Today, September 12, marks 31 years since the
capture of Shining Path ringleader Abimael Guzman, and with it, the beginning of the peace process in the country, thanks to the professional work of the Special Intelligence Group (GEIN) —an elite group of the National Police of Peru.
At that time, Peru was bleeding, and no metaphor is being implied. It was a red-tinged river, an escalation of violence that the Communist Party of Peru-Sendero Luminoso – SL (Shining Path) had begun in 1980.
In 1991 alone, this terrorist group had committed more than 900 attacks that claimed the lives of 400 people.
A year later, in 1992, another 350 people were killed in a similar number of acts of violence, due to terrorist insanity.
On March 5, 1990, the Special Intelligence Group (GEIN) was created at the heart of the Anti-Terrorism Directorate (Dircote). Major Benedicto Jimenez Bacca was appointed as chief of said group.
Twelve operations
In the book "Memories of a Police Officer" (published in 2021), General Marco Miyashiro —one of the men who participated in the Operacion Victoria (Victory Operation)— noted that the 12 police intelligence operations carried out by GEIN —which enabled the initiation of the peace process in Peru— were hard blows for both SL and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).
The first of them, called ISA operation, which began on June 1, 1980, found the first house where Abimael Guzman (1934-2021) had lived in Lima.
"The results of said operation showed that the methodology behind the police operational intelligence was adequate," Miyashiro explained.
The sixth operation, which was carried out on June 22, 1991, enabled the neutralization of the "Socorro Popular del Peru" (Popular Aid of Peru) party apparatus —a front organization of Shining Path.
The eleventh operation was called "Victory," which was known as "The capture of the Century."
Its implementation started on September 12, 1992, and led to the capture of Abimael Guzman, who was hiding in a two-story house located in Los Sauces Urbanization in Lima's Surquillo district.
Guzman died on September 11, 2021, at the age of 86.
According to the treating physicians, his death was due to natural causes.
(END) DOP/RMB/MVB
Published: 9/12/2023