Peru: MOVADEF – The Return of the Shining Path? · Global Voices
Juan Arellano

In the afternoon of January 20, 2012, the National Elections Board (JNE) issued its decision [es] denying [es],  for the second time, the registration of MOVADEF (Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights) as a political party.  Social networks were immediately teeming with reactions and the next day traditional media reported extensively about the news.  But what is MOVADEF, and why is there so much fuss about it?
If we go along with what MOVADEF's blog says [es], it's about:
[un] movimiento  constituido para aportar a la solución de los problemas de nuestro  país, de la nación peruana, de nuestro pueblo trabajador y explotado  luchando por sus derechos fundamentales y por la democratización de la  sociedad peruana.
But in the section of their blog dedicated to their newspaper General Amnesty [es] one can see a number from the paper with a front page photo of Abimael Guzmán with text asking for his freedom, which is practically evidence that the movement is a façade for the terrorist movement Sendero Luminoso (SL – Shining Path).
Motion to deny Movadef, photo from the Congress of the Republic of Perú, photo under Creative Commons license Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0)
The probability that the application would be approved, together with the annulment [es] of the first resolution  denying registration gave rise to sit-ins [es] and protest marches. But many Peruvians are asking: How did this happen? How did a terrorist group that caused so much damage to the country obtain more than 350,000 signatures of support? Is it possible that within our democracy, we are embracing these violent movements?”
In the opinion columns of the media, attempts to answer this are varied. While one proposes [es] bringing back a 1990s song that “mixes terrorism, corruption and the mediocracy of political parties with irony and humor,” another compares [es] MOVADEF's denial of terrorism to the Real Madrid football manager José Mourinho, “saying he wasn't interested in the match with Barcelona [Real Madrid's main rival].”
It has also been mentioned [es] that “this incursion into democracy they now claim” is only “a tactic required by the imprisonment of their leader” and reminds us [es] that “at the time, the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation declared that SL has no place in our democracy.”  But as another columnist notes [es]: “What we are seeing these days needs to bring us to a deeper reflection about what else we can do to combat these fanatical ideas.”
However, this isn't something that's come up all of a sudden. As in the 1980s when nobody paid attention to the terrorism until it reached Lima, there have been signals for some time to which nobody has given enough importance. Since 2010 it was already public knowledge [es]  that MOVADEF, whose core is made up of members of the  “acuerdista” (those in favor of the peace accord) [es] faction of SL, would try to become a legal political party.
The blog Apuntes Peruanos (Peruvian Notes) picked up on a couple [es] of facts [es] that pointed towards that decision. More recently, Francisco Canaza, the blogger for Peruvian Notes, noted [es]:
Luego  de años de combate legítimo contra la insanía, ciertos sectores de la  sociedad peruana han terminado por abandonar la causa del Estado contra  el terrorismo e incluso han terminado abrazando a los terroristas. […]  Ese es el marco de pasividad. Una situación en que [se lanza] un panegírico en el que [se] analiza y pondera un supuesto conflicto de “libertad de  opinión” aún sabiendo que el tema de fondo es la participación política  de un grupo antidemocrático. El falso debate de “libertad de opinión y  de ideas” es justamente el argumento de MOVADEF.
On Ideele Radio's blog, the analyst Carlos Tapia is quoted [es] as stating SL's probable motives in asking for the registration of MOVADEF as a political party:
“Una  hipótesis es que al interior del Movadef hayan sectores propiamente  senderistas, porque ojo ellos dicen que no son el Partido Comunista del  Perú-Sendero Luminoso (PCP-SL). De las 350 mil firmas que han  presentado, entre unas 5 mil u 8 mil firmas deben ser de gente seguidora  del PCP-SL y el resto es gente ingenua […] Pero, esos militantes del  PCP-SL están presionando para que [Movadef] diga: ‘cuidado, si no nos  inscriben nos están cerrando las puertas de la legalidad, por lo tanto  –según ellos– se abren las puertas legítimas de la violencia’”
Anotó,  sin embargo que la conjetura principal está vinculada a que el  propósito del Movadef sería ir acumulando fuerzas para presentar su caso  a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos y argumentar que son una  supuesta fuerza democrática víctima de “la derecha bruta, achorada y  recalcitrante” porque se le impide su inclusión en el Registro de  Organizaciones Políticas del JNE.
One hypothesis is that MOVADEF there are actually senderista factions, because look, they say they are not part of the PCP-SL (Communist Party of Peru-Shining Path). Of the 350,000 signatures that have been submitted, between 5,000 to 8,000 signatures must be PCP-SL supporters and the rest are naïve […]  But these members of PCP-SL are pushing MOVADEF to say: “Careful, if they don't register us, they're closing the doors to legitimacy against us, therefore–according to them–it opens the doors to legitimizing violence.”
He noted, however, that the main speculation is tied to MOVADEF's intention of gathering strength to present a case to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and argue that they are a so-called democratic force, victim of “the ignorant, rude and recalcitrant right” because it keeps them from being included in the Register of Political Organizations of JNE.
The journalist Jaime del Castillo reacts [es] in his blog to the media appearances of MOVADEF members:
Y que bueno que hayamos escuchado a la propia juventud integrante del MOVADEF decir que el sanguinario y enloquecido criminal ABIMAEL GUZMAN REINOSO no es un TERRORISTA … afirmación que indigna y que subleva … porque dicha declaración en medio televisivo hace unas horas de la mencionada juventud MOVADEF demuestra el altísimo grado de cinismo y de perversión ideológica que ostentan estos TERRORISTAS-EMBOZADOS que pretenden sorprender al Perú democrático …
Meanwhile, another journalist, Raúl Weiner,  talks about [es] the reasons for the disturbing presence of young people among the supporters and activitists for MOVADEF:
El  error que creo que se comete en primer lugar es que los que dicen que  combaten a Sendero y al MOVADEF, no brindan una explicación creíble  sobre ellos, las distintas caras de la violencia y las vías para  aprender a vivir en paz, y más bien lo que transmiten es que se mueven  en un eterno miedo que quieren que sea el de los demás. […]  Que un  sector político con enormes pasivos por haber encabezado una guerra que  destrozó al país, desorganizó el movimiento popular y engendró una  dictadura, pueda desafiar al sistema con la cara descubierta, después de  una profunda derrota, y hacerse atractivo para un sector de la juventud  peruana, lleva a preguntarse qué fue lo que se construyó en el Perú  sobre la derrota de Sendero. Tal vez ahí haya mejores respuestas de  porqué muchos jóvenes levantan ahora el brazo contra esta democracia.
After seeing their attempt to be registered denied, MOVADEF's representatives have announced [es] they will appeal the decision that was issued.  They have five business days to do this. However, it has now come out [es] that for various reasons, the JNE will not be able to issue its decision until the middle of February, but the debate is far from over.