 1993, la ‘guerra popular’ en el Perú terminó y nos reiteramos categóricamente esto. Nuestra posición es que necesitamos una solución política a los problemas que se originaron en la “Guerra Popular”. Estamos pidiendo una amnistía general que contribuya a la reconciliación del país. La violencia revolucionaria ha sido parte de la lucha de clases en toda la historia. Cuando llegue el momento, vamos a emplear todos los mecanismos que ayudan a la lucha por el socialismo y el comunismo.” [16]

Paz y la amnistía ha convertido en el único movimiento en el que el original Sendero Luminoso cumplir. Las negociaciones entre ellos y el gobierno peruano se ha hecho, pero no hay acuerdo ha sido. Estas negociaciones han sido promovidos por Abimael Guzmán a través de su libro recientemente publicado, “De puño y letra”, en la que pide que las negociaciones de paz que se celebrará a fin de lograr una mejor relación entre ellos y el pueblo del Perú. También se están utilizando para intentar ayudar a la distancia y Guzmán y su partido de la facción anti-maoístas en el VRAE. [17] Desde entonces, manifestaciones pacíficas han sido realizados en la promoción de la lucha de clases y Sendero Luminoso, especialmente uno que se subieron el 01 de mayo para las manifestaciones de mayo en Perú. [18]

A pesar de constantes luchas para intentar y libre de Sendero Luminoso de las mentiras y la propaganda que se les imputan por las dos peruanos y EE.UU. medios de comunicación, por ejemplo, el documental realizado justo antes de la captura de Abimael Guzmán, “[La gente de Sendero Luminoso” 19], la guerra psicológica librada en su contra continúa hasta nuestros días. Recientemente, el 13 de julio de 2010, los EE.UU. ha ofrecido una recompensa de 5.000.000 dólares por la captura de los líderes de Sendero Luminoso, en la que también incluye la generosidad del camarada Artemio. [20] Por lo cojo como el de Sendero puede ser, que han prometido continuar la lucha de clases, si puede ser pacífica o violenta, con el fin de destruir el capitalismo desde el país de Perú.

Red Amor y saluda!

———————————————————-

[1] German Palomino, “The Rise of the Rondas Campesinas in Peru” (PDF), 1996.
[2] “La Masacre de Lucanamarca” (PDF), 1983.
[3] “Peru: Human rights in a time of impunity”, Amnesty International, February 1996.
[4] “Peru: Summary of Amnesty Internationals concerns 1980 – 1995″, Amnesty International.
[5] “The Women’s Rights Project”, Human Rights Watch.
[6] Weiss, Robert P. Comparing Prison Systems. [Amsterdam]: Routledge, 1998. Print.
[7] Ibid.
[8] “Sobre Las Dos Colinas (3)”, NY Transfer.
[9] “Minister: Shining Path Remains a Threat in Peru’s Jungles”, Latin American Herald Tribune.
[10] Ibid.
[11] “De ‘Puño Y Letra’ De Abimael Guzman”, Eldiario International, September 13, 2009.
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Peruvian Police Identify Shining Path Commander”, Latin American Herald Tribune.
[14] “Artemio Brands ‘Joseph’ & ‘Raul’ as ‘Mercenaries’ & ‘Narcocamaradas’”, Red Ant Liberation Army News, May 20, 2010.
[15] “The New Shining Path”, Al Jazeera, July 21, 2010.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ellie Griffis, “Lawyer for jailed Shining Path founder charged with “apology for terrorism” over book announcement”, Peruvian Times, September 17, 2009.
[18] 1º de mayo 2010, Perú, May 7, 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWr0IYNy3Jg&feature=player_embedded
[19] “Documentary: The People of the Shining Path”, The Marxist-Leninist, September 22, 2008.
[20] Terry Wade, “U.S. offers bounty for Shining Path leaders in Peru”, Reuters, July 13, 2010.

The Shining Path Revealed: Behind the Lies & Propaganda

English | Spanish

by BJ Murphy

In an area where guerrilla warfare has been waged for the last two decades, we find ourselves within a psychological war against those who remain true to the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist party, the Sendero Luminoso – or better known as the Shining Path by mainstream media. Led by Chairman Gonzalo, or also known as Abimael Guzman, the “People’s War” was first waged on May 17, 1980. Although they [the Sendero Luminoso] trained themselves under Marxist-Leninist-Maoist thought, they also comprised themselves under the banner of what was considered as “Gonzalo Thought”, in which detailed certain key strategies through guerrilla war and survival. Since then, the Peruvian government, military, and media have waged both counterinsurgency and psychological warfare against the Sendero’s, in the hopes of eliminating any element left of this guerrilla army. Despite the fact of almost doing this this past decade, the Sendero Luminoso remain in numbers and still, to this day, are waging class struggle against the Capitalist ruling class within Peru.

