Pope Implores Peru Rebels to Halt Campaign of Terror

LIMA, Peru — Pope John Paul II, answering a plea from Peru’s president, appealed Monday to left-wing guerrillas to halt an eight-year-old campaign of terror that has brought the country to the verge of collapse.

In an airport speech before departing for Paraguay, the Pope spoke directly about the insurgency for the first time during a 39-hour visit that included 10 public addresses focusing on evangelism and other religious themes.

Peru’s main rebel group, Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), has ravaged rural areas and recently has broadened its sabotage campaign to downtown Lima. Through last November, the secretive Maoist insurgency had claimed 8,646 lives, according to government figures, but human rights groups estimate the death toll at more than 15,000. A total of 22 provinces are under emergency rule.

John Paul repeated the appeal he made three years ago during a visit to Ayacucho, the provincial capital where Shining Path was launched: “I ask in the name of God: Change your ways. . . . You still have time. The many tears of the innocent victims await your reply.”

President Alan Garcia had called on the Pope when he arrived Saturday to speak out “to those sick with hate, who kill and destroy with violence.” Many clerics and newspapers also had expressed hope that John Paul could somehow undermine an insurgency that has contributed to Peru’s economic disintegration, including inflation that is projected to reach 300% this year.

In responding to those pleas, the Pope declared: “I cannot silence the sadness which invades my heart as a pastor to see that the noble Peruvian people continue suffering the scourge of violence. . . . I have perceived once again the clamor for peace which comes from the throats of so many Peruvians of good will. The long and cruel years of fighting between brothers, which has caused so many wounds among the people and the society, must not prevent the achievement of a just and lasting peace.”

Temporary Drop in Violence

Msgr. Luis Bambaren, bishop of the poor district of Chimbote, said before the Pope’s arrival that the 1985 papal visit seemed to have contributed to a drop in violence. Bambaren noted that the number of victims fell from 3,500 in 1984 to about 1,000 in 1985 and 1986.

Since then, however, the insurgency has grown, he said, adding, “We hope that his visit and his messages reach the hearts of those who follow the sinister road of hate and death. Let us hope that our land is not watered with more human blood.”

Economic decline has also fed Peru’s virulent street crime, especially in decaying Lima, home to more than 6 million of the nation’s 20 million people. Weapons abound, and the number of new gun licenses rose from 2,700 in 1985 to 7,500 last year. Some attribute that partly to the rise in drug trafficking, one of the few prosperous Peruvian industries.

The weekly magazine Caretas said that in the three years since the Pope’s first visit, “the nation has suffered an accelerating deterioration in almost every aspect of life. His words may provide a refuge, a reason for reflection, because we Peruvians are approaching the edge of a black abyss in our history, and we are doing little to keep from falling into it.

“What is happening to us?” Caretas asked. “We are a country that has become used to death, that is not moved by the murder of a student or by the cowardly explosion of a car bomb. All that remains is disintegration and devastation.”