A .Extends -Economic 6 Lima's EuOne Robinson Washington Post Foreign Service HUAYCAN, Peru-In this for saken little settlement a dozen miles outside Lima lies Peru's lat- est nightmare. -One day a few weeks ago, ac cording to Huaycan , residents, ---_g Path revolutionaries in $bi* cited ~ a 'rai&on"the potato fields of ,a local landowner. Hundreds of people-whether afraid of Shining Path, sympathetic to the insur- gents or; just desperately hun- gry-ripped the potatoes out of th~_Sround and carted them off. 0 r ]ReJ" wwmwminoF% Wcidant. UV!J6-00789ROO3700660002-8 Doorstep Benefit Guerrillas Ws of Lima on the Central High way along which much of Lima's industry lies. The road also links the capital with the agricultural valley that supplies much of Lima's food. Huaycan's walls are covered with Shining Path graffiti, and observers of the group say the town is becomin a stronghold of .9 the guerrillas. The nightmare is that with i Peru's economy in shambles and poverty deepening, the millions living- in shantytowns, and hamlets - around Lima will turn to Shining Path as a viable alternative, or at least not oppose the guerrillas when they appear-that soon CIA-RDR96HOOM*603700660002-8 except that Hua-y6aff ra'amelpor- Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00789ROO3700660002-8 P -Eclo ~ruvian,' PERU, From A9 4there might not be one Huaycan, hundreds. "That's what I worry about," said lCarlos Ivan Degregori, a scholar ,;with' the , Institute of Peruvian Studies. "We're in such a hypercrisis, such a situation without hope,, that many people see no exit. I fear that 1~ Shining Path can get neutrality or even sympathy from some poor sec- tors, especially young people." Until now mostly a rural phenorn- enon, the guerrilla insurgency not only has launched a major new of- fensive in the countryside in recent months but has stepped up its ac- tivities in metropolitan Lima, where nearly a third of Peru's 20 million people live. Shining Path is held responsible for assassinating 17 mayors of An- dean towns last year and has stepped up killings of soldiers and policemen. The guerrilla group also has shown a new presence in coast- al regions to the north and south of the capital, and along the length of the Central Highway heading east. The pattern formed is a rough semicircle around Lima. Some see the campaign as a gen- uine attempt to surround and stran- gle the capital. Others scoff at the notion that Shining Path is that powerful, and see instead ar) effort to provoke a military coup-which the guerrillas would see as hasten- ing their intended revooution. *c nomi 8,P SAn-, ath has losophy as the fulle,,;t "scientifie cornm unist step beyond Maoism. Peru's racial divisicns champion the poor Indian As difficult as the and methods might stand, even -for Peruvians, developing consensus government of President cia is losing ground against Shining Path. country's population state of emergency, given the armed f~,rces virtual free hand in This month, the tried to regain the nouncing a "total war" version and appropriating lion for arms and equipment. Minister Armando about 14,000 lives political violence called on all political national effort against and smaller guerrilla Shining Path is thought no more than 3,000 las but to have 10 sympathizers. The been accused of rights violations in are killed. The guerrillas' continues to spread. "We will not win said retired Gen. former leader of Shining Path, in an eed - Fears of Crisis F s described its phi- the newspaper La Republica. "What 17 development of yrwe have to do is influence the thought, people, . convince them a that the It addressescurrent system is better. Hua by claimingman's view of the problem to as po- minority. litical rather than military was group's largely responsible ideas for his losing his be to under-command nearly five years ago. there is N a s Shining Path has spread from it here that birthplace in the mountain the city of Alan Gar-.V1Ayacucho, southeast of Lima, up in the war the spine of the Andes into northern Most of Peru and the Upper Huallaga the Val- lives underley-source of up to a half the and Garcia world's supply of cocaine. has There. and police the guerrillas are reported a to act as the battle.intermediaries, winning for the government peasants higher prices for their initiative coca leaves from drug by an- traffickers. against The drug trade is potentially sub- a $21 mil- vast source of funds for Shining Path, Primei and the weaponry the group might Villanueva be able to purchase sai i~ is of great con- have been cern to the 15 to 20 lost to U.S, Drug En- since 1985 forcement Administration -and agents parties who are actively supporting to join Peruvian a Shining authorities in their Path campaign to erad- groups. icate coca in the valley. to include The nine U.S. helicopters used in-!' armed guerril-0the campaign "get shot at all the-' times that many government has repeated human which innocents influence with the rifle,I~' Adrian ftuaman,,,, the war against int6rview with time," by both traffickers and Shin- ing Path, said Craig Chretien, chief DEA agent here. But so far, he said, agents have not encountered so- phisticated weaponry. "We really, wonder where, the money's going," Chretien said Shining Path's weapons of choice's .' are dynamite-plentiful in this min- ing nation-and arms that they Guerrillas Gaimn Popular-Support steal from soldiers and police. The group is not known to receive any aid from outside the country. The history and evolution Of Shining Path are complex.. The full name of the group is the Communist Party of Peru for the Shining Path of Jose Carlos Maria- tegui. Mariategui was a journalist and political, scientist of thei 1920s to whom all of Peru's leftist factions pay homage. Shining , Path originated in Ayacucho, a mountain city of 100,000 residents who are, more likely to speak the Indian language Quechua than Spanish. It is home to the University of Huamanga-a vener able school that in the late 1960s and 1970s came under the control of a formal, rather author- itarian academic named Abimael Guzman. Guzman is now known by the nom de guerre "Comrade Gonzalo." Some think him dead, but most believe he is alive and at the helm of the insur- gency he created. His ideology was rooted in Chinese communism. Shining Path, according to the scant public record, considers the "Gang of Four" of Cultural Revolu- tion fame as heroes and the current Chinese leadership "revisionist." The group's first violent action, de-,, struction of ballot boxes, occurred on May 17, 1980. Shining Path uses Peru's ethnic, divisions and racism to advantage proclaiming itself the avatar of ti; disadvantaged Indian millions, long ignored or oppressed by Limaps Spanish-origin elite. It also seeks to evoke the dabs of the Inca empire'sl glory. Shining Path operates through small cells, and tries both to win the loyalty of villagers and to intimidate them. In some remote areas, where the Peruvian state has naNer had Approved For Release 2000/08/09 : CIA-RDP96-00789FZ003700660002-8 much of a presence, Shining Path has in effect become the law. Townspeople know the guerrillas will protect them if they cooperate and kill them if they do not. Few believe that Shining Path can -win," in a classic military sense. But at the same time, few. believe the insurgency can be elim- inated anytime soon. And since the capital is assumed to be Shining Path's ultimate goal, in many ways the most important battles now being fought are in' places like Huaycan. Few in the bootstrap shantytown of 24,000 are willing to talk about Huaycan's notoriety as a haven for Shining Path. People seem more concerned with daily life. The gov- ernnimt provides Huaycan with virtually nothing. Townspeople are on their own, and are proud, for example, of the three communal dining rooms they have built. "It's a shame this reputation has to come to us, we who are already suffering so much," said Migiiel Es- pejo, 22, who works for the Roman Catholic parish. "We would like to concentrate on the positive things we are doing, but people in Lima now automatically say Huaycan and Shining Path in the same breath. "Yes, Shining Path is here. Not a majority, just a few, but they are here. But what I think is that this place is like everywhere eIse. I think you can find ShiniN Path anywhere.' BY LAM FOGEL-THE WAWNGTON POST -