The Ashaninka of Peru: Rescued From Shining Path Militants, but Still at Risk

Previously abused by the narcoterrorist group Shining Path, now the Ashaninka people f oppressed by the violence of resource extraction.

An Ashaninka militiaman. Jonathan McLeod, author provided

In two operations the Peruvian army recently rescued 54 people who had been kidnapped and held prisoner by the Maoist guerrilla movement “Sendero Luminoso” (Shining Path). In some cases, the people had been abducted as long ago as the late 1980s.

It has been 35 years since the Shining Path tried to topple the Peruvian state and kicked off a civil war, and 15 years since the Peruvian government declared that war finally over.

Recently the Peruvian army rescued 54 people, some were enslaved up to 30 years, from the narcoterrorist guerrilla movement Shining Path.