Lima, July 30 (teleSUR-RHC)-- Peruvian Defense Deputy Minister Ivan Vega confirmed Tuesday the Peruvian armed forces rescued 26 children and 13 adults from the hands of remnants of terrorist group the Shining Path.
The children’s ages ranged from one to 14 years of age. Minors will be put under the care of the Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations. Among the adults there were nuns who were captured by Shining Path 25 years ago. Others captured claimed they were detained 30 years ago. According to Vega, those captured were used as slave labor growing vegetables and animals to supply Shining Path members with food. Vega also added that the capturers were working in complicity with drug trafficking gangs.
Those enslaved were kept in the region known as the Valley of the Rivers Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro or VRAEM. This area is considered the place with the most laboratories for the production of coca base and cocaine hydrochloride in the planet.
According the a 2014 report of the UN, more than 200 tons of cocaine are produced in VRAEM out of the 600 tons produced in the country.
One hundred-twenty officers using four helicopters conducted the operation. The deputy minister said “this time we have located the camping site in sector five. From there we have rescued 26 children and 13 adults whom we are moving to the city of Mazamari to give them all the attention they deserve as Peruvian citizens.”
Vega also added the location of those captured was possible thanks to the intelligence work performed by the armed forces.
According to the officers involved, a person who had escaped the camp informed the military of the location. The armed forces also stated that with this finding it has been confirmed that the Shining Path rapes the women to make them have children who are later employed in domestic duties. Other children were captured from isolated rural communities whose parents do not report the kidnappings for fear of reprisals. When the children turn 12 or 13 years of age, they are enlisted for armed confrontations.
