Willing to change: Shining Path leader joins APP four times between 2009 and 2017 | Juan Santos Romero | Shining Path | Terrifying | Forgiveness | APP | JNE | principle

The APP – the group founded by César Acuña – tried to recruit him into its ranks, despite his already serious record, having been convicted of terrorism in 1994 and imprisoned in the Picsi prison in Chiclayo (Lambayeque). . However, he was released in 2006.

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In March 2009, three years after his release from prison, the APP first attempted to register the leader of Volanda Transformerora. In 2010, the political body readmitted him to its membership list.

Later, in 2011, Santos sought to join Movateb – the political wing of the Centero Luminoso – where he served as campaign secretary of the Trujillo-based provincial committee. However, the organization’s registration was rejected.

In the same year, APP once again presented him before JNE as a member of its ranks. Finally, the party led by César Acuña re-registered him in 2017. Two years later, Santos Romero began his activities as president of Voluntad Transformadora.

According to the Directorate of Counter-Terrorism (DIRCOD), this group first appeared in the district of La Esperanza (Trujillo) in December 2019, when Santos was already part of the ranks of the APP.

From then until a few days ago when he was caught by the police the APP militant did proselytizing work in favor of Shining Path without the political group alerting him to his criminal activity.

As of 2019, Santos had already publicly praised the terrorist group and published pamphlets that he claimed were in prison.

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El Comercio reports that photos and videos shared on social networks show the indoctrination of minors carried out by Santos and other members of Voluntad Transformadora.

In videos in the possession of authorities, children can be seen marching, chanting and chanting the “Marxism-Leninism-Maoism-‘Conzalo’ ideology.” Investigations indicate that the group’s leadership may have carried out flagging activities and other pro-Lightning Path activities in the city of Trujillo.

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Last Thursday, by MegaOperation “Change 2023”Members of the PNP and representatives of the Ministry of Public Affairs preliminarily detained seven members of the organization for the crime of association with a terrorist organization.

Along with Santos, the PNP arrested Jose Dominio Arbegoso, Angelita Cerna Calderon, Erika Lisette Namoc Loyola, Jose Ismael Orbegoso Romero, Lucio No Orbegoso Romero, and Flor Arbegoso Romero. All of them now face more than 20 years in prison.

It is worth noting that the last three are followers of Movadef.

At the prosecutor’s office level, under the responsibility of the Second Office of the Western Provincial Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office, the investigation formally began in October 2022, and specialized investigative techniques were carried out. To the authorities, the organization was employed with the aim of indoctrinating children and adolescents into the ‘Gonzalo’ way of thinking.

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Without m culpa

In a conversation with El Comercio, the General Secretary of the APP, Luis Valdez, announced that the party has initiated the process of expelling Santos Romero before the National Elections Jury (JNE) and will begin an investigation to determine how he was able to register. Fighter in 2017.

“He’s not a leader, we don’t know him, he’s never been an active party member. We’re figuring out how you join. We don’t know how he registered. “Given the serious crimes he committed and the involvement of children, we want the full weight of the law to fall on him. We believe.” expresses.

Valdes recognized that such a situation is “harmful to the democratic system” and that all parties are obliged to “fight against terrorism”.

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Valdes, however, blamed the lack of “filters” that allowed the likes of JNE and Santos to join.

“[Caso] This has surprised us and we ask JNE first how to register a person under these conditions. Registration is done by JNE, there should be some sort of filter because in our election system only token, signature and registration is sufficient. The JNE should contain filters, not related persons in this scenario. He insisted.

A similar response was given by Member of Parliament Elva Julon. “The party is already taking steps to oust him […] “I reiterate that a massive filter should be carried out on militants of all political parties.” He told this newspaper.

We tried to contact other MPs from this bench but they did not respond till the end of this report.

JNE sources dismissed Valdez’s comments. “If you are a party member, your registration is with the party. How can you blame JNE for something they don’t care about? They noted

The same sources explained that ROP has hundreds of member registration boxes and “checks that signatures match, not every member’s background” because “the party has to do that.”