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The valley of the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro (Vraem) rivers in central Peru was the scene of the massacre of 16 people that shocked the South American country on Sunday.
The attack took place in a bar in the town of San Miguel del Ene.
For decades this region has been characterized by violence, weak state presence, isolation and poverty.
It is estimated that there is more than half of the coca produced in Peru.
And there are also hotbeds that some media refer to as the remains of the Shining Path, allegedly allied with national and international drug trafficking mafias and calling themselves the Militarized Communist Party of Peru (MPCP).
Authorities attributed the massacre to these Shining Path factions, a Maoist group that started an armed struggle against the Peruvian state between 1980 and 1992.
In any case, those factions which continue to operate in VRAEM distanced themselves during the time of Abimael Guzmán, the founder of Shining Path, who resigned from the “armed struggle” after being captured in 1992.
What is Vraem
It is a valley that stretches through the regions of Cusco, Apurímac, Ayacucho, Huancavelica and Junín.
It is one of the most depressed regions of the country, with high rates of extreme poverty, poor communication services, and severe health and education deficits.
Its economy is not very diversified and is fundamentally agricultural, highlighting crops such as cocoa, coffee and the coca leaf, the raw material for the production of cocaine.
In an interview with the Radio Programa del Perú radio station, strategic security analyst Pedro Yaranga said that “a large part of Vraem has no population and is a fairly large and hostile territory, so only people who know certain roads move perfectly.
For his part, the local journalist Edgar Matienzo, of Radio La Ruta in Satipo, underlines that “Vraem is a convulsed, forgotten and neglected area by the government, among other things because of its difficult geographical access. ”
These characteristics have created the perfect cocktail for the proliferation of drug trafficking, violence, and the withdrawal of Shining Path factions.
The “drug valley”
Shining Path was one of the most violent groups in South America.
Under a Maoist-inspired ideology, he sought to seize power by armed means and started an internal war in Peru which, between 1980 and 2000, would have left around 69,000 dead and missing, according to estimates by the Truth Commission and reconciliation (CVR). .
Most of its leaders are in prison, but in the Vraem, there are factions that claim to be the heirs of the organization.
“The senderistas were divided into two slopes. One which tried to continue the armed struggle and the other, truly devoid of ideology, which joined the drug trade,” Peruvian journalist Martín Riepl told BBC Mundo.
Riepl explains that hikers have chosen this region because it is fertile for the cultivation of coca and because of its difficult access. It is known as the “valley of drugs”.
“In Vraem, the remains of Sendero found a way to generate resources through drug trafficking, to gain local power and buy quotas,” he adds.
Government difficulties
In recent years, the state has approved extensive development plans for Vraem to tackle the problems plaguing the region.
However, as journalist Edgar Matienzo tells BBC Mundo, these efforts did not materialize and the projects did not work to lift people out of poverty and fight drug trafficking.
“In several regions, local communities are marginalized by drug traffickers, who evict them to carry out their activities. However, the same communities have no way to survive and They have no choice but to grow coca as well “explains the journalist.
“The government has tried to encourage alternative crops, but there is no point with the poor communication lines of Vraem. It is very expensive. It is much easier and more profitable to sell the coca leaf in the same. zone “, adds Matienzo.
Another reason that hinders state action, according to Martín Riepl, is that armed factions and drug trafficking groups intimidate the local population and they reduce any attempt at cooperation with the authorities.
“In every political campaign, they talk about the need to develop Vraem, but in the end, this is never achieved,” says Matienzo.
Pre-election violence
In recent years, ambushes, clashes and massacres have taken place in Vraem in the days leading up to the presidential elections.
On March 23, three weeks before the first round of the April 11 elections, four members of the same family died after an attack in the town of Huarcatán, in the Ayacucho region.
In 2016, on the eve of the general elections of April 10, another attack on a military patrol left ten dead, including eight soldiers and two civilians, in the town of Hatunccasa, in Santo Domingo de Acobamba.
These attacks have been attributed by the authorities to the remains of the Shining Path of Vraem.
Today, two weeks before the June 6 elections, history repeats itself with the San Miguel del Ene massacre.
According to leaflets found at the scene of the crime, the attackers’ goal was to “cleanse Vraem and Peru from the caves of bad life, parasites and corrupt people” and to call for a boycott of the June 6 presidential elections.
“Anyone who votes for Keiko Fujimori is a traitor, he is the murderer of Vraem, he is the murderer of Peru!” Said one of the pamphlets found.
“Never again Fujimorato. Never again Fujimori. Never again Keiko Fujimori.”
Keiko Fujimori is the Fuerza Popular candidate and faces Pedro Castillo of the left Peru Libre.
Alberto Fujimori, Keiko’s father and now imprisoned for human rights violations, ruled Peru between 1990 and 2000. During his rule, the Shining Path received several strong blows, including the imprisonment of its founder, Abimael Guzmán.
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