Peru president on the death of Shining Path leader

Peru's Interim President Francisco Sagasti on Tuesday confirmed the death of one of the remaining leaders of the Shining Path rebel group.

Sagasti said Jorge Quispe Palomino, known as "Comrade Raul," had been among the heads of Shining Path in the Valley of the Rivers Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro, also known as the VRAEM.

Sagasti said the government will keep fighting remmants of the "terrorist groups" which were "subjugating" the VRAEM, a fertile region where coca leaves are a common crop.

Peru's Defense Ministry earlier published a statement detailing Quispe Palomino died of a chronic kidney ailment on January 27, which had been aggravated after he was wounded during an aerial attack in October 2020.

The statement said the rebel group kept Quispe Palomino's death a secret.

A truth commission found that between 1980 and 2000, fighting among the Shining Path, Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, the government and self-defense patrols left up 70,000 dead.

Analysts estimate the Shining Path has a few hundred remaining fighters holed up the cocaine-producing region of the valley of the Apurimac, Ene and Mantaro rivers.