The Maoist rebel movement Shining Path has murdered at least 14 people in a remote region of Peru, the Peruvian army reports. Also among the dead are two children. Some bodies would have been set on fire, an army spokesman said.
Leaflets were also found calling for not voting in two weeks’ presidential election, in which conservative candidate Keiko Fujimori takes on socialist Pedro Castillo.
The bodies were found in Valle de los Rios Apurimac, Ene y Mantaro (VRAEM), a region where about three-quarters of the cocaine produced in Peru comes from. Shining Path would now have assumed the role of security service for drug producers, according to the Peruvian government.
‘Safe election process’
In the 1980s, the left-wing movement began a struggle against the conservative and authoritarian rule of President Alberto Fujimori, father of the current presidential candidate. After the arrest of founder Abimael Guzman and other leaders of the group in 1992, Shining Path lost military strength, and the group turned into a criminal group working with drug gangs, according to the government. The violence claimed the lives of about 70,000 Peruvians between 1980 and 2000.
Commenting on the deaths, the Peruvian military says residents can expect “a safe election process” despite the violence in VRAEM.
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