Español The Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights (Movadef), considered the political arm of Peruvian guerrilla Shining Path, launched on Wednesday, January 13, a coalition with other political organizations seeking to participate in the upcoming presidential elections in 2016.
The Front for Unity and Defense of the Peruvian People (Fudepp) is “a social political movement driven by political, social, and trade organizations, which aims to unite the people around a program to defend their rights against the onslaught of right,” according to a statement from Movadef.
Aside from Movadef, the coalition will consist of the group Homeland for Everyone, led by Jorge Paredes Terry, a former adviser to a government deputy linked to illegal miners; the Etnocacerista Runamasi party, led from prison by Antauro Humala, brother of Peruvian President Ollanta Humala; and the Green Earth Party.
Manuel Fajardo, a Shining Path founder and lawyer for guerrilla leader Abimael Guzman, said the front will be driven “as one,” and Movadef “will be one more” within this unit.
Percy Medina, a Peruvian specialist on electoral issues, belives Movadef’s registration will not be accepted until “there is no clear demarcation with Shining Path, and a commitment to democratic values.”
“It is unacceptable that those who promoted a bloodbath in the country, killing hundreds of thousands of people, today say they want to participate in politics as if nothing had happened, without true repentance and apology to the country,” he said in statements to Andina.
Medina noted that the electoral authority denied Movadef’s registration as a political organization in 2012 and said it is likely that “history repeats.”
For their part, the National Youth of Political Parties Forum of Perú rejected Movadef’s presence in the political arena and described it as an “offense to thousands of victims of genocide and terrorist violence.”
Sources: La República, El Comercio.