Óscar Ramírez
Leader of the Shining Path
In office
12 September 1992 – 14 July 1999
Preceded byAbimael Guzmán
Succeeded byComrade Artemio
Personal details
Born
Óscar Ramírez Durand

(1953-03-16) 16 March 1953
Arequipa, Peru
Political partyShining Path
RelationsVladimiro Montesinos (cousin)
Criminal conviction
Conviction(s)Treason
Terrorism
Criminal penaltyLife in prison reduced to 24 years

Óscar Ramírez Durán (born 16 March 1953), commonly known as Comrade Feliciano, is a Peruvian convicted terrorist and former political leader who led the Shining Path, a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist terrorist group in Peru, in the 1990s.[1]

Biography

Ramírez is the son of a retired Peruvian general and the second of seven brothers. Being studious from a young age and enjoying mental challenges such as chess, Ramírez was awarded the medal of academic excellence from the College of Saint Francis of Assisi in Arequipa, Peru. He dropped out of engineering school and joined Shining Path, serving as a military strategist.[1]

Ramírez assumed control of the Shining Path after Abimael Guzmán was captured by the authorities in 1992.[2] He rejected Guzmans plea for the rebels to lay down their arms and continued the conflict.[3] He travelled to Colombia where he worked with members of FARC and under his leadership, Shining Path activities increased in south central region of Peru. Two small town mayors were murdered and recruitment efforts among the rural poor of the region increased.[1]

Capture and imprisonment

In 1999, President Alberto Fujimori ordered a military operation in central Peru to capture Ramírez alive and eliminate the last remnants of Shining Path. Over 2,000 Peruvian army troops were deployed to the region where they engaged in sporadic fire fights with Shining Path forces. A female guerrilla, starving due to being cut off from all food and supplies, surrendered and provided information on Ramirez's whereabouts, and with this information, he was captured without incident in July 1999.[4] He was transported to a military base where he was interrogated by Vladimiro Montesinos, the head of SIN.[1]

In August 1999, he was subject to a military trial where he was sentenced to life in prison without the chance for parole in a high security prison at a naval base in Lima.[5]

In June 2006, Ramírez was sentenced to 24 years in prison in a civilian trial. He is currently being held at the naval base in Callao and is due for release in June 2023.[6]

His reduced sentence was a result of his collaboration with Peruvian authorities and enmity with Guzmán: in 2003 he described him to the Caretas magazine as a "psychopath" and stated that "He (Guzmán) was always a coward and a traitor". He went as far as declaring, before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission his renewed belief in democracy, his call for remaining subversives to lay down arms, his expectation for new civilian trials and his condolences for the victims of the conflict.[7] Caretas has also published extracts from his conversations with the former head of the Peruvian National Intelligence Service, Vladimiro Montesinos in which family links with the terrorist emerged, both being cousins.[8]

In March 2013, he testified in the trial of the recently imprisoned leader, Comrade Artemio.[9] During the audience, he apologized to the country for the crimes committed by Shining Path.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Shining Path Rebel Leader Is Captured in Peru". The Washington Post. 15 July 1999. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  2. ↑ "Shining Path's leader finally captured". The Scotsman. 15 July 1999. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  3. ↑ "Shining Path chief sentenced". The Irish Times. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  4. ↑ "CNN - Shining Path leader taken without a shot - July 14, 1999". www.cnn.com. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  5. ↑ "Peru military Tribunal hands rebel leader Oscar Ramirez Durand life sentence". www.latinamericanstudies.org. Retrieved 18 April 2023.
  6. ↑ "Peru court hands rebel leader 24-year sentence after civilian retrial". Associated Press. 14 June 2006. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
  7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dUM9HWik3qk in Spanish
  8. ↑ "Caretas, Actualidad Candente, Investigación y Humor". Archived from the original on 28 December 2015. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  9. ↑ PERÚ, NOTICIAS EL COMERCIO (27 March 2013). "'Feliciano' confirmó que vio cuando 'Artemio' entregó una fuerte cantidad de dinero a Abimael Guzmán | POLITICA". El Comercio Perú (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 June 2021.
  10. ↑ "'Feliciano' pidió perdón al Perú por los crímenes de Sendero Luminoso - Política | Perú 21". peru21.pe. Archived from the original on 31 March 2013.


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