What to do with the body of terrorist Abimael Guzman? Died in prison of bilateral pneumonia at the age of 86, on Saturday September 11, the question of his funeral agitates the press and public opinion. A real legal headache for the authorities, and for which no one seems to want to take responsibility.
Sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992 by a military court, then in two other trials in 2006 and 2018, Abimael Guzman, alias “comrade Gonzalo”, founder of the Shining Path communist guerrilla, had launched a “popular war” against the State in 1980. A conflict which led to the death of nearly 70,000 people (more than half attributable to the Shining Path) between 1980 and 2000, according to the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR ) – most of the poor Quechua-speaking peasants.
According to the law, the fate of his remains depends on the will of a member of his family. His wife, Elena Iparraguirre, number two of the Shining Path and also sentenced to life imprisonment, claims his body. However, being in prison, she cannot receive him physically.
She allegedly instructed Iris Quiñonez – a former member of the terrorist group with whom she had shared part of her sentence in prison – to recover the remains. A request that must be examined by the prosecutor of Callao (north of Lima) where Abimael Guzman died. Nevertheless, the public prosecutor reported “Of a risk for public order in front of a possible burial which allows the apology of terrorism”.
Tense political context
The opinions of jurists or public figures diverge. Most argue for the cremation and scattering of ashes in the Pacific, in order to avoid creating a future place of worship for its supporters. This is the position of the Minister of Justice, Anibal Torres, who pleads for “That there is no place to go for those who would like to pay homage to him”.
Ditto on the side of the former president of the CVR, Salomon Lerner: “ We must not make his death serve to make him eternally a martyr or a victim. (…) Nothing that signifies a trace that could allow its supporters a place of worship or pilgrimage. “ This was the case a few years ago, when a mausoleum was erected for terrorists who died during the military repression of the Fronton prison mutiny in 1986. Mausoleum which was finally demolished in 2018.
Left-wing president Pedro Castillo said the decision was not his decision, but the competence of the prosecution. Some voices affirm on the contrary that it is indeed with the State which returns the final decision. Mr. Castillo would probably prefer to avoid further controversy, while the political context in which the death of Abimael Guzman occurs is tense. Two of his ministers are in the sights of the opposition who demand their dismissal: one is accused of apologizing for terrorism and the other of having been leader of the Shining Path in the 1970s, which the demented interested.
A guerrilla member was killed Monday in a clash with law enforcement in an isolated region in the center of the country. This is the first clash with isolated Shining Path fighters since the election of the new president on July 28.
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