Dokument #1214401
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Autor)
In addition to the information attached,
please refer to Responses to Information Requests PER2217 and
COL2418 for reports on possible links between the Sendero Luminoso
(Shining Path) and Colombian rebels. Various previous responses on
the Shining Path quote cooperation between drug traffickers and
rebels in the coca-producing Upper Huallaga valley which may
include arms smuggling (as explained in previous responses, the
term "narcoterrorist" is related to this cooperation and the
involvement of both traffickers and rebels in terrorist acts).
Although the drug traffickers involved may include Colombians, the
reports quoted in the previous responses do not indicate
cooperation in armed actions outside Peru.
Response to Information Request No. PER5824
contains a reference to the assassination of a Peruvian navy
captain in Bolivia by the Shining Path in late-1988. Response to
Information Request BOL8748 contains information on alleged links
between the Shining Path and the Bolivian rebel group "Z rate
Willca." Additional information on armed actions by the Shining
Path outside Peru could not be found among the sources currently
available to the IRBDC. For other Shining Path activities outside
Peru, please find attached a document which constitutes the most
detailed report currently available to the IRBDC on the subject
(see list of attachments). The eight-page article in Spanish,
published in the Peruvian weekly newsmagazine Caretas of 15
April 1991, lists with detail a number of individuals and
organizations affiliated or cooperating with the Shining Path,
indicating the countries in which they operate.
The countries mentioned in the report
include France, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Finland, Switzerland,
Mexico, the United States and Bolivia. The report adds that many of
the organizations have a small but vocal constituency that includes
students on scholarships and people who were granted refuge by
governments (Caretas 15 Apr. 1991, 95). The article
indicates that one member of a group based in Mexico visited Canada
and the United States in 1988 making speeches, selling souvenirs
and organizing fund-raising rallies and meetings (Ibid.,
94). A later visit to Canada by Luis Arce Borja (a person allegedly
linked to the Shining Path, also mentioned in the attached report)
which included public speeches was reported in various Canadian
newspapers. Copies of the pertinent reports can be sought upon
further request.
One report states that "evidence has been
found to suggest a link between Sendero Luminoso and insurgent
movements in Bolivia," adding that the Shining Path has penetrated
northern Argentina (Tarazona-Sevilla 1990, 134-135). The source
adds:
[The Shining Path] staged a meeting in Tucum n in April 1989, as
announced by the secretary of the Argentinean National Security
Council. It is believed that Sendero seeks to control the Corredor
Salteño-Jujeño, a territory connecting Argentina with
the Bolivian Chaco (in Salta, the departments of General San
Martín and Or n; in Jujuy, the departments of Ledesma and
Santa B rbara). According to its doctrine, Sendero Luminoso may
also be seeking to expand north into Ecuador (Ibid.,
135).
Additional and/or corroborating information
on the requested subject could not be found among the sources
currently available to the IRBDC.
Caretas [Lima]. 15 April 1991.
"Sendero en Cinco Continentes: La Conexión
Internacional."
Tarazona-Sevilla, Gabriela and John B.
Reuter. 1990. Sendero Luminoso and the Threat of
Narcoterrorism. Washington, D.C./New York: The Center for
Strategic and International Studies and Praeger Publishers.
Caretas [Lima]. 15 April 1991.
"Sendero en Cinco Continentes: La Conexión
Internacional."