Peruvian police successfully freed several score of Ashaninka Indians who had been taken captive by the Shining Path guerrilla group. Several of the people rescued were near starvation. The people were held in the Vilcabamba mountain range. Several hundred Ashaninka may be hiding in a rain forest area where they fled 17 years ago when a Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) faction assassinated the tribes leaders. Perus Final Report of the Commission of Truth and Reconciliation reached the sad conclusion that 6,000 Ashaninkas died because of terrorist violence (ie, Shining Path activities) over the last three decades. One wire service reported an analyst characterized the Ashaninkas situation in the Vilcabamba as near slavery. Thats ironic, since the Marxist Shining Path claimed it would free Peru from the capitalists in Lima.