"This campaign was conceived and promoted by Bishop Ricardo Durand Flórez S.J., a great Peruvian bishop who, throughout his life and ministry, worked hard for the poor according to the Gospel," he said.
The Archbishop of Piura said that "thanks to the powerful intercession of Holy Mary, whose sweet and holy name was invoked incessantly in those times of anxiety and fear, the beginning of the end of an era of terror, violence, destruction and death began."
The prelate lamented that "twenty-nine years later, we see with indignation and great concern that the diabolical and insane terrorism of the Shining Path is walking around the palace of government with impunity."
"Characters with a dark history of corruption and ties to terrorist movements occupy positions in the government and in Congress," he warned, noting that "they also denigrate the dignity and respect due to women."
“Therefore, we must invoke the 'Most Holy and Sweet Name of Mary', especially with the daily recitation of the Holy Rosary, so that the grace of God that emanates intensely from Our Most Holy Mother, dissipates the darkness of the danger and evil that the Shining Path-Modavef-Conare represents.”
This group, Archbishop Eguren charged, "using democracy, in which it does not believe, threatens to seize power, and impose its violent and totalitarian ideology on us to destroy the freedom and independence of Peru."
With the capture of its founder in 1992, the Shining Path began to pull back and got involved in drug trafficking in inhospitable regions of Peru and to create a political arm called the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights (MOVADEF).
In May 2021, Peru’s bishops condemned a mass killing of 16 people perpetrated by Shining Path about 180 miles north of Ayacucho.
The still existing cells of the Shining Path also reportedly extended their reach to a group of school teachers called CONARE, the National Reorientation Committee of the Unitary Union of Education Workers of Peru.
Since Castillo’s victory in the 2021 presidential election, there have been accusations of various links between his party, Free Peru, and MOVADEF.
In its platform, Free Peru states that “to say we’re on the Left while not recognizing ourselves as marxists, leninists or mariateguistas is simply to work for the those on the Right dressed up with the highest hypocrisy.”
(Story continues below)
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
Graduated in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Privada del Norte in Trujillo, Peru. I have been part of the ACI Prensa team for more than 10 years. I have covered Pope Francis' trips to Ecuador, Paraguay, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, and Peru. I covered the beatification ceremony of today's Saint Oscar Arnulfo Romero in San Salvador, El Salvador, in 2015. Special envoy for investigation in Honduras in 2016. Head of the ACI Prensa Office in Mexico since 2018.