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The leader of the Maoist Shining Path guerrilla movement, known as “Comrade Artemio,” was arrested in Peru, according to the Peruvian president’s press secretary office. There are reports saying he was shot in a firefight between his forces and government forces.
Artemio, whose real name is Florindo Eleuterio Flores, was “captured alive,” said a tweet from the press secretary.
The Shining Path, a Maoist rebel movement that refers to itself as the Communist Party of Peru, started its insurgency in 1980. According to a report from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, around 31,331 people were killed, disappeared, or died in terrorist attacks due to the group between 1980 and 2000.
The movement has fallen in numbers since the capture of a former leader in 1992 and the group has since turned to the cocaine trade.
President Ollanta Humala Tasso said on Sunday he would travel to Upper Huallaga, where Artemio was captured and shot, to confirm the arrest, reported Peru’s RPP radio.
“My military experience tells me there is no success when you surrender. This is an ongoing effort by law enforcement,” Humala told RPP.
Police sources told La Republica that Artemio, who has been frequently photographed holding weapons out in the forests of Peru, was most likely killed by police forces, but this has not yet been confirmed.
Two men who were captured after the shootout said they left a convulsing Artemio for dead. “He looked dead, we left him on the banks of the river Mishollo,” one of the men said, according to Peru This Week.
