Monday 4 March 2013

Peruvian army almost caught Shining Path chief

Troops and police shot dead on 3 March a communist Shining Path rebel and were believed to have almost caught the rebel force's third-in-command Jorge Luis Quispe Palomino or Comrade Raúl, Europa Press and the daily Peru21 reported. Troops entered the camp in the locality of Vizcatán in the province of Huanta east of Lima after a gun battle that killed a female rebel - Comrade Luisa - identified as one of Raúl's bodyguards. The camp, in a region called VRAEM (Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro) considered the Shining Path's stronghold, was reportedly of a permanent nature for its solid structures. Troops were fanning this area between 22 February and 1 March and appeared to have entered the camp in that time; on 14 February the government declared it would send troops into the VRAEM to eradicate drugs, Europa Press reported. Separately a soldier was shot dead at or near an army base in the Huanta province, in an undated attack attributed to the Shining Path, El Correo reported on 4 March. The soldier was reported shot from the jungle while on guard or patrol duty at a base by the river Mantaro in the district of Llochegua.

Mexican party amends statutes to help government

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto was the guest of honour at the 21st Ordinary National Assembly of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which approved a reformist agenda intended to assure the PRI's closer cooperation with government's liberalizing agenda. This included removal from party statutes of prohibitions on debating the imposition of VAT on foods and medicines, a move opposed by the Left in Mexico Alongside accepting the principle of private investment in the state-sector oil firm Pemex, these were among the "binding" items removed from the party's "basic documents," which indicated the party's eager support for its own government. The PRI senator Cristina Díaz Salazar said the changes sought to "accompany" Peña Nieto's policies, CNN reported. During and after the 2012 general elections PRI members were intermittently cited as saying that the PRI party and government would remain distinct; yet this is not a party known for dissentions and internal disputes. It contrasts in that sense with the Leftist Democratic Revolutionary Party (PRD), whose members split from the PRI in the 1980s and which recently split again with the departure of its former leader. The PRI assembly approved an Action Programme (Programa de Acción) that included reducing its National Political Council from 1,200 to 700 members, and its Permanent Political Committee (Comisión Política Permanente) from 200 to 47 members including PRI-run state governors and the President, Proceso reported on 4 March. The assembly voted its support likewise for reforms in areas of taxation, competition and subsidies, while "mechanisms" were approved to ensure PRI members who accede to public office do not deviate from set party lines, La Crónica de Hoy reported. Peña told the 4,200 PRI members that there were "no untouchable interests" in the country; "the only interest I shall protect is the national interest. I shall take the decisions the country's transformation requires. The PRI's success depends on Mexico's success, CNNMéxico reported.