By: Joma Galaga
“We will offer our lives for the country,” he shouted. Iber Maraviex-owner of Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC)on December 10, 2022 in the last assembly organized by the Front for the Defense of the People of Ayacucho (Fredepa), to detail the strategy for taking over the airport on December 15. Unfortunate and bloody confrontation to which Maraví did not even appear.
That Saturday the 10th, at that meeting, the woman whom former leaders call their “ward” was present. A 54-year-old woman who days later was captured after lengthy intelligence work: Rocío Leandro Melgar. “Chameleon and active” is how some former leaders of Fredepa define it. Comrade ‘Betty’, ‘Luz’ or better known in recent months as ‘cusi‘, is one of the characters of the terrorist leadership of the eighties who returned to the news after her new capture after Peru21 released a video in which she was caught distributing cash to representatives of coca grower groups so that they mobilize their members to the capital of the country and can participate in the demonstrations.
The name of Rocío Leandro is not new, as it appears in 14 reports from the National Directorate Against Terrorism (Dincote) dating from 1989 to 1996 for the crimes of treason and terrorism. Although until recently she presented herself as president of Fredepa – an organization generated from Sendero Luminoso – her dark past revealed her internment in prisons such as Miguel Castro Castro and the Chorrillos women’s prison, due to her participation. in various attacks.
As recalled, one of those attacks was the murder of Pedro Huilca, general secretary of the General Central of Workers of Peru (CGTP).
The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (CVR) records the testimony of a senderista who points to alias ‘Cusi’ as one of the terrorists in charge of organizing the bloody crime of December 18, 1992.
“PREPARED WOMAN”
“They were looking for a woman who can lead the organization. Men have several in their ranks. Within their search they had no choice but comrade ‘Cusi’. She was a guarantee to follow the sequence of all her paintings, ”a former president of Fredepa mentioned to Peru21, who preferred that her identity be kept. He defines Leandro, whom he met at an assembly in 2020, as a bellicose woman, one of the youngest with enough experience to assume the position.
“All his paintings are largely already adults; 65 years have passed, she is around 50. She is within what she (SL) is looking for, because she is still active and rabid ”, she assures.
Why ‘cusy’? The former leader mentions that, although it is true that he has been in jail, he has done political work in recent years with the members of the central committee. He has specialized more than the other leaders and has gone beyond Marxism, Leninism and Maoism.
His capture is for the ranks of Fredepa a loss in any case, but the source assures that the position he assumed has a “cost” and he is paying for it. “They will evaluate her while she is silent: that is the golden rule. She and the others are under constant surveillance. If they don’t say anything, when she leaves prison she will be presented as a martyr”, she assures.
ORGANISM FACADE
Fredepa was born among the neighborhoods of Ayacucho, when it existed in parallel with the Federation of Neighborhoods and the Single Front of School Students. “Hunger, misery and corruption” is the phrase with which since 1969 it has been permeating and today the organization is in the process of consolidation, even in cities outside of Ayacucho, such as Puno and Cusco, according to their own members.
“In Fredepa there are internal elections, but the reality is that they are never elected, they are always imposed. Behind her (‘Cusi’) there are more people who have planned the mobilization and payment of protesters, even younger ones,” says the former leader.
He adds that the way in which Fredepa continues to expand is through the “popular schools”, where they train and evaluate meticulously.
