Peru: Tempestad en los Andes

A documentary was presented at the Lima film festival this week called Tempestad en los Andes, directed by Mikael Winström. It focuses on Josefin Ekermann, the niece of the first wife of Abimael Guzmán, Augusta La Torre, as she travels to Peru from Sweden to find out "the truth" about her family's links to Sendero Luminoso (see trailer below, in Spanish - although the film is apparently in Quechua and English with Spanish subtitles). It also tells the story of Flor Gonzales, whose brother died in the prison of El Frontón.

I knew that Guzmán was married before Elena Iparraguirre but I knew almost nothing about his first wife and her role in the foundation of Shining Path, so this sounds really interesting.

La sobrina política de Abimael Guzmán es la estrella de este documental sueco sobre Sendero Luminoso (utero.pe)
Los estigmas de la guerra unen y separan a estas mujeres (La Republica)
TEMPESTAD EN LOS ANDES (festivaldelima.com)

Peru: Captor of Abimael Guzmán arrested

This is an odd postscript to the capture of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán.

This week Benedicto Jiménez, the leader of the police squad which arrested the terrorist head, was himself arrested on suspicion of involvement in moneylaundering and organised crime. He was acting as the lawyer of Rodolfo Orellana, who is accused of masterminding a network of corruption in Peru.

Jiménez generally comes out of the Shining Path period as one of the good guys, so if these allegations are true it's disappointing.

Héroe en 1992... Villano en 2014... La historia de Benedicto Jiménez (espacio360.pe)
¡Cayeron! Benedicto Jiménez, detenido. Rodolfo Orellana, prófugo. Estas son TODAS las acusaciones en su contra (utero.pe)

Peru: Life after the GEIN

Caretas magazine runs another "Where are they now?" article on the team from the GEIN that caught Shining Path supremo Abimael Guzmán.

One interesting point is that the majority of them were fairly young, as 70% of them are still working 20 years on. Another is that, as I've mentioned before, they did not receive much gratitude or recompense for their achievement. In fact, many of them are still working a second job, presumably to make ends meet. This, despite the fact that their intelligence operation took down Peru's most-wanted fugitive ever and contributed massively to the collapse of Sendero.

José Luis Olano, Dennys Cotera and Carlos Iglesias went through the rubbish in the Lima district of Surquillo and came across the medication that Guzmán used for his psoriasis. Olano now works for the police in Huancavelica, Cotera works for the Dircote (ie he is still in police intelligence) but in administrative tasks, and Iglesias works in the Miraflores district of Lima. On his days off from the police, he works as a security guard.

The GEIN members were essentially victims of Vladimiro Montesinos and his desire to promote the intelligence agency he himself led, the SIN. It's a shame that this situation has never been rectified.


La Vida Después del GEIN (Caretas)

Peru: Photo of the day

Here's a picture of Abimael Guzmán on 13 September 1992, the day after his capure, alongside partner Elena Iparraguirre and Alférez Olano of the GEIN. The standard picture of the arrest of Guzmán is the much better known one of him, caged, in the stripy suit in which he was paraded to the press. This looks more like a souvenir snapshot and features a comparatively smart "Presidente Gonzalo" and a bizarrely cheerful-looking second-in-command. Caretas describes Iparraguirre as "euphoric", while Guzmán looks stoical and both are doing their obligatory, fisted salute for the camera. 

See more here.

The week in Peru

Former candidate for the Peruvian presidency, Lourdes Flores, has criticised proposed legislation dealing with negacionismo, i.e. the denial or playing down of terrorism. In a radio interview, she said she did not think the law would be effective and that it would restrict freedom of expression. If passed, the law could lead to jail sentences for those minimising Peru’s internal conflict and in particular the violent acts committed by the Shining Path. This is the latest in a chorus of voices doubting the wisdom of the legislation.

Flores Criticizes Legislation To Criminalize Downplaying Terrorism (Peruvian Times)

Two contrasting tendencies can be observed during Peru’s recent commemorative activities. One of them is the attempts by fujimoristas to discredit the country’s truth commission report. One manifestation of this is claims that “Comrade William”, the Shining Path leader recently killed in the VRAEM, featured on a list of missing persons compiled by the CVR. The government counters that this was not the case, and also that “William” was originally incorrectly identified as Rolando Cabezas. But Fujimori supporters will seize on any shred of doubt to undermine the report as it deals extensively with the incidents for which Alberto Fujimori was jailed (Barrios Altos, La Cantuta and the abductions of Samuel Dyer and Gustavo Gorriti). Ex-head of the CVR, Salomon Lerner Febres, has rebuffed the criticism and called demands for the report to be revised “short-sighted”.

