She said that after he was treated subordinates took him down the Mishoyo
river, a tributary of the Huallaga.
The United States had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to
his arrest. Such rewards have proven highly effective in neighbouring
Colombia in persuading some rebels to turn against their leaders.
Artemio’s group represents about half of what remains of the Shining Path,
which killed thousands during the 1980s and 1990s. The other, also involved
in the drug trade, is centred further south in the valley of the Apurimac
and Ene rivers.
Artemio, whose given name is Florindo “Jose” Flores, told visiting
journalists in December that his cause was lost and he was seeking a truce
with the government.
The self-described Marxist said he wrote Humala twice but received no
response. Previous Peruvian governments refused to negotiate a truce, he
said, adding that he’d also proposed one in 2003 through the Roman Catholic
Church and the International Red Cross.
He said the only way to change the capitalist system was through a socialist
government, “but at this moment that is not possible.”
Peru is the world’s No. 2 producer after Colombia of coca, the basis for
cocaine, although the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration says it has now
surpassed its Andean neighbour in potential cocaine production.
DEA officials say that’s because comparatively little coca crop eradication
occurs in Peru, where plantations tend to be more mature and higher-yielding.
Source: AP
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