Óscar Ramírez Durand
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Óscar Ramírez Durand (born 16 March 1953), commonly known as Comrade Feliciano (), is a
Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...
vian convicted
terrorist Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war aga ...
and former political leader who led the
Shining Path The Shining Path (, SL), self-named the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a far-left political party and guerrilla group in Peru, following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. Academics often refer to the group as the ...
, a Marxist–Leninist–Maoist terrorist group in Peru, in the 1990s.


Biography

Ramírez is the son of a retired Peruvian general and the second of seven brothers. Being studious from a young age and enjoying mental challenges such as chess, Ramírez was awarded the medal of academic excellence from the College of Saint Francis of Assisi in
Arequipa Arequipa (; Aymara language, Aymara and ), also known by its nicknames of ''Ciudad Blanca'' (Spanish for "White City") and ''León del Sur'' (Spanish for "South's Lion"), is a city in Peru and the capital of the eponymous Arequipa (province), ...
, Peru. He dropped out of engineering school and joined Shining Path, where he served as a military strategist. Ramírez assumed control of the Shining Path after
Abimael Guzmán Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reinoso (; 3 December 1934 − 11 September 2021), also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Chairman Gonzalo (), was a Peruvian Maoist guerrilla leader. He founded the organization Communist Party of Peru – Shining ...
was captured by the authorities in 1992. He rejected Guzmán's plea for the rebels to lay down their arms and continued the conflict. He travelled to Colombia where he worked with members of
FARC The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (, FARC–EP or FARC) was a Marxist–Leninist guerrilla group involved in the continuing Colombian conflict starting in 1964. The FARC-EP was officially founded in 1966 from peasan ...
and under his leadership, Shining Path activities increased in south central region of Peru. Two small town mayors were murdered and recruitment efforts among the rural poor of the region increased.


Imprisonment

In 1999, President
Alberto Fujimori Alberto Kenji Fujimori Fujimori (26 July 1938 – 11 September 2024) was a Peruvian politician, professor, and engineer who served as the 54th president of Peru from 1990 to 2000.* * * * * * * Born in Lima, Fujimori was the country's fir ...
ordered a military operation in central Peru to capture Ramírez alive and eliminate the last remnants of Shining Path. Over 2,000 army troops were deployed to the region, where they engaged in sporadic fire fights with Shining Path forces. A female guerrilla, starving due to being cut off from all food and supplies, surrendered and provided information on Ramírez's whereabouts, and with this information, he was captured without incident in July 1999. He was transported to a military base where he was interrogated by
Vladimiro Montesinos Vladimiro Lenin Ilich Montesinos Torres (; born May 20, 1945) is a Peruvian former intelligence officer and lawyer, most notorious for his role as the head of Peru's National Intelligence Service (SIN) during the presidency of Alberto Fujimor ...
, the head of National Intelligence Service (SIN). In August 1999, he was prosecuted by a military court that sentenced him to life in prison without the chance for parole in a high security prison at a naval base in Lima. In June 2006, Ramírez was sentenced to 24 years in prison in a civilian trial. He is currently being held at the naval base in
Callao Callao () is a Peruvian seaside city and Regions of Peru, region on the Pacific Ocean in the Lima metropolitan area. Callao is Peru's chief seaport and home to its main airport, Jorge Chávez International Airport. Callao municipality consists ...
and is due for release in June 2023. His reduced sentence was a result of his collaboration with the authorities and enmity towards Guzmán: in 2003 he described him to ''
Caretas ''Caretas'' (, ) is a weekly newsmagazine published in Lima, Peru, renowned for its investigative journalism. History ''Caretas'' was founded in October 1950 by Doris Gibson and Francisco Igartua. In the mid-1950s, Gibson's son, Enrique Z ...
'' magazine as a "psychopath" and said that Guzmán "was always a coward and a traitor". He went as far as declaring, before the
Truth and Reconciliation Commission A truth commission, also known as a truth and reconciliation commission or truth and justice commission, is an official body tasked with discovering and revealing past wrongdoing by a government (or, depending on the circumstances, non-state ac ...
, his renewed belief in democracy, his call for remaining subversives to lay down their arms, his expectation for new civilian trials and his condolences for the victims of the conflict. ''Caretas'' has also published extracts from his conversations with the former head of the National Intelligence Service, Vladimiro Montesinos, in which family links between the two emerged, both being cousins. In March 2013, he testified in the trial of the recently imprisoned leader,
Comrade Artemio Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala (better known as Comrade Artemio; born 8 September 1961) is a former leader of the Peruvian Maoist terrorist group Shining Path. He was captured by a combined force of the Peruvian Army. Early life Flores was b ...
. During the hearing, he apologized to the country for the crimes committed by Shining Path.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramirez Durand, Oscar Living people 1953 births People convicted on terrorism charges People imprisoned for terrorism Peruvian criminals Peruvian communists Members of the Shining Path Peruvian prisoners and detainees Prisoners and detainees of Peru Peruvian revolutionaries