In light of the latest events in the history of our country, few have remembered this commemorative date where a time of terror ended and they have put aside the heroes who made it possible.
Peru was and always was a strategic point in the taking of Latin America and the influence of socialism and communism encouraged many characters in its history to take up this ideology and try to create a different system. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Abimael Guzmán Reynoso had his days numbered in the first half of September. His capture was prepared under the name Operation Victoria or also known as The Capture of the Century.
This consisted of an exhaustive follow-up through undercover police officers and GEIN agents, to finally reach Calle Varsovia 459 in the Surquillo district of Lima. There, members of the Shining Path, the group responsible for the largest massacre in the history of Peru between the 70s and 90s, were operating, two agents nicknamed Ardilla and Gaviota managed to capture the famous «Chairman Gonzalo.»
On the night of September 12, 1992 (at 8:45 p.m. Peru time), Abimael Guzmán is captured and with him, four women. One of his companions was Elena Ipanaguirre, his second wife, Laura Zambrano Padilla, who collected funds from drug trafficking, María Pantoja and Maritza Garrido Lecca, the latter owner of the house.
Intelligence and the skein thread
Thanks to the preliminary capture of Luis Alberto Arana Franco, known in the terrorist environment as «Sotil», administrator of the César Vallejo Academy and provider of funds for Sendero Luminoso, the whereabouts where they operated were known.
Operation Victoria was commanded and led by Colonel Benedicto Jiménez and Commander Marco Miyashiro. They were in charge of collecting relevant information that helped him to relate to the place or place where Guzmán lived, the path was marked by the capture of minor charges that in the end ended up betraying the site of the Shining Path leader.
Peace Agreement
On October 20, 1992, Guzmán Reynoso presented a Peace Agreement through letters to the President of Peru, Alberto Fujimori. It was almost a year later, in December 1993, that Abimael Guzmán and 17 leaders of the Shining Path signed the peace agreement that was read by Fujimori Fujimori on October 1, 1993 at the United Nations.
Sendero and his political party
Before the end of his term, Alberto Fujimori maintained that terrorism had not been completely defeated, that it would return in different ways, and that it was necessary to finish defeating it. As Guzmán Reynoso mentioned, even if he died, his thoughts would remain in the younger generations.
Until today, the Senderista leadership owes one of the largest civil reparations in Peruvian history, amounting to a total of 3.702 million soles, the largest imposed by justice in Peruvian history. «Although it is not proportional to the damage they caused, it is close,» said Milko Ruiz, anti-terrorist attorney. In addition, due to the attack on Tarata Street in the Miraflores district of Lima, the terrorist sect received a second life sentence and a civil reparation of 2 million soles was imposed to be paid among the 12 members of the Senderista leadership.
In its insistence to achieve power, this faction of extreme communism has created its own political party called the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights (Movadef), which was created in 2009 and calls for the release of the civilians, police and military involved. in the internal war unleashed in the country by the «Marxist-Leninist-Maoist» ideological group that sought power through terrorism.
«We have abundant documentation, and in the handwriting of Abimael Guzmán, seized in prisons in 2014, which shows that Abimael Guzmán directs Movadef, that is, that he is part of the Movadef structure,» the former Interior Minister said at the time , Carlos Basombrío.
Deceased and Missing
There were 69,280 to 77,552 deaths and more than 15,000 disappeared, the balance left by the time of Terrorism in Peru. 28% were executions carried out by the Peruvian army, according to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.