“I would ask how many of those asking for the review of the [report] have read the report by the commission?” Lerner Febres said. “No one from the commission pretended to have the absolute truth, we said that from the beginning,” he added. “If one would take the time to read it, it is an open truth, perfectible, where there could be some things that have to be further sharpened, but the broader question is a moral truth.”

FormerTruth Commission Head Defends Final Report On Peru’s Internal Conflict (Peruvian Times)

By contrast, the 20^th anniversary of the capture of Abimael Guzmán seems to have been the focus for a general effort to rehabilitate the members of the GEIN involved in the operation. It has long been generally accepted that instead of heaping rewards on the police intelligence unit following their spectacular arrest, Fujimori quickly split up the team and attempted to brush their role under the carpet. Now, some of the members are to support counter-terrorism activities in the VRAEM.

Ex-Membersof Police Intelligence Unit to Work On Shining Path Remnants (Peruvian Times)

Ex agentes delGEIN reforzarán inteligencia para acabar con SL (La Republica)

La Republica has also done a couple of rather nice "Where are they now?" type stories about the members of the GEIN. Of course, the fact that two of them fell in love while staking out Guzmán's house is good for the human interest angle.

¿Qué pasó con los cazadores? (La Republica)
La historia secreta de ‘Ardilla’ y ‘Gaviota’; los primeros agentes del GEIN que capturaron a Abimael (La Republica)

Peru: Photo of the Day

As we approach the 20th anniversary of the capture of Abimael Guzman, La Republica has published some iconic images of atrocities committed by the Shining Path. Here is one, of an attempt on an army bus in 1989:

See more here:

Los años de la barbarie (La Republica)

Peru in the news

It's approaching the 20th anniversary of the capture of Abimael Guzman AKA Presidente Gonzalo, supreme leader of the Shining Path.

The Economist has spoken to his partner, Elena Iparraguirre, who "remains a dogmatic communist, but [...] accepts that the Shining Path was defeated militarily". The magazine explains the origins of MOVADEF and quotes Iparraguirre as saying that she "does not know" who the Shining Path remnants in the VRAEM are. Other than that, it's not really an interview, despite calling itself that, as we get very little of Iparraguirre's views.


Still smouldering (The Economist)

No word on if Iparraguirre knows him, but Peru has killed another Shining Path rebel, going by the alias Comrade Williams. President Ollanta Humala announced on Wednesday that he had been killed by security forces. Prime minister Juan Jiménez has denied media reports that Williams, whose real name is apparently Rolando Cabezas,was listed among the victims of the internal conflict (this is a point of contention in Peru).

Peru Shining Path rebel Comrade Williams killed (BBC)
Alto mando de Sendero Luminoso murió tras operación de fuerzas combinadas en Vraem (El Comercio)
Cabinet Chief: Killed Shining Path Leader Not On List Of Terrorism Victims (Peruvian Times)

Peru: Capture of Artemio vs. Guzman

This post is composed of some preliminary thoughts and does not pretend to be a finished analysis.

It’s now a couple of weeks since Comrade Artemio/Florindo Eleuterio Flores, the top active Shining Path leader, was wounded and captured by Peruvian security forces. The arrest invites comparison with the capture of senderista leader Abimael Guzman back in 1992, but there doesn’t seem to have been much reflection on that as yet. In fact, aside from brief mentions, a Google search only really turned up this:

Fujimori capturó a Abimael Guzmán, ...Humala a Artemio (La Voz Hispana de Connecticut)

It’s illustrated with a nice composite image which highlights the comparison between Fujimori’s triumph over Guzman and Humala’s over Artemio:

But that aside, let’s go back a bit. For old time’s sake, here’s how the New York Times reported the capture of Guzman in 1992:

Fugitive Leader of Maoist Rebels Is Captured by the Police in Peru (NY Times)

Here’s a detailed look at the capture of Artemio:

Peru: Shining Path’s Last Major Leader, Artemio, has been Captured (COHA)

There are various points of comparison here. One is the method of capture itself – despite the fact that Guzman was arrested from a middle-class district of the capital city, while Artemio was hunted down in a remote rural area, I’d say that the major point of overlap is that both were taken alive (albeit injured, in Artemio’s case). By contrast, the MRTA kidnappers who took over the Japanese embassy in 1997 were summarily executed during the release operation. Guzman would likely have been killed too if Vladimiro Montesinos had had his way, but the Shining Path supremo was instead taken in a covert operation by a special police unit. Due process for two of Peru’s most wanted criminals is a positive testament to Peru’s justice system and has the additional advantage of preventing the fallen leaders from becoming martyr figures.