The “People’s War” is waged

Peasants of the Sendero Luminoso

The media’s use of the peasantry was always a key strategy, as well used by the Peruvian military, in order to try and demonize the Sendero Luminoso – known for their class support in key allies such as the peasantry. In 1982, just two years after the Sendero Luminoso waged “People’s War”, the Peruvian military started providing training and funding to the “Ronda Campesina” – counterrevolutionary peasant militants who provided counterinsurgency against the Sendero’s. [1] In 1983, by Huata, the Ronda’s led an attack against the Sendero’s, in which led to the deaths of 13 members of the Sendero Luminoso. Just a month after, another attack took place in Sacsamarca, killing leading commanders of the Sendero’s within the region. Another monther later, the Ronda’s struck again. This time it led to the death of Olegario Curitomay, one of the commanders of the town of Lucanamarca. [2] The killing was as brutal as one could get, in which he was stoned, stabbed, set on fire, and then shot to death.

Because of this attack, which was helped funded by the Peruvian military, the Sendero Luminoso responded to these executions through counter attacks within the region of Huanca Sancos – consisted of towns such as Yanaccollpa, Ataccara, Llacchua, Muylacruz and Lucanamarca – in which reported the death of 69 people. This became known as the “Lucanamarca Massacre”. After this, other attacks were then waged against the Ronda’s within other regions, in which the media blamed the Sendero’s over this attack through claims of executions against “innocent peasants, women, and children”. [3] No official reports have clarified any evidence behind the execution of children, and even if so, clarification on whether they were victimized deliberately or through the acts of cross-fire is remained unclear as well. The use of claims of “innocent peasants” being attacked and killed by the Sendero Luminoso was merely propaganda led by the Peruvian media. No word of the Ronda’s or who they’re being funded by are made public, and is rather covered up in order to demonize the Sendero’s of killing “innocent peasants”.

When it comes to claims of killing women, I would point out the fact that, whether through the Sendero Luminoso or the Ronda Campesina, women were seen as militants as well. The use of trying to create a victimized image of women within these attacks were nothing more than a sexist fixation of women under guerrilla war. Many claims were made against the Sendero’s of attacking, torturing, and killing women. Yet, as Amnesty helped pointing out, women have also become known victims by the Peruvian military through the acts of torture [4] and rape. [5] Though, Amnesty tended to blame the Sendero Luminoso on these same charges as well without the understanding of women’s roles through guerrilla war. What’s interesting, though, is that, despite many claims of the majority of women being victimized by the Sendero Luminoso, fact of the matter is that women are a key victim through unlawful criminal sentencing by the Peruvian justice system, in which places 74% of those women locked up, under charged of “terrorism”. [6]

“Human Rights” of the bourgeois

Another tactic that was used, in which was helped promoted through Amnesty International, was the claims of going against “human rights”. Despite the fact that on June 18, 1986, at Lima’s Lurigancho prison, around 300 imprisoned members of the Sendero Luminoso were killed by Armed Forces, [7] claims of “human rights” violations continue to be blamed on the Sendero’s. Though, as stated in a document by the Sendero Luminoso, the use of “human rights” claims were then pointed out as not being the acts of human rights of the working class, but rather human rights of the bourgeois:

“We start by not ascribing to either Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the Costa Rica [Convention on Human Rights], but we have used their legal devices to unmask and denounce the old Peruvian state … For us, human rights are contradictory to the rights of the people, because we base rights in man as a social product, not man as an abstract with innate rights. “Human rights” do not exist except for the bourgeois man, a position that was at the forefront of feudalism, like liberty, equality, and fraternity were advanced for the bourgeoisie of the past. But today, since the appearance of the proletariat as an organized class in the Communist Party, with the experience of triumphant revolutions, with the construction of socialism, new democracy and the dictatorship of the proletariat, it has been proven that human rights serve the oppressor class and the exploiters who run the imperialist and landowner-bureaucratic states. Bourgeois states in general … Our position is very clear. We reject and condemn human rights because they are bourgeois, reactionary, counterrevolutionary rights, and are today a weapon of revisionists and imperialists, principally Yankee imperialists.” [8]

Factions of the Path emerge

In 1992, the Peruvian military were able to locate and capture the leader of the Sendero Luminoso, Abimael Guzman. Since his imprisonment, factions began emerging out of the original Sendero’s. One, in which is being led by Comrade Artemio, continues to uphold the original policies of the Sendero Luminoso. They have fled to the jungle area of Huallaga Valley, in which is said to be in the number of 200-300 members left. The other faction is led by the commanders Victor and Jorge Quispe Palomino and Leonardo Huaman Zuñiga, also respectively known throughout their party as “Comrade Jose”, “Comrade Raul”, and “Comrade Alipio”, [9] who are right now within the VRAE region, acting as “helpers” to the peasants on coca cultivation and production.

