PERU: ‘All-Out War’ on Maoist Guerrillas. And once again the Maoists are never defeated but come back stronger and more determined.
LIMA, May 9 - 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.
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 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. ”
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,” 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 ideas on May 17, 1980.
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.
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 ‘peace accords’, 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.
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).
“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.’
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.
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 PCP’s People’s war against the Peruvian state.