Document #1149087
IRB – Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada (Author)
According to the available sources, Augusta
la Torre was known within the Shining Path organization as comrade
Nora or Norah and is presumed dead. She is thought to have played a
crucial role in the leadership of the Shining Path since its
inception, with some arguing that she may have encouraged Abimael
Guzm n to put his theories into practice (NACLA Report on the
Americas Dec. 1990-Jan. 1991, 22; Hertoghe and Labrousse 1989,
65).
Augusta La Torre reportedly encouraged her
husband to found the Popular Women's Movement in 1965 in the city
of Ayacucho (New York Times 22 Sept. 1992). This movement
reportedly "produced the theoretical context for the role of women
in the movement" (Ibid.), publishing booklets and a magazine
in Quechua and Spanish (NACLA Report on the Americas Dec.
1990-Jan. 1991, 22).
Augusta La Torre reportedly headed the
female branch of the Maoist group Bandera Roja (Red Flag) and was
one of the founders of Socorro Popular (Popular Succour), a front
organization of the Shining Path widely reported as having played a
key role in the latter's logistical support (Hertoghe and Labrousse
1989, 66). In 1989 Augusta La Torre and Abimael Guzm n may have
been separated, with her possibly being the person responsible for
foreign activities of the Shining Path (Ibid.).
Relatives of Augusta La Torre who are also
reported to be involved in the Shining Path have apparently been
residing and carrying out political activity in Sweden
(Caretas 15 Apr. 1991, 38). Javier Esparza M rquez, married
to Augusta's sister Gisela, is a long-time militant of the Shining
Path who is or has been the group's representative in that country
(Ibid.).
Esparza reportedly deserted the Shining
Path and went to France, from where he wrote to Abimael Guzm n
apologizing for his abandonment of the group and requesting to
continue working for the organization in Europe (Ibid.).
After a positive answer from Guzm n, Esparza is believed to have
returned to Sweden, where he met with a number of relatives of Guzm
n who were settled there (Ibid.). Although it is not clear
whether Augusta La Torre was in Sweden, her uncle Carlos La Torre C
rdenas (known as "el tío" or "the uncle" within the Shining
Path), her sister Gisela (with "Geraldine" as her `nom de guerre')
and Gisela's husband (Javier Esparza, known as "Javier" or
"José") were some of the relatives of Guzm n who reportedly
lived and participated in Shining Path activities in Sweden
(Ibid., 94).
One source states that Augusta La Torre
died on 14 November 1989 (Sí 14 July 1991, 30). Based
on documents found by the Peruvian police in a Shining Path
safehouse that was raided in January 1991, another source states
that Augusta La Torre may have been dead by 29 June 1989
(Caretas 25 Feb. 1991, 35). According to this source, a
"congress" of the Shining Path leadership agreed to award comrade
Nora on 29 June 1989 the "order of the hammer and sickle" (orden
de la hoz y el martillo in Spanish), which, according to the
source, is the highest tribute awarded by the Shining Path
(Ibid.).
The same magazine reported earlier that the
videotaped wake of a dead woman, whom Abimael Guzm n is seen
kissing and giving a speech for, was that of Augusta La Torre
(Caretas 11 Feb. 1991, 29). The wake may have taken place in
early 1990, and the body may have been buried in the garden of a
house in the Lima district of Comas (Ibid.). Based on
information contained in the same videotape, another source reports
that Augusta La Torre died at the age of 43, after 26 year of
militancy in the Shining Path (Sí 14 July 1991, 30).
The same source speculates on the possible death or suicide of
Augusta La Torre, although no clear conclusion is reached in the
article.
Caretas [Lima]. 15 April 1991.
"Sendero en Cinco Continentes: La Conexión
Internacional."
_____. 25 February 1991. "Secretos del
Congreso."
_____. 11 February 1991. "Cómo se
Llegó al Video."
Hertoghe, Alain and Alain Labrousse.
1989. Le Sentier lumineux du Pérou: un nouvel
intégrisme dans le Tiers monde. Paris: éditions
La Découverte.
NACLA Report on the Americas.
December 1990-January 1991. Carol Andreas. "Women at War."
Washington, D.C.: North American Congress on Latin America.
The New York Times. 22 September
1992. Nathaniel C. Nash. "Shining Path Women: So Many and So
Ferocious."
Sí [Lima]. 14 July 1991.
"La Leyenda del Beso."