Peruvian authorities announced they have captured a leader of the Shining Path remnants in the Upper Huallaga Valley, state news agency Andina reported.
Jaime Arenas Caviedes, alias Braulio, was allegedly one of the leaders of the Shining Path in the Upper Huallaga valley, following the capture of Florindo Flores in February.
Flores, also known as Comrade Artemio, was the last remaining member of the Shining Path’s central committee that had not been arrested or killed. He is now being held at the maximum security Callao Naval base prison, along with other high-profile inmates such as Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman and former Peruvian spy chief Vladimiro Montesinos. The capture of Flores was seen as a major blow to the Shining Path in the Upper Huallaga.
Arenas is at least the second Shining Path leader to be captured since Flores’ arrest. In March, police captured Walter Diaz Vega, who had allegedly taken over as the head of the rebel group following Flores’ arrest.
Arenas was arrested on Tuesday.
The other Shining Path splinter group is located further south, in the Apurimac and Ene river valleys, or VRAE. The VRAE and the Upper Huallaga Valley are Peru’s top growing regions for coca, the raw material used to make cocaine.
