D b 1 b 3 ' 11ium1I I' l-'11rl'i1111 '• 4'· '' '' '' ' •11h•J n tj1pH Latin America Review __ _ __ 3Jld 1911 APPROVED FOR RELEASED DATE 12-May-2009 rAt Atel -011 Jl11tyl'III ea • 2 3· 9 2 17 4 • LATIN AMERICA REVIEW 3 July 1981 CONTENTS • - 2 · 3 9 t - ·- I 7 Peru Keeping Tenorism in C D· i S The seriousness of recently increased terrorist activities has been exaggerated by the local press and politicians and a return to the in --- --- ' ' Urgency of 196S seems unlikely -I I ' - - - - • PERU KEEPING TERRORISM IN CHECK A recent increase in terrorist activities primarily in the central highlands does not signal an imminent return to the intensive insurgency of 1965 The present incidents not only differ in scope and intensity but President Belaunde is unlikely to overreact and set off a chain of events simtlar to those that led to his ouster in 1968 1 _ In 1965 the Movement of the Revolutionary Left MIR was able to field some 1 000 men mostly Cuban trair ed and supplied who carried out large-scale attacks against security forces In addition to foreign support MIR then had around 3 000 sympathizers including peasants in the central highlands and the eastern coastal a ea 'f'o took nart in MIR-inspired land invasions At first I In contrast the recent incidents are not part of a concerted campaign some result from violence traditionally associated with the isolated central highlands others are the acts of small fanatical extreme-left groups that rarely cooperate and have limited if any foreign support The most active cf these known as the Shining Path is a Maoist splinter faction of the Peruvian Communist Party I I The shining Path operates primarily in the departments of Ayacucho cusco Apurimac and Arequipa and may have contacts with student groups at the University of Ayacucho Unlike the 1965 insurgents · Shining Path members have encountered hostility from peasant communities which refuse to feed or shelter them Despite its announced intention to wage widespread guerrilla warfare the group so far has confined its activities primarily to attacking isolated police stations electricity towers and waterworks The Shining Path reportedly is establishing training camps to improve its capabilities but 3 ' July 1981 15 • - ' 7 ' 1 ' _4 I c • 11una t cuaaor Co1ombia Brazil I Peru·· I '· --· L • r·o 111- · i • '· 1 ''C ' L-- ' I s _ --· -------- q 3 July 1981 16 2 4 I I it continues to rely heavily on dynamite--which is readily available in Peru's mining regions--rather than weapons The police have arrested many of the group's cadre further hindering the group's efforts to expand operations I----- Despite the limited scope of the terrorism it has had a strong psychological and political impact The public initially exaggerated the serjousness of the assaults because they took place against a backdrop of unrelated labor unrest and hunger strikes by leftist politicians Moreover the press now free from the former military regime's restrictions provided widespread and often sensat ionalist coverage that portrayed the incidents as a new prumom en·on rather than a continuing low-level problem L__J The Belaunde administration responded with calming statements a police crackdown and a new antiterrorism decr ee Rightist parties and the press applauded the measures but the opposition has protested citing the arrest of a few members of a leftist political alliance as proof that the government intends to use the ant i----___ terrorism decree to intimidate the legitimate left I I I 3 July 1981 17 4 1 f I