Peru: Shining Path, attempt to form extremist party

The Economist – TWENTY years ago this month, police arrested Abimael Guzmán, the founder of the Shining Path, and Elena Iparraguirre, his partner. With that, the group’s violent insurgency soon came to an end. A truth commission reckoned that the Maoist guerrilla group, which engaged in terror, was responsible for a majority of the 70,000 or so killings that took place during its battle with Peruvian society and the security forces. Is that nightmare about to return? Interviewed in her small cell on the top floor of Lima’s main women’s prison, surrounded by books and watercolours she has painted, Ms Iparraguirre says she has not changed her views. She remains a dogmatic communist, but she accepts that the Shining Path was defeated militarily. Before being allowed to talk to Ms Iparraguirre your correspondent was required to submit to questioning by a committee of five other Shining Path prisoners. Both she and Mr Guzmán, who is 77, are serving life sentences, and will not be released. But other senior leaders of the group will start emerging from prison early next year, having served sentences of 20 years or more. Read Article – Economist