http://www.viceland.com/music/2011/01/peruvian-terrorist-youtube-folk-music/

The trick for shooting down a helicopter is to aim for the propeller and the pilot at the same time. It’s the modus operandi of Sendero Luminoso, or The Shining Path, Peru’s communist terrorist group, part of which operate in hiding from Peru’s jungle VRAE region. September marks a year since one such chopper was taken out, and the number one suspect for this and a bloody catalogue of killings has since become a YouTube folk guitar phenomenon. Comrade Raúl, or Jorge Quispe Palomino is the second in command in The Shining Path’s jungle faction and has caused uproar in Peru thanks to his songs about ‘vampire Yankee colonialism’ and the positive aspects of genocidal communism.

His tunes take the form of huaynos, which backpackers will remember as that Fucking annoying Beethoven’s-Ninth-in-Clockwork-Orange-resembling music that is piped into every single Peruvian and Bolivian coach, turned up on special occasions [5am on a particularly winding Andean pass].

Comrade Raúl is from Ayacucho in the Andes, so will have been taught this music as a kid. He doesn’t appear to have mastered it however; he’s more off-key than a squat ket bump, when not abandoning his roots altogether and coming off like a deranged Peruvian Jack Johnson.

Lyrics: (prelude)We’ve got to carry on learning from our great teachers, and the same way, from the large popular forces of our country, and the world

Following in the footsteps of Karl Marx / the classes and the people will triumph / with the Russian revolution / Lenin achieved Socialism / together with the masses and the people / it was the victory of inaudible / in bourgeois eastern Europe / The proletariat of China / via the path of Mao Zedong / defeated the Yankee vampire / and parasite colonialists/ and brought socialism to Asia

The acts of the communists / the class guerrillas / in the Second World War / Stalin fought on his front / inaudible / defeating German fascists / We have to continue with the works / that our masters bequeathed us / in this the 21^st Century / which is a time for revolution / for Communism in this world / Defeating imperialism / forever in our land

The most famous track in the huayno genre is El Condor Pasa by Daniel Alomía Robles, which any backpacker will recognize as played by Cuzco street minstrels; as will your dad - Simon & Garfunkel covered it with El Condor Pasa [if I Could]. Ironically this track also rails against gringo imperialism. 

The difference between Comrade Raúl and serious huayno stars like Sonia Morales and Anita Santivañez – apart obvious skill factors – is the bloody legacy he has left on swaths of the Peruvian countryside. It would be highly irresponsible not to highlight his track record, which includes, almost exactly two years ago the ambush and killing of 12 soldiers and two civilians in Tayacaja, Peru, which Comrade Raúl is suspected of leading, and a litany of other lethal attacks, mainly against the Peruvian army. 

The terrorists also claim a tax from cocaine producers – $2 per kilo that passes through their territory, according to José Quispe Palomino, Comrade Raúl’s brother and leader of the Shining Path jungle faction. On the other hand, they claim to protect peasants living off the land in the VRAE region by buying livestock from them for high prices.

The mistake that the Shining Path made was to target the very peasants it was claiming to protect – the major and unhealing atrocity of the group – which is much diminished in numbers since the 80s – was the Lucanamarca slaughter on April 3 1983 which saw 69 people killed in cold blood by the group.

The banality of evil? Well perhaps the lyrics speak for themselves.

Lyrics: (prelude) All the reactionaries, parasites of the people, will be defeated by way of the National Democratic revolution.

The causes of the peoples / Will not be defeated / The power of the masses / Will keep growing / There is nothing in the world / That can obstruct us / By overcoming difficulty / That triumph will be ours

All the reactionaries / Parasites of the people / Will never be able to beat us / Despite having all the power of the people / Inaudible / Rebel hearts / Conquered victories

Such is the suffering / That it shakes up rebellion / The fight is the path / To peace and freedom / The fight is the path / Towards conquering tyrants

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