Shining Path: New Attacks by Peru Govt
Posted by Mike E on May 15, 2008
The following article reports on the announcements of Peru’s military. As in such reports over the years, it is hard to know what here is true and what is not. However this evidence of continued compative capacity by the Communist Party of Peru (Shining Path) is worth a post — so that we can evaluate and discuss it.
PERU: All-Out War on Remnant of ‘Shining Path’ Guerrillas
By Ángel Páez
LIMA, May 9 (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. (END/2008)
May 15, 2008 at 6:42 am
It is interesting that the Senderistas are being tagged with the same drug trafficker label as the Colombian revolutionaries of the FARC. I am curious what role U.S. military intelligence has in this campaign? How many Peruvian commanders are trained at the School of the Americas?
May 15, 2008 at 8:48 am
While Sendero (PCP) flourished glaring contradictions in their Peoples War were revealed, and crimes were committed by partisans on people under their jurisdiction. Massacres and brutality became more of a rule than an exception to their base areas. Perhaps excusable in the face of an overwhelming fascist protracted offensive, but also in response to an extremely extensive intelligence organization; that in my opinion was much more sophisticated than Guzman’s leadership was capable of fighting.
Doesn’t anybody find it immensely ironic that for a time Montesinaros (sp?) the former intel-chief who busted the PCP CC was held in the same prison as Guzman and his CC comrades?
It was at that time that the PCP, what was left of it, should have scattered to the elemental parts of mercury being crushed by a hammer - or returned to be among the multitudes of oppressed.
Perhaps the historic gains and lessons that the PCP originally began with and their contributions to the oppressed understanding of the “three historical peaks” will be better remembered, and not what has transpired since the CC bust.
Again here is also a bloody lesson in the cultivation of the personality, i. e. Guzman as communist messiah, that simple genuflections demanded from the oppressed will not suffice. Times have changed since Mao’s times.
We should be more like our people, and less like the heros of history. All that “we is bad” chest pounding, goes nowhere like empathy, solidarity and subversion among the oppressed. At every epic event in history, we have won the loyalty, dedication and blood of the oppressed to our side, with humility and the grasping of science - mastering our skills, arming our people with the proletarian ideals, and in turn being armed by the people with their own weapons.
This defeat and the absolute destruction of the Iranian revcoms within Iran … I lay squarely at the doorstep of the RCP.
Take it or leave it.
Eat it, digest it - do not play lightly with the peoples’ blood in making revolution.
May 15, 2008 at 10:33 am
“Massacres and brutality became more of a rule than an exception to their base areas.”
Where’s the evidence for that, Cassiusghost?
When I read:
“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”
and “…Quispe has organised a “support network” in Lima” —I feel hopeful.
I don’t see how your criticism of Peruvian Maoists, whose struggle constituted the most advanced in the world into the early 90s and had a big impact of comrades in South Asia, connects with your assertion that the RCP was responsible for Sarbedaran’s destruction.
May 15, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Cassiusghost-
“This defeat and the absolute destruction of the Iranian revcoms within Iran … I lay squarely at the doorstep of the RCP.”
WTF are you talking about? There’s a lot to criticize RCP for, but you are way off base here.
May 15, 2008 at 12:58 pm
The main error (if I understand it correctly) of the Sarbardaran was thinking they could make an alliance with the Khomenei forces — in the context of the U.S.-instigated war by Iraq.
In fact, this was a serious misassessment of the Islamic intentions, their view of the left, their openness for alliance etc.
As for blaming others… I think Mao’s point on this remains valid — other people in the world can always give advice (and who knows what advice the Iranians got?) But it is each party’s own responsibility to decide what line to carry out (and what advice to accept).
May 15, 2008 at 1:09 pm
“Comments”
How many tea balls are you going to strain hope through for that one? Since when are local police armed with Kalashnikov rifles and why would the alleged revs allow even one to survive an ambush? And a “support network in Lima” well, maybe like an apartment over a dancer’s flat? Pretty flimsy to hang your hat on there for being “hopeful.”
Read their own member’s testimony during the reconciliation sessions.
Go back to the shadows to lurk.
Onehundredflowers
Two, maybe three major cc meetings of Sarbedaran - my memory fails - but all were rounded up in a pretty bloodless mass arrests, not once but several times, each while assembling for their plenary congress or central committee meetings in the mid-eighties, almost all and many of their relatives eventually tortured and executed during a particularly bloody summer a few years later. Not isolated either, they were hung and fire squaded with other marxist organization’s leaders also.
And in Peru, wasn’t that while PCP CC members were assembling in Lima for a convocation of equal importance?
Maybe theres something to learn from that.
As far as “WTF” about RCP’s responsibilities toward these small mistakes. Well, what must one expect from the “We is Bad” ones waving red flags at every mass spectacle for any pig with a camera to capture?
I expect no less of the tidy forgetfulness, or refusal to take responsibility for anything that happens after screaming fire in a hot theater. Such adults we have “leading” this one in the US.
Like they once said (and everybody was listening and watching), “Revolution in the 80s - Go for it!”
Enough for one day.
“Regroup, reconceive” for REVOLUTION
May 15, 2008 at 1:17 pm
“Two, maybe three major cc meetings of Sarbedaran - my memory fails - but all were rounded up in a pretty bloodless mass arrests, not once but several times, each while assembling for their plenary congress or central committee meetings in the mid-eighties, almost all and many of their relatives eventually tortured and executed during a particularly bloody summer a few years later. Not isolated either, they were hung and fire squaded with other marxist organization’s leaders also.”
And RCP is somehow responsible for this?
May 15, 2008 at 1:31 pm
Like they said, “Revolution in the 80s - Go for it!”
