View source for Shining Path

{{Short description|Maoist communist party in Peru}}
{{Distinguish|text=the [[Militarized Communist Party of Peru]]}}
{{Use American English|date=February 2022}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox political party
| name             = Communist Party of Peru
| native_name      = Partido Comunista del Perú
| native_name_lang = es
| logo             = Emblem of the PCP-Shining Path.svg
| logo_upright     = 0.66
| colorcode        = #CD0000
| abbreviation     = PCP (official)<br />PCP-SL (unofficial)
| leader1_title    = Leaders
| leader1_name     = {{plainlist|
* [[Abimael Guzmán]] (1969–1993)
* [[Óscar Ramírez (terrorist)|Óscar Ramírez]] (1993–1999)
}}
| founder          = Abimael Guzmán
| foundation       = 1969 {{small|(de facto)}}
| split            = [[Peruvian Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist)|Peruvian Communist Party – Red Flag]]
| headquarters     = 
| wing1_title      = Armed wing
| wing1            = People's Liberation Army
| ideology         = {{ubl|class=nowrap
 | [[Communism]]
 | [[Marxism–Leninism–Maoism]]
 | [[Gonzalo Thought]]
 | [[Anti-revisionism]]
 | [[Revolutionary socialism]]
}}
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| international    = {{unbulleted list|International Communist League|[[Revolutionary Internationalist Movement]] (defunct)}}
| colors           = {{color box|#CD0000|border=darkgray}} Red
| slogan           = {{lang|es|¡Viva la Guerra Popular! ¡Guerra Popular hasta el comunismo!}} ("Long live the People's War! People's War until communism!")
| flag             = Flag of PCP-Sendero Luminoso.svg
| website          = 
| country          = Peru
| successor        = {{plainlist|
*[[#Political wing|Negotiating faction]]{{efn|Known locally as "accord-seekers" ''({{langx|es|acuerdistas}})'', this faction seeks the "political solution to the problems derived from the people's war", a political strategy by Guzmán that was updated in 2006 to include a "general amnesty and national reconciliation". Its organisations are:
*'''MOVADEF''': active from 2009 to 2024.<ref name=MOVADEF2024>{{Cite news |title=La justicia peruana disuelve el ala política de Sendero Luminoso y condena a Elena Iparraguirre |date=2024-10-29 |url=https://www.rfi.fr/es/am%C3%A9ricas/20241029-la-justicia-peruana-disuelve-el-ala-pol%C3%ADtica-de-sendero-luminoso-y-condena-a-elena-iparraguirre |work=[[Radio France Internationale]]}}</ref>
*'''FUDEPP''': active since 2014.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Fudepp: la nueva fachada del Movadef en cuatro claves |date=2016-09-28 |url=https://elcomercio.pe/politica/actualidad/fudepp-nueva-fachada-movadef-cuatro-claves-399135-noticia/ |work=[[El Comercio (Peru)|El Comercio]]}}</ref>}}
*[[#Remnants (1993–present)|Combatant faction]]{{efn|Known by the [[Peruvian government]] as Shining Path Remnants (''{{langx|es|remanentes de Sendero Luminoso}}''),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gob.pe/institucion/mindef/noticias/84794-sendero-luminoso-sufre-deserciones-por-estrategia-militar-y-policial-en-el-vraem |title=Sendero Luminoso sufre deserciones por estrategia militar y policial en el Vraem |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=21 February 2020 |website=gob.pe |publisher=Gobierno del Perú |access-date=27 May 2021}}</ref> this faction's groups rejected the peace talks of 1993 to continue the conflict:
*'''PCP – Pro-Seguir (Sendero Rojo)''': active from 1992 to 1999 in the [[Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro|VRAEM area]].
*'''PCP – Red Mantaro Base Committee''': active since 2001 in the [[Mantaro Valley|Mantaro area]].
*'''PCP – Huallaga Regional Committe''': active from 2004 to 2012 in the [[Huallaga River|Huallaga area]].
*'''[[Militarized Communist Party of Peru]]''': successor of PCP Pro-Seguir. Separate from the SL since 2018.
}}
}}
}}
The '''Shining Path''' ({{langx|es|Sendero Luminoso}}, '''SL'''), self-named the '''Communist Party of Peru''' ({{lang|es|Partido Comunista del Perú}}, [[abbr.]] '''PCP'''), is a [[Far-left politics|far-left]] political party and [[guerrilla group]] in [[Peru]], following [[Marxism–Leninism–Maoism]] and [[Gonzalo Thought]]. Academics often refer to the group as the '''Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path''' ({{lang|es|Partido Comunista del Perú – Sendero Luminoso}}, abbr. PCP-SL) to distinguish it from other communist parties in Peru.

