Peru Behind Bars with the Senderistas

A nightmare tale of murder charges and secretive rebels

Cynthia McNamara is not your typical tourist. For more than 15 years, the 39- year-old Philadelphia-born anthropologist has prowled the back roads of Africa and Asia and lived for stretches in Spain and Iran. Last December, however, as McNamara was finishing up a two-year trek through South America, she stumbled into a nightmare involving Peruvian officials and Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path), the shadowy, Maoist-oriented guerrilla group committed to overthrowing the Lima government. Her terrifying sojourn ended two weeks ago, as abruptly as it had begun, but not before she had spent four months in a prison, where she lived alongside members...

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