For two decades Peru fought far-left terrorist groups that wreaked havoc in both cities and countryside. The death toll was high but the government managed to come out on top. Since the end of the "internal conflict," as it is often referred, the government has continued to pursue the remnants of the terrorist groups, specially the Shining Path. This week the government managed to arrest a number of people related to the terrorist groups and its affiliates.

Twenty-four people were arrested in different parts of Peru on Thursday, according to the BBC. President Ollanta Humala explained that those arrested included members of the Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights, or Movadef in Spanish, which is considered the Shining Path's political arm. Among the arrested were also the lawyers of former guerrilla leader Abimael Guzman, Alfredo Crespo and Manuel Fajardo. It is also reported that the president's cousin, Walter Humala, was among the arrested.

According to reports, all those arrested were charged with terrorist offences and funding terrorism with money from drug trafficking. The political group allegedly gave an estimated 500,000 soles ($179,000) to the Shining Path. The Peruvian newspaper El Comercio, which broke the news, reports that investigation into Movadef's relations with the terrorist group began after the arrest of terrorist leader Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala, otherwise known as "Comrade Artemio," on Feb. 11, 2012.

Chief Prosecutor Victor Cubas stated in a press conference that documents retrieved during Artemio's capture revealed a link between Movadef and the Shining Path, according to El Comercio. The subsequent investigation, which employed 300 investigators from the National Police and Armed Forces, showed that Guzman's lawyers met with Artemio in 2008 and another witness claims to have been part in an exchange of 100,000 soles by senderistas to the Movadef.

The report adds that the money given to Movadef by Shining Path members, money that had been raised by drug trafficking, was used to propel the former into the political arena in Peru. According to the Peruvian Times, Movadef failed to enter its candidacy during the 2011 elections but since then has been vying for popular support among students who are too young to remember the internal conflict.