Monday 13 April 2009

Peru: Further Reaction to Sendero Ambush

Surprise, surprise: touchy Defense Minister Flores–Aráoz doesn't like people criticising the actions of the armed forces in the VRAE, the area where 13 soldiers were murdered by Shining Path remnants last week. He asks people to remember that they don't know the full details of the situation, bla, bla.

However, he does admit that 'mistakes' may have been made. For some reason, the soldiers were patrolling in daylight, when apparently such patrols should be carried out during the night or dawn (I must say, I wasn't actually aware that the VRAE was so out of the army's control that it can't enter it at certain times, but there we go).

And finally, there is some suggestion that the attacks were directed by a terrorist leader known as "Olga". This is a bit of a non-story as El Comercio doesn't know her real name or, indeed, much about her, but there always seems to be more interest in the female terrorists, and the fact that she was reportedly a teacher in Ayacucho parallels the life of Guzman himself (h/t Otto).

No comments: