Comrade Artemio is a former leader of the Peruvian Maoist, terrorist group Shining Path. His real name is Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala. The United States CIA World Factbook lists his true identity as Gabriel Macario. Along with Comrade Alipio, he was one of the highest-ranking members of the Shining Path who had not been imprisoned or killed. However on February 12, 2012, he was captured by a combined force of the Peruvian Army.
Flores went to high school in Camana, Camana Province, Arequipa Department. He served in the Peruvian Army in the 221 Tank Battalion in Locumba, Tacna in 1979. He ended his service in December 1980. His face appears in the August 1989 video where Comrade Gonzalo appears dancing "Zorba the Greek" with all the Shining Path high command.
Very little was known about Comrade Artemio. He has appeared on video tapes, but always wearing a ski mask, often with an extra piece of cloth sewed on to hide his eyes. Messages supposed to have been written by him make the claim that he is only the regional commander of the Shining Path for the Huallaga Valley, implying that he is not the leader of the entire movement. This might be because he takes the imprisoned former leaders (Abimael Guzmán and Óscar Ramírez Durand) to be the true leaders and doesn't believe their orders for the Shining Path to lay down its arms.
On September 26, 2006, a news crew from the television show Panorama interviewed Artemio in a jungle base established by Shining Path. They also filmed about 50 Shining Path militants, all of whom were masked. Artemio demanded that the Peruvian government grant amnesty to imprisoned Shining Path members and open a peace dialogue with the remaining Shining Path members. Days after the report, the National Police raided the site where Artemio gave the interview. Some Shining Path members were arrested, but Artemio was not. In November, 2007, police claimed to have killed Artemio's second-in-command, a guerrilla known as JL.
In September, 2008, Artemio gave his first recorded interview since 2006. In it he stated that the Shining Path would continue to fight despite escalating military pressure.
On December 7, 2011, it was reported that 'Comrade Artemio' had admitted that the Shining Path were defeated. He is said to have offered 'dialogue' with the government regarding disarmament.
The next day, the BBC released an interview with "Comrade Artemio," identified as Florindo Eleuterio Flores-Hala. Flores-Hala admitted "mistakes" in continuing the Shining Path's war effort, and said he was ready to negotiate terms with the Peruvian government.
On February 12, 2012, Artemio was captured by a combined force of the Peruvian Army and the Police. Doctors removed two bullets from his stomach.
Famous quotes containing the word comrade:
“I cease my song for thee,
From my gaze on thee in the west, fronting the west, communing with thee,
O comrade lustrous with silver face in the night.
Yet each to keep and all, retrievements out of the night,
The song, the wondrous chant of the grey-brown bird,
And the tallying chant, the echo aroused in my soul,
With the lustrous and drooping star with the countenance full of woe,”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)