ABSTRACT
The MRTA is a pro-Cuban Marxist-Leninist guerrilla group founded by Luis Varese Scoto. It commenced an armed campaign in 1984 with the seizure of a radio station, but until 1994 its activities, though troublesome, were overshadowed by those of Sendero Luminoso. On 18 April 1989 the army successfully ambushed an MRTA column near the village of Molinos in the Department of Junin, killing 62. In July 1990, the MRTA leader, Víctor Polay Campos (‘Comandante Rolando’), was arrested but escaped from custody, only to be arrested again in San Borja in June 1992.
