At this point, nothing has been heard directly from the PCP about these recent actions in the People's War. The information gathered here is based on reports in the bourgeois media. Such reports need to be looked at with a critical eye, since the media has a history of distorting and censoring the truth about the People's War. But overall, what comes through these news reports is a basic picture that the Central Committee of the PCP is continuing the People's War in the face of heavy obstacles -- including the right opportunist political line which is calling for a peace agreement to end the war.
Various news organizations reported that on February 8 an army patrol was ambushed in Tocache in the department (state) of San Martin in the Upper Huallaga Valley. According to América TV in Lima, the guerrillas used rocket-launched grenades. Latin America Weekly Report cited Peruvian defense ministry sources as saying that "the ambush was the work of a Sendero Luminoso column commanded by a middle-aged teacher known as `Comrade Veronica.' It is believed to have 60 permanent members, and is able to call upon support from a further 200 local people." Whatever the truth of the details above, the media was forced to admit that 13 government soldiers were wiped out in the attack.
Reuters reported on March 22: "Sources at an army base in Ayacucho department said a patrol of soldiers and civilian militiamen was attacked by between 50 and 60 Shining Path rebels Wednesday [March 20] near the Ene and Apurímac river valleys in the Boca del Mantaro area, 217 miles southeast of Lima." The "civilian militiamen" (also known as rondas) are paramilitary forces set up by the Armed Forces. They act as enforcers at the village level and participate in the military's armed operations against the PCP.
On April 18 Reuters reported that "between 50 and 60" guerrillas mounted an operation against paramilitary rondas in the remote village of Anchihuay in Ayacucho, high in the Andes mountains. This Reuters report also said: "Shining Path has carried out a string of ambushes on army and police patrols in recent months."
A May 5 AFP wire service report said: "Patrols of the Peruvian Armed Forces have been waging daily battles with [the PCP guerrillas] for the last 10 days in the Ene River Valley in Peru's central jungle."
The May 9 issue of the bourgeois Peruvian magazine Caretas listed PCP actions in a number of areas around the country from March through early May. Included were: March 17 -- troops ambushed in Ayacucho; March 19 -- guerrillas attacked the Gicomsa mining complex in the northern department of Trujillo, reportedly taking explosives and radio equipment; March 30 -- attack on San Miguel and nearby towns in the central department of Junin; April 7 – "Senderistas take over the town of Capilla Torres" in the northern department of Lambayeque; April 25 -- guerrillas and troops clash in the northern department of Piura; April 29 -- six soldiers and four ronderos are killed in a clash near Huancayo, Junin department.
On March 7 Pascuala Rosado, an official in the Lima shantytown of Huaycan, was killed in a guerrilla attack. Leaflets upholding the People's War were reportedly left behind after the attack. The press calls Rosado a "community leader." But the truth about her can be gleaned from an April 11 article in the Latin America Regional Reports which said, "Pascuala Rosado had been working with the director of the national police, General Antonio Ketin Vidal, on setting up self-defense committees in Huaycan and neighboring Raucana." Rosado had worked for years with high-level police to set up urban versions of the rondas as a counter-revolutionary measure against the strong PCP roots in these shantytowns.
The May 9 issue of Caretas described a bold action on May 1, International Workers Day: "The morning of May 1, the Purucucho hill in La Molina looked like a battlefield. A helicopter circled the hill as several troops climbed it. The guards at the main offices of the Central Bank had seen an enormous flag pole on the top of the hill and a huge red flag measuring 4x2 meters." Two members of the police bomb squad who climbed the hill to take down the red flag were injured by booby-trap bombs. Reuters also reported, "Police then came under gunshot fire from a neighboring hillside as they swept the area for more devices."
A May 23 article in Caretas mentioned some other recent actions in Lima. On May 16 a car bomb exploded in front of the Shell oil refinery. This was the same day that Shell had signed a contract with the Fujimori regime for rights to explore oil in Peru. This contract is part of Fujimori's attempt to keep the economy afloat by selling off Peru's resources at bargain prices to foreign capitalists. On March 17 -- the anniversary of the start of the People's War in 1980 -- more large red flags were raised in several shantytowns. And an electrical blackout hit Lima in the early hours of May 18, lasting several days in some parts of the city. The government claimed the cause was technical difficulties. But according to Caretas, the "common wisdom" among the people was that this was a PCP action, timed to coincide with the anniversary.
Caretas magazine in particular has run recent commentaries with themes and titles like "Sendero Comes Back"(May 23). Caretas represents certain sections of the ruling class in Peru who have some contradictions with Fujimori and the forces now dominant in the government. But their comment off of the recent series of PCP actions undoubtedly reflects worries in the ruling class as a whole.
Fujimori, Peru's U.S.-backed dictator, claims that his vicious policies have succeeded in almost completely "pacifying" the country. But his own actions -- such as keeping large areas of the country under emergency rule -- reveal that he is not telling the truth. And even his supporters worry that the crushing poverty facing millions of Peruvians will continue to give rise to opposition to the ruling order and compel the people to seek a revolutionary solution. According to one recent report from a Lima think tank, almost half of Peru's 23 million people are under the government's official poverty line, and one-fifth live in "extreme poverty." As much as 90 percent of the people are "underemployed," meaning they don't earn enough for adequate food, clothing and housing.
One sociologist in Lima said, "Poverty here is deepening, and the economic program has shown it can't respond to the needs. People are losing hope."
There is truly no hope for the people under the rotten system now ruling Peru. As a PCP guerrilla commander said a few years ago, "If you have a broken shoe, what do you do? You change it. And what do you do with the old shoe? You throw it away. That is how we are. This society is utterly corrupt. We have to destroy it and plant something new."