Shining Path

PERU: CAPTURED SHINING PATH LEADER, PARADED IN FRONT OF MEDIA

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• published: 21 Jul 2015
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Spanish/Nat Peruvian authorities in Lima have publicly paraded a number of recently captured rebels from the Shining Path movement. They included the woman known as "Comarada Nancy" - Margie Clavo Peralta, the guerrilla organisation's second-in-command. Once the most feared extremist group in Latin America, Shining Path suffered a near- terminal blow in 1992 when its chief, Abimael Guzman, was caught and jailed. The authorities in Peru say Shining Path, or Sendero Luminoso, has suffered another major setback. Margie Clavo Peralta, known as Camarada Nancy, was the movement's political commander. But despite her predicament, Peralta remains defiant. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "Long live the party and the revolution! Long live the people's war! The people's war will inevitably triumph over the dictatorship that has committed genocide and has sold out our country. Keep fighting in the people's war. Defend the life of President Gonzalo (captured Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman). Communism through the people's war. The people's war will inevitably triumph. Long live the People's Liberation Army! Long live the new order! Long live the People's Republic of Peru! Long live President Gonzalo, leader of the party and the revolution." SUPER CAPTION: Margie Clavo Peralta known as Camarada Nancy - Shining Path commander Twenty members of Shining Path were captured earlier this month in a town east of Lima. Among them Peralta and three other key members of the group. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) "Long live the Communist Party of Peru! The people's war will inevitably triumph. Fujimori, you have committed genocide and sold out our country! SUPER CAPTION: Boris Michael Taipe Castillo, known as Camarada Felipe - Shining Path member The leader of the organisation is still at large. Oscar Ramirez Durand took over the Maoist guerrilla group after the capture of its founder, Abimael Guzma, in September 1992. The latest arrests are another blow to what used to be the most powerful guerrilla movement in Latin America and one of the most violent in the world. Five years ago, Peru was a country on the brink of collapse. Sendero Luminoso controlled two-thirds of the country. Its campaign had led to the deaths of 26-thousand people, mostly poor peasants who were killed for refusing to join the armed struggle. A car bomb attack in Lima, in 1992, was one of the movement's bloodiest terror attacks. Dozens of people died when the car exploded in the middle of a residential area. With almost 10-thousand members, Shining Path's fierce tactics and determination had convinced millions of Peruvians that Abimael Guzman, the absolute leader of the movement, was next to occupy the presidential palace. But in 1990, Alberto Fujimori won the presidential elections and promised that by April of 1995, he would have wiped out Sendero Luminoso. Many thought that was wishful thinking until Guzman was captured in a Lima safe house in September 1992, along with most of the group's top leaders. Some had thought Guzman invincible. But when he was shown in a cage, wearing a prisoner's pyjamas, the myth was destroyed. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) " In this 20th century, there is an imperialistic movement, especially a North American one, that dominates us. This is the truth. Everybody knows it. Nobody can silence it. And what has it done to us? Because the people, who have always defended the fatherland, who have defended the nation, has to form a Popular Front of Liberation. That is what needs to be done. That is what we will do, that is what we are doing." SUPER CAPTION: Abimael Guzman, known as Presidente Gonzalo - absolute leader of the Shining Path You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2f17cf217413b8b1cd970dccacd02e82 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork