Peruvian police have just rubbed out the “military” chief of the vile Shining Path guerrilla gang, which in the last year or so, has been making an unwelcome if sporadic recrudescence. It’s the most significant loss for the terrorist group in years. The dead thug, who ate his lead breakfast up in the coca country known as Tingo Maria, called himself “Compadre Clay” I suppose after the landmines he probably laid. He was known to police as Victor Aponte Sinalagua. Gone.

The genocidal Shining Path is reponsible for 30,000 to 70,000 deaths beginning from 1980 through 1992, and probably many more. As one of these creeps, Abimael Guzman, writer of “love” poetry, explained it:

Guzman, known to his fanatic followers as “President Gonzalo,” once predicted that 1 million Peruvians would probably have to die in the ushering-in of the new state envisioned by Shining Path.

Lovely guy. He’s in jail now and his military commander is dead. Sometimes lead breakfasts are the best restorative. The Shining Path, which modeled itself on Pol Pot, just got a taste of what it delivered to thousands of innocent Peruvians.

And the implications of this rubout? Simple. Peruvians will be less afraid for their safety if they know these thugs are out of service well before they can grow back into a nightmare. If Peruvians are less scared, they will be less likely to vote for a Marxist military man known as Ollanta Humala who vows to restore “order.” His appeal will be less attractive than the truly revolutionary appeal of Lourdes Flores and Hernando de Soto who are currently in the lead in polls for Peru’s presidency.

Agencia EFE has the story here.