Less than two weeks before the second round of elections in Peru, a tragic event shook public opinion in that country.
The Joint Command of the Armed Forces reported this Monday the massacre of 14 people, including two children, in a town in the Valley of the Apurímac, Ene and Mantaro Rivers (Vraem), a region in the center of the country that is estimated to cultivate more than half of Peru’s coca.
The attack occurred Sunday night when the victims were in a bar.
The authorities attributed it to remnants of the Shining Path , the Maoist group that unleashed an armed struggle against the Peruvian state between 1980 Y 1992, and that may have left around 69. 000 dead.
After the news was known, critical voices emerged demanding solidarity with the families of the deceased and that the attack not be used politically to the ballot, scheduled for Sunday June 6.
In this second round, the right-wing Keiko Fujimori and the leftist Pedro Castillo , who until last week had an advantage in the polls.
The latter’s detractors have tried to link him and members of his party, Peru Libre, with the Shining Path and the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights (Movadef), which among other things, calls for the freedom of the imprisoned senderistas .
While his opponent is the daughter of the former president Alberto Fujimori (1980 – 2000) , imprisoned for human rights violations, but to whom his followers attribute the end of the conflict with the Shining Path and the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).
According to the authorities, at the place of the attack this Sunday they found pamphlets that urged Peruvians to abstain from participating in the second round of the elections and described as a “traitor” whoever voted for Fujimori.
How can this crime affect the polarized campaign in Peru?
Accusations
According to the text of the pamphlets published by local media, the objective of the attackers was to “cleanse Vraem and Peru of caves of bad living, parasites and corrupt people”, and call for a boycott against the presidential election.
“Peruvian people: Boycott the bourgeois elections, because it is not your way: Do not go to vote. Vote blank. Voting null or void! “, The pamphlets say.
” Whoever votes in favor of Keiko Fujimori is a traitor, he is a murderer of VRAEM, he is a murderer of Peru! ” , indicates the text.
References to the electoral campaign led to attacks between the two sides that are vying for the presidency on their positions regarding the killing of people.
“Is it the left that needs SL to win the elections or is it the right that needs it ? In the end the opposites are needed ”Vladimir Cerrón, founder of Peru Libre, Castillo’s party, tweeted. He added that his group “condemns all acts of terrorism.”
Meanwhile, Fernando Rospigliosi, a member of Fujimori’s technical team, tweeted that “Castillo’s allies and defenders blame [del ataque] to drug trafficking or anyone to hide the truth. Why will it be? Why are you defending Shining Path? ”
Who benefits or harms
For Orazio Potestà, a Peruvian expert on narco-terrorism, this attack “completely disrupts the campaign.”
In the area where the attack occurred, Potestà believes that “there will be an intimidation of the population” and that “there will probably be absenteeism” on the day of the vote.
In the In the rest of the country or in Lima, the analyst believes that the attack will have an effect at the level of political debates.
“In the field of debate, one of the two candidates must appropriate the antiterrorist issue. There could be a favor towards the candidate who offers concrete and proven solutions against terrorism “, says Potestà to BBC Mundo.
“At this point Keiko Fujimori has an advantage because she has appropriated the antiterrorist discourse and has a proposal that has been tested in the 90 [en el gobierno de su padre] and has shown some effectiveness. Castillo no, “he adds.
The analyst believes” that Castillo would have to travel to the area and show some kind of empathy or make some kind of strong statement to avoid a heavy load. , because right now his candidacy is accused of being close to terrorism, communism and Fujimori’s candidacy is rather on the side of the solution. ”
My solidarity with the families of the 18 victims in the cowardly attack in Pichari, VRAEM. I strongly condemn this terrorist attack and I urge the courts to apply the full weight of the law. We will not tolerate any act of violence.
– Pedro Castillo Terrones (@PedroCastilloTe) May 24, 2016
In a message posted on his Twitter account, Castillo expressed his rejection to the attack and its solidarity with the families of the victims.
“I strongly condemn this terrorist attack and I urge justice to apply the full weight of the law,” he said. .
For his part, his rival, Fujimori, told local media that “what terrorism seeks is to stop this electoral process. Let’s not allow it. ”
Faced with these unfortunate events, I give my full support to President Sagasti, the PNP and our Armed Forces to restore order. Let’s not be afraid, what terrorism is looking for is to stop this electoral process. Let’s not allow it. pic.twitter.com/kW1La1IPdI
– Keiko Fujimori (@KeikoFujimori) May 24, 2021
Previous attacks
This is not the first time that an attack attributed to the Shining Path has occurred close to a presidential election in Peru.
On 2016, within hours of the first round of the elections, an attack left as a balance 10 dead people in Santo Domingo of Acobamba, in the Vraem.
June 4, 2011, one day before the second round of elections, which faced former nationalist president Ollanta Humala with Keiko Fujimori, an ambush attributed to Shining Path left five soldiers dead in the jungle area of Cusco.
Given the recurrence of these attacks, Potestà acknowledges that some people could “open a window of suspicion” to this latest attack and wondering “where did it come from, who did it, what interests are there”, or “if it is an orchestrated song, seeking to favor to some candidate ”.
“Lends itself to suspicion. That can also happen, but to a lesser extent ”, says Potestà.
The expert adds that the attack does not follow the current “line” of Abimael Guzmán, founder of Shining Path, who renounced the “armed struggle” after being captured in 1992.
Since then, most of Sendero’s leaders have been imprisoned, like their leader. The armed groups that remain in the Vraem claim to be part of the organization, despite the fact that Guzmán no longer recognizes them as members.
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