Peru claims a Shining Path terrorist who entered Argentina last year

It was Thursday night, July 16, 1992, when the charming Lima neighborhood of Miraflores was shaken by the explosion of two cars loaded with 250 kilos of explosives.

It was

by the feared terrorist group

commanded by the late Abimael Guzmán.

, and heavy losses in homes, businesses, and automobiles.

It is known locally and internationally as the Tarata street attack, because it was precisely there where the terrorists ended up leaving the vehicles with explosives because they were initially driven from the area where their true objective was: the Banco de Crédito de Perú branch.

One of the most emblematic leaders of Sendero Luminoso, Mirtha Huatay,

has been in Argentina since June of last year and now the Public Ministry of Peru is asking for her, because although she served 25 years in prison for a sentence for terrorism, she was

.

And this could lead

and a local decision on whether or not to deliver her to Peru for her crimes.

As confirmed in a dialogue with this newspaper, the anti-terrorist prosecutor of Peru, Milko Ruiz, from his office, which deals with this type of complex crime, has already filed a complaint, which the Prosecutor's Office took and transmitted and this in turn requested the preventive detention of Huatay that now the Justice of that country must accept or not so that it orders an international arrest request through Interpol to Argentina.

Shining Path terrorists.

In the photo, its Central Committee: Angelica Salas, Osman Morote, Marta Huatay (first from right to left among those who are standing), Elena Iparraguirre Abimail Guzman (sitting, in the center) María PantojaPhoto AFP

She is not the only Shining Path terrorist in the country

.

Former dancer

, also a member of the fearsome group, entered Argentina in July 2022, and unlike Huatay, whose whereabouts are unknown,

.

High sources in the Argentine government told

that it has not yet been granted.

But

.

They also confirmed that the two women

" for the moment.

As indicated by a recent editorial in the Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, titled El Sendero a la Argentina, due to its open-arms immigration policy, Argentina once again hosts activists and terrorists with pending accounts in the courts of their respective country.

But both entered legally, and so they are here under a regulatory system that is not current.

Moreover, several times from Peru, the authorities warned that the so-called

, which is the

, has sympathizers in Argentina, and some allies such as the so-called Movimiento Revolutionary Tupac Amaru (MRTA).

Today, in Peru, they affirm that

- also harshly silenced - against the Government of Dina Boluarte, in the context of the latest crisis that broke out after the attempted coup d'état led by Pedro Castillo and that led to his dismissal and arrest.

Tension in the bilateral relationship

Bilateral relations

.

The Government had to backtrack on a statement it signed with Gustavo Petro, from Colombia;

Andrés Manuel López Obrador, from Mexico;

and Luis Arce, from Bolivia, who asked for the restitution of Pedro Castillo.

Dina Boluarte filed a strong protest, and her weakened government resists.

She followed the attention, on the one hand,

On the other hand, she observes the

The cause of one of the worst tragedies in current Peruvian history, the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Shining Path guerrilla group was born in the 1970s and was

, who arrested all its leaders, including the deceased Guzmán. at 86 years in jail with a life sentence.

It is estimated that of the almost 50,000 murders in times of Peruvian terrorism and the war with the central power, almost 20,000 were committed by Sendero, through rural massacres, terrorist attacks, and the use of drug trafficking.

Several of whose leaders lived in Argentina.

Among them, Rolando Echarri Pareja, who was refused political refuge by CONARE, and was found in 2021 in a community center linked to La Cámpora.

Also Oswaldo Ceferino Quispe Caso, who would also have died

Who Huatay and Garrido Lecca?

Martha Huatay, also known in her years of violence as "Comrade Rosa" is a lawyer born in Trujillo, who is 77 years old today.

However, she is wanted for the attack in Tarata, therefore, according to Peruvian law, she could not receive benefits due to her age, sources in Lima said.

In an interview this week with El Comercio journalist Karem Barboza Quiroz, attorney Ruiz told what he later confirmed to this newspaper.

Imprisoned in 1992 for the crime of terrorism, she was released on October 16, 2017, after serving 25 years of her sentence.

However, today she is

.

She is accused and the Public Ministry requested life imprisonment against her while the Judiciary accepted a request for 3.7 million soles (U$S 973,326) for civil reparation for the attack.

The difference between 1992 when she was charged as a member of Sendero Luminoso with the possibility of being released once the sentence is over is that now Huatay is wanted for the Tarata case, in which she was not initially included.

But one of those sentenced for this attack said that the woman was the leader of the Socorro Popular group, an arm of the Shining Path that carried out the attack in Miraflores.

For that reason, she would receive a life sentence.

Regarding a possible request for preventive detention while the woman was in Argentina, Ruiz said that already in 2017, when she was released, and in May 2021 she requested preventive detention that the Prosecutor's Office later formalized, which must endorse or not justice.

On Friday, February 24, she should have spoken, but she did not do so due to a formality: the fugitive could not be contacted as she was not at her home.

It is unlikely that he will return to Peru, Ruiz said.

"We don't know if she can connect from there, get right from there, but

and we hope, obviously, that preventive detention for her be declared appropriate and if it is decreed the Judiciary, she has to be captured and extradited, unless it is established by law”, concluded the Prosecutor.

The situation of Garrido Lecca is different.

Maritza Garrido Lecca was 27 years old when she was captured in her house on Varsovia street by Peruvian intelligence.

She was a dancer born into a Peruvian upper-class family, a student at the Sagrado Corazón school and later at the Catholic University of Peru. She entered Sendero possibly tempted by an aunt.

Maritza Garrido Lecca after being arrested in 1992 for providing a hideout for the fearsome terrorist Abimael Guzmán.

It was in that house on Varsovia street, where he provided a hiding place for Abimael Guzmán, the founder of Sendero, and his wife and second in command in the organization, Elena Iparraguirre.

They all fell in Operation Victory on the house on Warsaw street, on January 12, 1992.

A faceless military court sentenced her to life imprisonment, but due to various annulments and sentences, she ended up serving 25 years in prison and was released the same year as Huatay.

She entered Argentina legally in July 2022, and it is presumed that she is protected by Movadef sympathizers until her political refuge or her rejection is decided.

In any case, Garrido Lecca has not served a sentence, although he does have a debt of about 13,000 dollars because he already paid a part of his civil compensation for his terrorist activities.

look too

Malvinas: the Government announced that it was canceling an agreement with the British that was already in disuse

The Government of Chile formalized before Argentina the request for the extradition of Jones Huala