The VRAE region mercenary rebels marching in formation as they protect those cultivating coca production throughout the region.

Though, according to members of the original Sendero Luminoso, the faction within the VRAE region are not following the original policies of both “Gonzalo Thought” and Marxist-Leninist-Maoism. According to imprisoned leader Abimael Guzman, he see’s this faction of “Sendero’s” as “..a group of mercenaries who look out for their personal interests and not those of the people. They are simplistic, they do not know ideology. They have practically tossed Marxism-Leninism-Maoism into the trash can.” [10] According to Laura Eugenia Zambrano, who is also serving a life-sentence in prison, stated that they [original Sendero’s] “flatly rejected this armed group and military..” and “..are not part of the Sendero Luminoso Communist Party”. She also stated that “..[drug] traffickers are anti-Gonzalo thought”. [11] Another imprisoned member facing 25 years, Victoria Trujillo, stated that armed militants within the VRAE region “have nothing to do with the party..” and that they’re “..mercenaries against the people”. [12]

Despite these testimonies by original members of the Sendero Luminoso, the Peruvian media failed to put them into account. Given the fact that they continue, to this day, to blame the entirety of the Sendero Luminoso for drug trafficking, in which was put to blame on them since they initially started the “People’s War” against the Peruvian State. They don’t put the faction split within its complete context and merely see it as an expanding struggle, rather than a disconnection of the struggle. Because of this, reports have been made with claims that even the faction being led by Comrade Artemio is helping in drug trafficking, along with those known in the VRAE region of said cultivation as well. [13] Though, to respond to these accusations, on the eve of the 30th anniversary of the “People’s War” first waged by Abimael Guzman, Comrade Artemio and other members of the Sendero’s used a vehicle in order to throw leaflets in various streets of Ayacucho, in which they started calling the leaders of the VRAE region militants “‘mercenaries’ of the drug cartels and ‘narcocamaradas’”, in which is being used to “..discredit to President Gonzalo and Comrade Artemio and activities of the PCP base Huallaga” in order to “..destroy and disappear Gonzalo Thought”. [14]

Al Jazeera found themselves in Peru in order to try and find out the truth of what is going on from reports of the Sendero Luminoso. While in Peru, they brought themselves within peasant villages that are protected by the VRAE region rebels, in which the villagers would give them their stories of the past where they once feared the Sendero’s, but are now being helped by them through drug trafficking and, according to their reports, are treating them [the peasants] very well. When the reporters tried going into the heart of the VRAE region in order to get an interview with members of the VRAE “Sendero’s”, they were told to get out quickly. So instead, they went to Lima in order to try and interview imprisoned members of the Sendero Luminoso and to see what their opinions were of the VRAE region faction. But, because they were not granted access into the prison with their cameras, after talks of negotiations, they found themselves interviewing a Sendero spokesman from the outside. The spokesman had stated that:

“..those who are now in the VRAE have no chance of taking over the country. They are nothing but a militarized cell in the middle of the jungle, and in that hole they struggle to survive. What these anti-Maoists from the VRAE are doing today has nothing to do with the party’s politics, because they have become mercenaries who offer their services to the highest bidder, including those linked to drug trafficking. Our position has always been to defend the peasantry, but we should remember that drug trafficking harms the peasantry to the benefit of powerful elites.” [15]

Once a violent struggle, now a peace struggle

During the same interview with the spokesman of the Sendero Luminoso, it was then stated on where the party stands today and what it must leave behind for the time being:

Abimael Guzman, imprisoned leader of the Sendero Luminoso, raising his fist while on trial as a sign of continuing the class struggle.

“In 1993 the ‘People’s War’ in Peru ended and we categorically reiterate this. Our position is that we need a political solution to the problems that originated from the ‘People’s War’. We are asking for a general amnesty that will contribute to the country’s reconciliation. Revolutionary violence has been part of class struggle throughout history. When the right time comes, we will employ all mechanisms that help the struggle for socialism and communism.” [16]

Peace and amnesty has become the sole movement in which the original Sendero Luminoso abide by. Negotiations between themselves and the Peruvian government have taken place, yet still no agreement has been made. These negotiations have been promoted by Abimael Guzman through his recently published book, “De puño y letra”, in which he calls for peace negotiations to be held in order to bring a better relation between themselves and the people of Peru. It is also being used in order to try and help distance Guzman and his party from the anti-Maoist faction within the VRAE region. [17] Since then, peaceful rallies have been made in promotion of the class struggle and the Sendero Luminoso, especially one that was rallied on May 1st for the May Day rallies in Peru. [18]

