The Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights, known as Movadef, has given up on its attempts to register as a political party in Peru, local media reported.
Movadef is known to be the political arm of the Shining Path, an insurgency that terrorized Peru in the 1980s and 1990s as it sought to overthrow the state and implement its Maoist ideology. Some 70,000 people were killed in the conflict, with the Shining Path responsible for some 54%, a truth commission found.
The group’s effort to register as a political party has been widely rejected by Peru’s government, by politicians of every political party, as well as leading human rights defenders. Last week, Peru’s national election board rejected the request, which Movadef had reportedly appealed.
In a statement announcing its decision, Movadef was reported saying: “In the political framework characterized by a large shift towards militarization in the current government, it is evident that there is a campaign of political persecution by the state against Communists, Marxists-Leninists-Maoists, Gonzalo Thought, as well as the true democrats.”
Following the decision, political analysts in Peru say that it is unlikely Movadef will simply disappear.
“They are going to look for other paths, they aren’t going to stick around with their arms crossed,” said former Interior Minister Fernando Rospigliosi. “One possibility is that they try to form local movements.”
Rospigliosi said it is necessary to confront Movadef ideologically, rather than just banning the group. “This isn’t solved saying simply don’t do it, someone needs to combat it,” he said during an interview on Radioprogramas.
The Ministry of Education is to include information from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, CVR, in school texts, while political analysts also believe it is essential to open a broader public discourse to ensure that the generation that is too young to remember the 1980-2000 events is made aware of the Shining Paths acts and ideology.
