
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, November 8, 1993                   TAG: 9311080127
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LIMA, PERU                                LENGTH: Short

HAS PERU'S SHINING PATH LEADER REALLY CHANGED?

The beard is gone, the belly too, and the ranting has given way to public peace overtures by Abimael Guzman, imprisoned leader of the deadly Shining Path guerrillas.

It is a remarkable transformation, if true. That last part is what bothers Peruvians.

Guzman, serving a life sentence, appears in two videotapes reading letters that call for peace talks.

In both, the 58-year-old former university professor is clean-shaven, slim and subdued, in contrast to images broadcast after his capture in September 1992.

After his arrest - bearded, fat and dressed in prison stripes - Guzman paced his cell raging at the government and President Alberto Fujimori, whom he described as a "reptilian traitor."

Now, he respectfully calls Fujimori "Mr. President." He declared, "Peace has become an unavoidable necessity for the Peruvian people."

Fujimori, however, has rejected negotiations, saying Guzman must order his followers to lay down their weapons.

Despite his dramatic change of tone, Guzman neither recanted his beliefs nor suggested a cease-fire, and the Shining Path has continued its attacks.

According to the sources, Guzman won some concessions, including weekend conjugal visits with Elena Iparraguirre, his lover and second-in-command. She was captured with him and is held in a separate cell at the navy base.

by CNB