Both Artemio and Guzman were publicly exhibited to the media, leading to the show of defiance on the part of the latter which has become one of the iconic images of the Peruvian conflict.

Then comes the obligatory self-congratulatory speeches by the head of state at the time.

This is followed by attempts to sum up the significance of the capture and to look to the future. The arrest of Guzman was immediately recognized as extremely significant, of course, but there was perhaps not an appreciation that it would lead to the almost total collapse of the group – I say “almost” total, as clearly Sendero Luminoso has limped on into the 21^st century. However, it would have been reasonable to assume that another leader would replace Guzman more effectively than actually occurred. A downside of the personality cult he encouraged.

It's a bit premature to gauge the consequences of the downfall of Artemio, but to sum up I would suggest that it's obviously a good thing in that it's a blow to Shining Path, but the group as a whole will continue in some ragged form allied to the drug trade, particularly in the VRAE area led by "comrade Jose". The importance of the arrest is not equivalent to that of Guzman, but it is a step forward. The forthcoming trial(s), I hope, will also be a good opportunity for Peru to discuss memory issues more widely, particularly in light of the recent attempted rise of Shining Path-allied MOVADEF.

For those who are interested, here’s more:

An old post of mine on Abimael Guzman as the iconic prisoner of South America

Another old post of mine on missed opportunities to capture Guzman

Peru: Call for memory topics to be taught in school

Rocio Silva Santisteban, executive secretary of the Peruvian National Human Rights Coordinator (CNDDHH), has called on education minister Patricia Salas to include memory topics, including the history of the Shining Path, in the national curriculum.

Her reason for doing so is to avoid the acceptance of groups such as MOVADEF (Movimiento por la Amnistía y los Derechos Fundamentales - Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights), a pro-Shining Path group currently attempting to gain official recognition as a political party.

She also flatly rejected MOVADEF's calls for an amnesty for jailed Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán.

Piden a ministra de Educación incluir en currícula escolar la historia de Sendero (La Republica)

Peru: Montesinos and Guzman evacuated over tsunami fears

The devastating earthquake in Japan has repercussions across the globe, even affecting some of Peru's most notorious prisoners.

I noticed yesterday that the lawyer of Alberto Fujimori's former sidekick, Vladimiro Montesinos, had expressed concern about her client's situation in the face of a possible tsunami reaching Peru. But I dismissed this as attention-seeking; it didn't really seem worth blogging about.

However, it seems the authorities weren't taking any chances and they did indeed move prisoners from the naval base in Callao to the maximum security prison of Piedras Gordas, north of Lima. As well as Montesinos, they included former Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman, MRTA leader Victor Polay, and three other leading members of the two terrorist groups. The danger has now passed, and La Republica is reporting that the prisoners will be returned to Callao.

Peru Spared Tsunami Damage …. Montesinos & Guzman to Star in New “Swept Away” (American in Lima)
Evacuan de Base Naval del Callao a Montesinos, Guzmán y Polay (RPP)
Vladimiro Montesinos y Abimael Guzmán fueron trasladados a Piedras Gordas (El Comercio)
Montesinos y Abimael volverán a la Base Naval, tras suspensión de Alerta de Tsunami (La Republica)

Peru: Berenson/Guzman

Well, it's been a week of mixed fortunes for two of Peru's most notorious prisoners. Lori Berenson is back behind bars after having her parole revoked; while Abimael Guzman has finally succeeded in marrying his second-in-command Elena Iparraguirre. They may get conjugal visits. It's all very romantic.

Peru: Guzman - Iparraguirre, former Shining Path leaders, got married (Living in Peru)
Shining Path founders marry in prison (LA Times)
Shining Path newlyweds may quality for conjugal visits (Peruvian Times)
Shining Path founder Guzman married in Peru prison (AP)


Lori Berenson ordered to return to prison (NY Times)
Lori Berenson interview with Peruvian Times (Peruvian Times)
American activist Lori Berenson ordered back to Peruvian prison (Peruvian Times)
American back in prison with toddler son (AP)

Peru: Guzman Threatens Hunger Strike

The jailed leader of Peru's Shining Path rebel group and his girlfriend say they will go on hunger strike unless they are allowed to wed.

