Béjar, Héctor (1935–)
Béjar, Héctor (1935–)
Héctor Béjar, Peruvian author, journalist, and Castroist guerrilla leader in the 1960s. Béjar was born in 1935 and became involved in radical politics during his time in art and law school. It was then that he formed and led the Army of National Liberation (ELN), which launched a guerrilla campaign in 1965. In prison after 1966, he contributed to the understanding of the character, limitations, and rigidities of the Peruvian guerrilla movement by writing a treatise prized and first published in Cuba. The guerrilla movement, he explained, developed out of the climate of rebellion and oppression after the end of General Manuel Odría's dictatorship. Freed by the military government after the amnesty of 1970, Béjar accepted a government post to conduct official propaganda among peasants. This organization, which is still active, is called SINAMOS—literally, "sin amos," or "without masters" in Spanish.
See alsoPeru, Revolutionary Movements: Army of National Liberation (ELN) .
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Héctor Béjar, Peru 1965: Notes on a Guerrilla Experience (1970).
Alfonso W. Quiroz