Ballerina who hid Peru’s insurgent leader freed from jail

LIMA, Peru — A ballerina from a wealthy Peruvian family who gave shelter to the leader of the brutal Shining Path insurgency has been freed after completing a 25-year sentence.

Maritza Garrido’s improbable double life as a recruit for the Marxist rebels inspired a bestselling book and Hollywood film, but she is largely disdained by her countrymen.

Many Peruvians despise the man she hid in the second floor of her house, Abimael Guzman, for ordering countless car bombings, sabotage and assassination in his terror campaign against the state in the 1980s.

Garrido walked free from a jail north of Lima late Monday surrounded by TV cameras. She made no statement but in the past showed no sign of being repentant.

Her release came hours before Peru marked the 25th anniversary of Guzman’s capture.

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The Associated Press