Recently a person --- In MAOIST_REVOLUTION@ yahoogroups. com, wrote:
Hello,
I am from India..and a student.I am interested to know , what is the
present condition of the Shining path? Is the movement totally stopped
after the arrest of Chairman Gonzalo..?
This letter was sent in as a reply:
Hi, they still exist and may have anywhere from 600-3,000 fighters, the numbers are very difficult to come by. They are but a shadow of their former selves, though, but since year 2000, they have been active all over the country, including Cajamarca and near Piura. Lately, they have showed up again in Puno. They are taking a softer line, buying animals from the peasants instead of taking them at gunpoint. The radical attacks on the rest of the Left have basically ceased, so it is not the same Shining Path as in the 1980's-1992.
They are definitely active in the Huallaga Valley, Apurimac and Ayahusco and of course in the Satipo Valley where they have their main base. A few years ago, they were organizing in the shantytowns of Lima again. A lot of the Leftists are disenchanted with them. FARC has been moving into Peru in the past couple of years in a major way and has been finding lots of support with former Sendero supporters. I'm not opposed to FARC like most on this board probably are. Lord knows, Peru needs some kind of a revolution.
BTW, the FARC in Colombia is really huge and has branched out into all the surrounding countries. They have a large front in Venezuela, they have a front, FARE, in Ecuador, they have R and R in northern Peru and southern Panama, they have a front, FARB, in Brazil and lately they are even in Guyana taxing gold smugglers. It's a huge movement. It may not be Maoist, but lord knows it's better than the fascist government.
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