It's difficult to take Guzman seriously these days, to be honest - even his own followers don't seem to. I think it would be an odd end for him to starve himself to death over a marriage ceremony, and to be honest I doubt he would go that far, but I have to agree with Otto that there wouldn't be many tears shed for him. There was discussion of him facing the death penalty at the time of his capture, but the fear was that an execution (or the not unlikely possibility of an extrajudicial killing by some faction of Peru's armed forces) would turn him into a martyr for his loyal band. I think that fear has passed. Peru is still dealing with the legacy of the bloodbath he unleashed, but it is no longer in thrall to him as a person.

Peru Shining Path leader Guzman in hunger strike threat (BBC)
Jailed Shining Path founder plans hunger strike if he cannot wed (Peruvian Times)

Peru: Salomon Lerner Responds

Salomon Lerner, former head of the Peruvian truth commission (CVR) and current vice president of the commission on the museum of memory, is interviewed in the current issue of Caretas about the death threats he has been receiving. The whole thing is worth reading, but here is my translation of some key parts on recent events and Lerner's view of the importance of memory for Peru:

- Was there any prior warning of what happened last week? [the poisoning of
Lerner's dogs and death threats against him]
- There were prior incidents of harm. At the beginning of the year, my Wikipedia entry was changed to present me as one of the principal allies of the terrorists. I tried to change it and it was changed back. This is people who are linked to the fascist right, among whom many are young people. [...] I understand that it was a very right-wing youth who attacked my page, he has a blog and claims to be a follower of Karl Schmidt.
[...]
What happens is that sometimes, without meaning to, one becomes a symbol for something. To my misfortune, I have become a symbol for what they call 'caviares' and what were previously called 'civicos'.* [...] But it's not just that. It's a collection of manifestations against me and the CVR which some newspapers, which are not very democratically oriented, have been making for some time.
- You are referring to Expreso and La Razón?
- And Correo. I've gone public about the matter with the dogs so that these situations do not happen with impunity. They accuse me of playing the victim because of the situation with the book by Abimael Guzmán. I shouldn't buy those papers but I do. A bit of it is masochism and also to know where they are coming from.
- But anyone who has read Guzmán's book knows that it is directed against the CVR.
- I was talking to a friend and he said that I should write a book called The Misfortune of Not Being Loved. But it's not true, I have received solidarity, even from people who I don't know. Ollanto Humala, Alejandro Toledo, prime minister Velásquez Quesquén. The Minister of the Interior has been in touch. Even [defence minister] Rafael Rey had some kind words. I am grateful to all of them. There are other people who want to deceive some people and they use a phrase which is no more than ten words long: I'm really sorry about what is happening to Lerner. But I disagree with him that... And they give eleven reasons why I'm not much more than a criminal. This is hypocrisy, manipulation. I don't accept that sort of solidarity.
[...]
- Don't you think that the members of the CVR placed an emphasis on work surrounding Memory? Doesn't this just perpetuate the pain?
- I don't say that one should continually recreate the pain, but that one should process it. This is the only way to free oneself from it. Understanding what happened, mourning and then looking ahead. If we don't do that, we are going to leave a little stone in our shoe which won't leave us in peace. Memory prevents the threat of fanaticism and intolerance. The grand masters of intolerance were the senderistas and Guzmán is the king of intolerance. Those who say that the wounds are closed, what is it that they said when Guzmán wrote his book?: Remember what he did! [...]
- What did you think of the book?
- I haven't read it, I don't intend to read it, I'm free to not read it. I've spoken with Guzmán. Knowing the author, I really doubt the quality of his ideas.
[emphasis mine, trans mine]

'Es la Derecha Fascistoide' (Caretas)

*'Caviar' - a derogatory word for a left-winger, particularly an intellectual, urban left-winger who doesn't understand 'the real world'. Wikpedia suggests 'champagne socialist' as a translation.

12 September (II)

On this day 17 years ago Abimael Guzmán was arrested in Lima, precipitating the collapse of the Shining Path (which is currently undergoing some form of revival). Today, the former guerrilla leader is publishing his memoirs, which were apparently written between 2005 and 2007. According to the Associated Press, "the book also reveals aspects of his childhood like his love for soccer and desire to join the military". El Comercio quotes Guzmán's lawyer as saying that the book contains "self-criticism" but not "repentance".

From what I've heard of Guzmán's previous writing and propensity for long-winded speeches, I have little hope that this will be a literary masterpiece, but naturally it is academically interesting. I have no idea if any Peru-based readers will feel compelled to purchase a copy - perhaps they would object to indirectly funding Guzmán in this way? - but if so, please let me know what it's like.

