Peru: Abimael Guzmán, founder of the Shining Path, died in prison

The founder and leader of the Shining Path terrorist gang, Abimael Guzman, died at the age of 86 while serving a life sentence for terrorism at Callao Naval Base, Peru.

Guzmán, whose exact cause of death has not been specified, had several health problems in recent weeks for which he was treated in the maximum security prison where he was serving his sentence.

However, refused to be transferred to a health center, after refusing to eat for a few days.

The first authority to comment on the news was the Minister of Health, Hernando Cevallos, who told reporters that “no one wishes anyone dead for more crimes they have committed“, but what “is unhappy like anyone who dies under any circumstance”.

In a brief statement, the National Penitentiary Institute of Peru said that Guzmán was killed at 6:40 am this Saturday “due to health complications”..

“The head of this detention center informed the technical committee of CEREC of this fact and, if necessary, it was communicated to the public prosecutor for prosecution,” he said.

The organization known since 1980 was designated by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as the responsible for the deaths of some 69,000 people in Peru following the terrorist violence unleashed by this group between 1980 and 2000.

In recent years, various political branches of Sendero have promoted the idea of ​​forgiveness and the release of Guzmán and the doomed Senderista leaders seeking reconciliation, but the issue was not accepted by public opinion or political sectors.

“Dr Abimael Guzmán has died, the Navy informed his wife Elena Yparragurre of the death», Declared, for his part, the lawyer Alfredo Crespo in dialogue with the press agency AFP.

Guzmán ended his days as Peru’s most famous prisoner, without specifying his adventure of reproducing in Peru with blood and fire the model of his icon Mao.

His reappearance in public in 2017

Guzman reappeared in the lawsuit against him for an attack in Lima in 1992 and claimed that a doctor was checking his health, according to him deteriorated during his service life imprisonment.

“I have been sick for a month, I cannot eat, my clothes are loose. Who takes care of me?Guzmán asked the magistrates of the National Criminal Chamber, at the Callao naval base (west of Lima), the barracks where he was serving a life sentence for crimes against human rights and terrorism .

“I came just to tell the audience why I didn’t come before. When a doctor goes (to see him in his cell) he asks me: “What’s wrong with him?” He agrees to leave but does not do his part, otherwise how can he continue to be ill?Said the leader Senderista, captured in 1992.

“I ask a doctor to see me, that I can solve, because I do not trust the doctors of the INPE (National Penitentiary Institute)”, he said.

The first trial hearing, held on February 14, 2017, was postponed a few hours after its start because Guzmán did not appear after suffering from acute diarrhea.

Guzmán appeared in March of this year already rotten, with a broad beard and gray hair, wearing a blue shirt and gray pants. At all times he kept his gaze downcast, not looking out into the courtyard. He only spoke to his wife Elena Iparraguirre, Shining Path number two and also tried for the attack.

Submit the file

Alfredo Crespo, defender of Guzmán and Elena Iparraguirre, asked the court to archive the cause given that “its clients are already sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism and in Peru life imprisonment cannot be applied twice for the same crime”. In Peru, the penalties are not cumulative.

Crespo told the press that with this trial “It seeks to sentence to life imprisonment only those who have sentences of 25 to 30 years and are ready to be released from prison or have already served their sentence.”.

Guzmán’s lawyer considered that the management of Senderista it has nothing to do with the attack because it was carried out by lower executives and clarified that these perpetrators are already in prison, serving their sentence.

The Shining Path war has left some 69,000 dead between 1980 and 2000 after triggering a military crackdown, according to a report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Decimated after the capture of Guzmán in 1992, the group has remains in the central area of ​​the country, which act in alliance with drug trafficking, according to the authorities.

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