France 24
Peru: 18 villagers killed in a coca-producing region
Eighteen people were shot dead in the village of San Miguel del Ene, located in a remote Peruvian coca-growing valley, authorities said on Monday. A massacre, attributed by the army to isolated fighters of the Shining Path Maoist guerrillas. Eighteen people, including two children, were shot dead in Peru in a remote coca-growing valley, with the armed forces blaming the killings on isolated fighters of the Shining Path Maoist guerrilla. “We are down to 18” villagers killed. in the village of San Miguel del Ene, in the valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro rivers (central-south), the main coca production sector in Peru, announced Monday, May 24, the head of the anti-terrorism police Oscar Arriola on the television. The victims are ten men and six women, in addition to the two children. In this region still operates, according to the government, the Shining Path, Maoist guerrilla which fought the Peruvian army between 1980 and 2000, causing thousands of victims. could raise tensions in the polarized campaign of the second round of the presidential election on June 6. Right-wing populist candidate Keiko Fujimori accuses her radical left-wing opponent Pedro Castillo of being linked to the political wing of the Shining Path, which he fiercely denies. Pedro Castillo hastened to denounce on Twitter “this terrorist act”, his rival castigating “bloody acts”. “These facts remind us of the time of barbarism and terror that the country experienced for more than twenty years, which left more than 70,000 dead and a large number of missing “, worried, for his part, Archbishop Miguel Cabrejos, president of the Episcopal Council of Latin America.” Leaflets were found on the site, urging the population not to participate in the electoral process of 2021 “, the army said in a statement, attributing the attack to a column of the Shining Path led by Victor Quispe Palomino, known as” Comrade José “. All the leaders of the Maoist guerrilla are now behind bars, there are still a few fighters scattered in isolated forest and mountainous areas. Authorities estimate their number at 350 and accuse them of cooperating with drug traffickers. “I strongly condemn the killing of these people,” tweeted interim Peruvian President Francisco Sagasti, who ordered “the deployment of military” patrols and police in the area “so that this terrorist action does not go unpunished.” The prosecution has instructed a unit specializing in terrorism to investigate these murders. Defense Minister Nuria Esparch pledged that they “would not go unpunished.” In 2003, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) estimated that some 70,000 were dead or missing during the 20 years of conflict (1980 -2000) between the army and the guerrillas of the Shining Path and the Revolutionary Movement Tupac Amaru (MRTA, Guévariste). According to the CVR, the Shining Path is responsible for 54% of the victims of this internal conflict. Among its bloodiest actions, the murder in 1984 of 117 peasants of Soras, in the region of Ayacucho (south), for refusing to support the movement.Peru is one of the leading producers of coca and cocaine in the world with Colombia and Bolivia.With AFP
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