Augusta Deyanira La Torre Carrasco (29 August 1946 – 14 November 1988), also known as Comrade Norah, was a Peruvian communist, recognized as the number two in command of Shining Path. La Torre's influence on her husband, Shining Path founder Abimael Guzmán, is credited with establishing equality for women with regard to participation within the revolutionary organization, and during its militant actions.[1]
Augusta La Torre | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Augusta La Torre | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 August 1946 Huanta, Ayacucho, Peru |
| Died | 14 November 1988 (aged 42) Peru |
| Political party | Shining Path |
| Spouse | Abimael Guzmán |
Early life and political involvement
editAugusta La Torre was born in Huanta in 1946 into a land-owning family with a prominent political lineage,[2] later leaving to study in Ayacucho as a teen. The daughter of Communist party leader Carlos La Torre Córdova and Delia Carrasco, "she grew up in a family where political activity, party membership and protest against the Peruvian state were routine, making it unsurprising that she too entered radical politics."[3] She joined the Peruvian Communist Party in 1962 at the age of 17.[3] She met Abimael Guzmán, a professor of philosophy, through her parents. Guzman was a regular guest to their home in Ayacucho, meeting with La Torre's father to discuss politics.[2] In February 1964, she married Guzman.[4] La Torre also encouraged Guzman to establish the Popular Women's Movement in Ayacucho in 1965.[5] She was active within the Maoist political organization, Bandera Roja (Red Flag), and helped found the Socorro Popular del Peru (People's Aid of Peru).[6]
Shining Path
edit
La Torre was instrumental in helping Guzman to create the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso).[5][7] On the 24th December 1980, the Inicio de la Lucha Armada, she led the first attack of the Shining Path on a small farm, Hacienda San Agustín de Ayzarca, which culminated on the torture and murder of the farm manager, Benigno Medina and a 19 year old worker named Ricardo Lizarbe.[8][3] She went into hiding with Guzman in 1978 and died in November 1988, although the circumstances of her death remain unclear.[9]
References
edit- ^ Diamond, M.J., Women and Revolution: Global Expressions, Springer, 1998, p309, ISBN 0-7923-5182-7
- ^ a b Starn, Orin; La Serna, Miguel (2019). The Shining Path: Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes. United States: W.W. Norton & Company. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-393-29280-0.
- ^ a b c Heilman, Jaymie Patricia (2010), "Family Ties: The Political Genealogy of Shining Path's Comrade Norah", Bulletin of Latin American Research, 29 (2): 155–169, doi:10.1111/j.1470-9856.2009.00321.x
- ^ Bloody Peruvian terrorist also had fuzzy side Archived 4 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine, Latin American Herald Tribune, 2008, Retrieved 6 January 2009
- ^ a b Nathanial C. Nash, "Lima Journal; Shining Path Women: So Many and So Ferocious" New York Times, 22 September 1992
- ^ Peru: Information on Augusta La Torre, wife of Abimael Guzmán Archived 7 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, PER12684, 1 January 1993
- ^ Mahan, Sue and Pamala L. Griset, Terrorism in Perspective, p 253-4.
- ^ "Patrones en la perpetración de los crímenes y de las violaciones de los derechos humanos" (PDF). Informe Final (in Spanish). Vol. VI. Lima: Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. 2003. Retrieved 24 July 2022.
- ^ "Los misterios de Norah", La República online Archived 13 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine, 17 December 2008
External links
edit- Peru: Information on Augusta La Torre, wife of Abimael Guzm n, Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, PER12684, 1 January 1993, at UNHCR Refworld online.
- Video of Augusta la Torre's funeral on YouTube, posted 9 February 2009.