Peru: Abimael Guzmán, head of Shining Path insurgency, dies

The Peruvian government says Abimael Guzmán, the leader of the brutal Shining Path insurgency in Peru who was captured in 1992, has died in a military hospital after an illness

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 at 6:40 a.m. 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. Guzmán was captured in 1992 and sentenced in life in prison for terrorism and other crimes. The Shining Path “murdered thousands of innocents and undermined the peace of the country. We do not forget the horror of that time, and his death will not erase his crimes,” Economy Minister Pedro Francke said.