NEW YORK – Three leaders of a Peruvian terrorist organization, the Shining Path, were charged with terrorism, narcotics and weapons crimes, authorities announced this week.
The three – Florindo Eleuterio Flores-Hala, whose nickname is “Comrade Artemio;” Victor Quispe-Palomino, whose monkier is “Comrade José,” and Jorge Quispe-Palomino, also known as “Raul” – are leaders of the Peruvian-based terrorist organization Sendero Luminoso, or “Shining Path,” according to the DEA.
Shining Path has engaged in cocaine-trafficking and terrorist acts against Peruvian civilians and military, including bombings and massacres, since approximately 1980, officials said.
“For decades, the Shining Path has fueled terror, addiction and instability across the globe using the proceeds of their drug trafficking,” The Drug Enforcement Administrator Michael Leonhart. “This investigation and our ongoing global efforts reflect DEA’s unwavering commitment to protecting our citizens from these violent and brutal narco-terror organizations. The DEA, along with our outstanding Peruvian law enforcement counterparts, will continue to attack this terrorist organization until they are completely dismantled.”
For more than 30 years, the military-style Shining Path has been an international terrorist group ostensibly committed to Maoist ideals and dedicated to the violent overthrow of the democratically elected Government of Peru, authorities maintain.
The Shining Path has been designated by the U.S. Secretary of State as a foreign terrorist organization since the designation was first established in U.S. law in October 1997, and has remained on the list of designees ever since.
Here is what the indictment alleges:
- Flores-Hala, 52, Quispe-Palomino, 54 and Quispe-Palomino, 56, all are Peruvian citizens, are charged with conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, specifically, the Shining Path.
- They are charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine with the intent to support terrorist activity.
- Flores-Hala is charged with aiding and abetting the discharge of firearms during and in relation to the terrorism offense.
- Specifically, on December 22, 2005, in Aucayacu, Peru, Flores-Hala directed Shining Path members to fire automatic weapons at a passing convoy, resulting in the killing of eight Peruvian National Police officers.
- The Quispe-Palominos are charged with aiding and abetting the discharge of firearms during and in relation to the terrorism offense.
- Also on April 9, 2009, in Ayacucho, Peru, the Quispe-Palomino ordered and planned an ambush in which a group of Shining Path members, armed with assault rifles, detonated a series of mines on a road where a Peruvian Army patrol was passing, and followed with gunfire, killing 15 soldiers, wounding more than a dozen, and seizing 13 assault rifles, the indictment states.
All defendants are facing up to life in prison if convicted of the most serious charges.
The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.