Family members of captured Shining Path leader Florindo Flores Hala, aka Comrade Artemio, have come forward to talk of their memories and opinions of him.

"This is like a curse, like a bad air. I prefer not to see him, not know anything about him. To me, he's dead," said Artemio’s mother, 70-year old Hermengilda Hala.

"I wish that this memory was cleared from my mind."

Hermengilda said she hasn’t seen Artemio since he traveled to in Lima in 1980, and worked at a shop that sold bathtubs. He disappeared shortly after.

According to Peru21, the Hala family only learned their son had become Shining Path leader ‘Comrade Artemio’ in 2010.

Artemio’s mother currently lives in a humble house in El Pedregal Sur, in Caylloma, where she sells lunch ´menus´.

She lives with her husband, Juan Flores, Artemio’s father, who is currently sick.

Juan Flores said he felt guilty for taking his son to Lima.

"He only worked there for three months and suddenly disappeared. If I knew he would get into that, I would not have let him go."

"I'm not interested in his life, he was not interested in ours. If he were interested, he would not have entered that path, but he did, and nobody forced him to."
 

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