Despite constant struggles to try and free the Sendero Luminoso from the lies and propaganda made against them by both Peruvian and US media, for example the documentary made just before Abimael Guzman’s capture, “People of the Shining Path” [19], the psychological war waged against them continues to this day. Just recently, on July 13, 2010, the US has offered a $5 million bounty for the capture of the leaders of the Sendero Luminoso, in which also includes the bounty of Comrade Artemio. [20] As crippled as the Sendero’s may be, they’ve vowed to continue the class struggle, whether it may be peaceful or violent, in order to destroy capitalism from the country of Peru.

Red Love & Salutes!

———————————————————-

[1] German Palomino, “The Rise of the Rondas Campesinas in Peru” (PDF), 1996.
[2] “La Masacre de Lucanamarca” (PDF), 1983.
[3] “Peru: Human rights in a time of impunity”, Amnesty International, February 1996.
[4] “Peru: Summary of Amnesty Internationals concerns 1980 – 1995”, Amnesty International.
[5] “The Women’s Rights Project”, Human Rights Watch.
[6] Weiss, Robert P. Comparing Prison Systems. [Amsterdam]: Routledge, 1998. Print.
[7] Ibid.
[8] “Sobre Las Dos Colinas (3)”, NY Transfer.
[9] “Minister: Shining Path Remains a Threat in Peru’s Jungles”, Latin American Herald Tribune.
[10] Ibid.
[11] “De ‘Puño Y Letra’ De Abimael Guzman”, Eldiario International, September 13, 2009.
[12] Ibid.
[13] “Peruvian Police Identify Shining Path Commander”, Latin American Herald Tribune.
[14] “Artemio Brands ‘Joseph’ and ‘Raul’ as ‘Mercenaries’ and ‘Narcocamaradas'”, Red Ant Liberation Army News, May 20, 2010.
[15] “The New Shining Path”, Al Jazeera, July 21, 2010.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Ellie Griffis, “Lawyer for jailed Shining Path founder charged with “apology for terrorism” over book announcement”, Peruvian Times, September 17, 2009.
[18] 1º de mayo 2010, Perú, May 7, 2010, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWr0IYNy3Jg&feature=player_embedded
[19] “Documentary: The People of the Shining Path”, The Marxist-Leninist, September 22, 2008.
[20] Terry Wade, “U.S. offers bounty for Shining Path leaders in Peru”, Reuters, July 13, 2010.

Artemio Brands “Joseph” & “Raul” as “Mercenaries” & “Narcocamaradas”

Sunday, 16/05/2010

On the eve of his 30th birthday the beginning of the ‘war’ started by Abimael Guzman, Shining Path group membership on the Huallaga Regional Committee, in the early hours of Sunday, using a vehicle threw subversive leaflets in different streets of Ayacucho , calling the terrorist leaders ‘Joseph’ and ‘Raul’ being ‘mercenaries’ of the drug cartels and ‘narcocamaradas’.

The leaflets were thrown in the areas of Acuchimay Carmen Alto district, Yanamilla sector, Canaan Low and Santa Elena, as well as the environment for counternarcotics police base.

Volante terrorist, scattered in different streets of the city of Ayacucho

In the flyers, the followers of Comrade ‘Artemio’, disagree openly with their’ Joseph ‘and’ Raul ‘whom he accuses of maintaining’ pockets rebel insurgents “in areas VRAE,” financed by drug traffickers and mercenaries, under the command of narcocamaradas ‘Joseph’ and ‘Raúl’, who in order to discredit the President Gonzalo and Comrade Artemio and activities of the PCP base Huallaga, covertly make the game on the reaction wall, colluding in an attempt destroy and disappear Gonzalo Thought ”

POLICY TO COMBAT WEAPON, A FIGHT WITHOUT WEAPONS POLICY

They also affirm that they believe necessary “for the social, ideological and historical make it necessary for the PCP, to move from political struggle with weapons, unarmed political struggle, supporting, in that sense, the guidelines of President Gonzalo in his book ‘From his own hand’. ”

Second part of the steering wheel, which confirmed the rivalry between the followers of 'Artemio' and 'Joseph'

At the same time, the style they usually do in the Huallaga valley, they launched death threats against those who qualify as traitors and informers, as well as seeking general amnesty and national reconciliation, and denounce an alleged “extermination of Communists.”

Meanwhile, specialized units of the national police, moved by different arteries, to pick up the flyers.

Source