What does the RCP take responsibility for - including the serious errors about anything other than their ever victorious march to classless utopia?
I’m out of date with their propaganda “organs” but not with their belittling and trashing of “economist” and “opportunist” tactics.
“Create Public Opinion … Seize Power!”
But, never consolidate and create autonomous partisan base areas.
May 15, 2008 at 2:31 pm
“Read their own member’s testimony during the reconciliation sessions.”"
are these online somewhere?
May 15, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Cassiusghost -
Whatever you think of RCP or their slogans, to make them responsible for the massacre of comrades, especially in another country, is irresponsible and trivializes that experience. Putting out slogans does not equate to defining, much less leading, a political movement.
May 15, 2008 at 11:53 pm
Who is being irresponsible and trivial? Surely not the self-proclaimed vanguard in this country!
As to, “Putting out slogans does not equate to defining, much less leading, a political movement.” You missed two insignificant words there - “a political movement” ( - for revolution). Thank you for the clarification.
May 17, 2008 at 2:57 pm
This is a very interesting website being run here. I browse frequently, but have never posted before.
I was wondering if anyone here could recommend any books about the PCP rebellion that are comprehensive and fair. The only book I have ever seen about it is called “The Monkey’s Paw: New Chronicles from Peru” by Robin Kirk, but I have not read it and am not sure if it’s worthwhile (is anyone here familiar with this book?).
Any direction would be greatly appreciated.
May 18, 2008 at 7:43 am
Robin Kirk is pretty bad, as she’s virulently anti-communist. Simon Strong wrote a book that’s some have recommended, but I have not read it. There’s not much in English worth reading, IMHO. In spanish there’s more, there’s a book by an ex-military officer called “Peru: los senderos posibles” that’s supposed to be good. There’s a lot by senderologists, especially Carlos Ivan Degregori, that you might find useful.
Personally, I always stuck to the PCP’s own documents to get beyond the usual sensationalism. The basis of party unity was published after the 1988 congress and consists of “Fundamental Documents (Documentos Fundamental)”, “The International Line (Linea Internacional)”, “Democratic Revolution (Revolucion democratica)”, “The Military Line (linea militar)”, “Line of Construction of the Three Instruments of the Revolution (linea de construccion de los tres instrumentos de la revolucion)”, and “Mass Line (linea de masas)”. They are central to the PCP’s self-conception. If you can find “The Two Hills” (Sobre las dos colinas) and “People’s war yes, Elections No”) (Guerra Popular, Si! Elecciones No!) they are very interesting as well as they represent the PCP at their peak. They were never published in English, though. The stuff about the prison uprisings they published is pretty dramatic too.
May 18, 2008 at 11:36 am
I am not, as anyone who has actually read my book, “virulently anticommunist.” I reported on the Shining Path in a fair and impartial way — and there’s the rub. I documented their campaign of murder against political rivals, like Maria Elena Moyano, the mayor of Villa El Salvador; and I reported from the highlands and jungle, where their massacres cost thousands and thousands of lives. Reading PCP documents only gives you a twisted, highly partial view — but to anyone who actually takes the trouble to read closely, these documents reveal that the Shining Path tolerated and even encouraged boodshed, the “river of blood” that Abimael Guzman said would lead to victory. On the Shining Path, the best book by far is Gustavo Gorriti’s “The Shining Path,” which I translated into English.
May 18, 2008 at 11:49 am
Yes, we all know that only American academics can really be objective about revolutionary violence, while those who risk their lives to make revolution will always have a twisted, partial view. And of course, Peru is now a peaceful paradise and a haven for foreign investment without those pesky Maoists. Thanks for clearing that up for us.
May 18, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Welcome to Kasama, Robin.
A question: You say that peru’s maoists “tolerated and even encouraged bloodshed.” and that is hard to dispute: after all they launched and led a revolutionary war.
But is that really the dividing line in the world?
Isn’t true that every government in the world demands a monopoly on the means of violence — and all of them (without exception) tolerate and even encourage bloodshed.
Is it damnable for revolutionaries to struggle for power, but excusable when oppressive governments fight to defend their unjust power?
Maoists say “the emperor may burn down villages, but the people are forbidden to even light a candle.”
May 18, 2008 at 1:15 pm
“Is it damnable for revolutionaries to struggle for power, but excusable when oppressive governments fight to defend their unjust power?”
I haven’t had a chance to deeply study the Peruvian situation, but I wonder if the choice is really between damning revolutionaries for using violence in the struggle for power, and capitulating to and accepting violence from imperialist states.
Shouldn’t we hold revolutionaries accountable to a higher standard than the enemy? Does doing this implicitly forbid the people to even light a candle?
May 18, 2008 at 1:44 pm
big L: I was remarking on Robin Kirk’s argument — which was that the Shining Path are openly advocating bloodshed, and so they can be condemned for that. Robin observes that the Shining Path taught that liberation came by crossing a “river of blood.” My question was: is that true? Is that wrong? Is it wrong to train revolutionaries (and the oppressed people) more widely to expect sacrifice on the road to liberation?
In answer to your remarks, Big L: yes we should have a higher standard. Of course. And we should have a critical approach to the actions and theories of other revolutionaries.
But the standard applied by Robin (if I understood it correctly, and I may not!)seems to be that organizations of the people may not advocate bloodshed or launch wars — in a world where states defend oppression by force and violence. And that, imho, ends up being a defense of oppression and opposition to revolutionary change — even when it is articulated by people who consider themselves progressive and liberal.
One of the particularities of Peru is that a swath of “left” forces had developed ties to the Peruvian military (during the pro-Soviet military rule in the 1970s), and quite a few of them wo