Peru's Shining Path founder to publish book (AP)
Guzman publica memorias en aniversario de su captura (El Comercio)

News Round-Up 03/09/2009

Argentina

The Iranian parliament has confirmed the appointment of Ahmad Vahidi, wanted in conjunction with the AMIA bombing in Buenos Aires, to the post of Defence Minister. As is often the case, the international disapproval seems to have strengthened Iran's resolve and the authorities are now presenting this as defiance in the face of a US/Zionist plot.
Iran appoints bombing suspect as defence minister (Guardian)

Brazil

The newspaper O Globo published information from a dossier that had been sealed for four decades in which the Brazilian army takes responsibility for the death of the guerrilla Virgílio Gomes da Silva (known as Jonas), considered the first “disappeared” political prisoner of the military dictatorship.
Brazilian newspaper details killing of guerrilla leader by military regime (Journalism in the Americas)

Chile

Pinochet's foreign fortune has been calculated - and the magic number is apparently $25,978,602.79, of which over $20 million have "no justifiable origin".
Chilean judge calculates Pinochet's secret fortune (AP)

Peru

Imprisoned Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman is appealing to the Peruvian jail authorities to allow conjugal visits with his partner Elena Iparraguirre, who is in a different prison. The two have not seen each other since 2006. I was under the impression that they had married, but while a search reveals plenty of references which assume the same, I can't locate a definitive document stating this, just that he proposed marriage in 2007.

Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman seeks "family visit" with lover Elena Iparraguirre (Peruvian Times)

Peru: How Guzmán Got Away

Silvio Rendon at Gran Combo Club has a very interesting post on Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán and how he evaded justice through the years. The information in it was largely already familiar to me, but this is a very good, thought-provoking summary. Spanish speakers can follow the link below to read the whole thing.

Basically, Guzmán was briefly arrested in the late 1970s when Shining Path was still in the very early stages of germination (before the burning of the ballot boxes at Chuschi which marked the start of armed struggle). On this occasion there wasn't much on him and he was released; the photographs taken during his detention were for a long time some of the only definitive images of him.

Then in 1982, President Fernando Belaúnde knew that Guzmán had been sighted in the capital city and was, according to sources, in poor health. But, apparently out of a desire to avoid turning the guerrilla leader into a martyr, Belaúnde avoided arresting him and instead tried to reach a deal. He offered Guzmán safe passage out of the country; not surprisingly for those who know anything about senderista ideology, Guzmán declined and stepped out his campaign of violence.

In 1990, too, Fujimori had Guzmán within his grasp, and again, he failed to seize the opportunity. This time his motivation was his own political success: his successful attempt to grab power in 1992 was based on the fact that Peru was under threat by an internal enemy. Destroying the enemy too early would necessarily remove the justification for the far-reaching presidential control.

When the top senderista was finally detained in 1992, it was by a special police squad working outside the official intelligence service run by Vladimiro Montesinos, and acting without informing the president in advance.

Belaúnde's actions can partially be excused by the fact that he could not know how the situation in Peru would develop in the subsequent decade. Fujimori's cannot; tens of thousands were already dead by 1990. It's both sobering and interesting to see how political considerations allowed Guzmán to keep his freedom for ten full years after his first discovery in Lima - and that, for most of that time, it was assumed that he was holed up somewhere in the remote mountains, when a careful consideration of past experience would have suggested otherwise. Guzmán's whereabouts are now certain (San Lorenzo Island naval base prison, near Callao), but combating Shining Path remnants remains a concern for Peru.

Much of the information in this post comes from Peruvian journalist Gustavo Gorriti: his seminal work on SP is available in Spanish and in translation.

Belaunde deja escapar a Guzman (GCC)

Peru: Sendero Wants Guzman Dead

La Republica yesterday reported on the fractured - but still dangerous - remnants of Sendero Luminoso. It's well known that most of the surviving senderistas are no longer loyal to their former leader Abimael Guzman (AKA Presidente Gonzalo), but are involved in the drug trafficking business in the VRAE area. Now, apparently, they even want Guzman dead. The article speaks of splits in the remaining group of Shining Path, which I'm not going to discuss in detail, but it's safe to say that these groups tend to be prone to infighting. Shining Path itself originated from the leftist disputes which split the Peruvian Communist party in the late 1960s. And who they oppose, they tend to want dead.

Narcoterroristas del VRAE rompen con Sendero y piden la muerte de Abimael