During a military operation against the left-wing guerrilla organization Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) in a remote jungle region of Peru, the remaining guerrilla leader Victor Quispe Palomino, alias “Jose”, was seriously injured. This emerges from a statement from the command of the Peruvian armed forces yesterday (local time).
According to the military, two soldiers were also killed during the operation in the Vizcatan region. Palomino recently led one of the last units of the once powerful Maoist fighters who had broken away from guerrilla chief Abimael Guzman, who died in custody in September 2021.
According to official information, his brother Jorge Quispe Palomino aka “Raul”, also a guerrilla leader and one of Peru’s most wanted men, died in January 2021 after a military operation.
Bloody guerrilla war
Between 1980 and 2000, nearly 70,000 people were killed in clashes between the Shining Path and state security forces. Most of the victims were indigenous farmers.
Unlike other civil wars in the region, the guerrillas were responsible for a large proportion of the dead in Peru. Today, the remaining rebels in the VRAEM area are mainly involved in drug trafficking.