Abimael Guzmán, Head of Shining Path Insurgency, Dies in Peru

LIMA, PERU - Abimael Guzmán, the leader of the brutal Shining Path insurgency in Peru who was captured in 1992, died on Saturday in a military hospital after an illness, the Peruvian government said.  

Guzmán, 86, died after suffering from an infection, Justice Minister Aníbal Torres said.   Guzmán, a former philosophy professor, launched an insurgency against the state in 1980 and presided over numerous car bombings and assassinations in the years that followed. After his capture, he was sentenced in life in prison for terrorism and other crimes.   President Pedro Castillo tweeted that Guzmán was responsible for taking countless lives.