Body of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán cremated in Peru

LIMA, Peru (AP) — The body of Abimael Guzmán, the leader of Peru’s brutal Shining Path insurgency who died on Sept. 11, was cremated Friday.

The cremation took place after Congress in the South American nation expedited a debate on a law to dispose of Guzmán’s remains. His ashes will be scattered at an undisclosed date and place.

Guzmán’s wife, Elena Iparraguirre, who was also sentenced to life imprisonment, had asked for the remains of her husband to be given to her, but authorities denied that request.

Guzmán, 86, died in a military hospital after an illness. The former philosophy professor launched an insurgency against the state in 1980 and presided over numerous car bombings and assassinations in the years that followed. He was captured in 1992 and sentenced to life in prison for terrorism and other crimes.

The conflict of the Shining Path rebel group and Peru’s security forces lasted for more than two decades. More than 70,000 people were killed.