When it first launched its "[[people's war]]" in 1980, the Shining Path's goal was to overthrow the government through guerrilla warfare and replace it with a [[New Democracy]]. The Shining Path believed that by establishing a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], inducing a [[cultural revolution]], and eventually sparking a [[world revolution]], they could arrive at [[Communist society|full communism]]. Their representatives stated that the then-existing [[Socialist state|socialist countries]] were [[Marxist revisionism|revisionist]], and the Shining Path was the [[Vanguardism|vanguard]] of the world communist movement. The Shining Path's ideology and tactics have influenced other Maoist [[Insurgency|insurgent]] groups such as the [[Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre)]] and other [[Revolutionary Internationalist Movement]]-affiliated organizations.<ref>Maske, Mahesh. "Maovichar", in ''Studies in Nepali History and Society'', Vol. 7, No. 2 (December 2002), p. 275.</ref>

The Shining Path has been widely condemned for its excessive brutality, including violence deployed against [[peasant]]s, such as the [[1983 Lucanamarca massacre|Lucanamarca massacre]], as well as for its violence towards trade union organizers, competing [[Marxist]] groups, elected officials, and the general public.<ref name=Quien>{{cite journal |last=Burt |first=Jo-Marie |date=October 2006 |title='Quien habla es terrorista': The political use of fear in Fujimori's Peru |journal=Latin American Research Review |volume=41 |issue=3 |page=38 |doi=10.1353/lar.2006.0036 |doi-access=free}}</ref> The Shining Path is regarded as a [[Terrorism|terrorist]] organization by the government of Peru, along with Japan,<ref name="Japan_ban">{{cite web |url=http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2002/7/0705.html |title=MOFA: Implementation of the Measures including the Freezing of Assets against Terrorists and the Like |access-date=21 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130406134416/http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/announce/2002/7/0705.html |archive-date=6 April 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> the United States,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.state.gov/reports/country-reports-on-terrorism-2020/#SL |title=Country Reports on Terrorism 2020 |publisher=[[U.S. Department of State]] |date=December 2021 |pages=309–10}}</ref> the [[European Union]],<ref>[http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2005/l_340/l_34020051223en00800084.pdf Council Common Position 2005/936/CFSP.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111122092156/http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2005/l_340/l_34020051223en00800084.pdf |date=22 November 2011}}. 14 March 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> and Canada,<ref>Government of Canada. [http://www.psepc.gc.ca/prg/ns/le/cle-en.asp#sl36 "Listed Entities"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061119150657/http://www.psepc.gc.ca/prg/ns/le/cle-en.asp |date=19 November 2006}}. Retrieved 11 June 2009.</ref> all of whom consequently prohibit funding and other financial support to the group.

Since the capture of Shining Path founder [[Abimael Guzmán]] in 1992 and of his successors [[Óscar Ramírez (terrorist)|Óscar Ramírez]] ("Comrade Feliciano") in 1999 and [[Comrade Artemio|Eleuterio Flores]] ("Comrade Artemio") in 2012, the Shining Path has declined in activity.{{sfn|Rochlin|2003|p=3}}<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|last=Robbins|first=Seth|date=4 September 2020|title=Peru in Familiar Stalemate With Shining Path Rebels|url=https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/peru-stalemate-shining-path/|access-date=3 December 2020|website=[[InSight Crime]]|language=en-US}}</ref> The main remaining faction of the Shining Path, the '''[[Militarized Communist Party of Peru]]''' ('''MPCP'''),{{efn|Following Guzmán's talks with the Peruvian government in 1992, his "pro-agreement" faction was opposed by [[Óscar Ramírez (terrorist)|Óscar Ramírez]]'s '''Communist Party of Peru – Marxist-Leninist-Maoist''' ({{lang|es|Partido Comunista del Perú – Marxista-Leninista-Maoísta}}, abbr. PCP-MLM), better known as '''Sendero Rojo''', or as the '''Pro-Seguir''' faction ('''SL-Proseguir'''). This group operated until Ramírez's capture in 1999, after which the group was reoganised under the Quispe Palomino brothers. It formally renounced its links to the Shining Path and declared itself a separate entity in 2018.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web|last=Stone|first=Hannah|date=27 March 2017|title=US Indicts Shining Path Rebels as Drug War Focus Shifts to Peru|url=https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/us-indicts-shining-path-drug-war-focus-peru/|access-date=4 December 2020|website=[[InSight Crime]]|language=en-US}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web|last=Gorder|first=Gabrielle|date=23 September 2019|title=Peru's Shining Path Plots Unlikely Return to Power|url=https://www.insightcrime.org/news/analysis/shining-path-return-power-peru/|access-date=4 December 2020|website=[[InSight Crime]]|language=en-US}}</ref>}} is active in the [[Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro|VRAEM region]] of Peru, and it has since distanced itself from the Shining Path's legacy in 2018 in order to maintain the support of peasants previously persecuted by the Shining Path.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> In addition to the MPCP, the '''Communist Party of Peru – Red Mantaro Base Committee''' ('''PCP-CBMR''') has been operating in the [[Mantaro Valley]] since 2001, while the '''Communist Party of Peru – Huallaga Regional Committee''' ('''PCP-CRH'''){{efn|Also known simply as the "Huallaga Faction".}} was active at the [[Huallaga River|Huallaga region]] from 2004 until Comrade Artemio's capture in 2012.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Sendero Luminoso desaparece del Huallaga tras captura de sucesor de "Artemio" |date=2013-12-09 |url=https://andina.pe/agencia/noticia-sendero-luminoso-desaparece-del-huallaga-tras-captura-sucesor-artemio-486088.aspx |work=[[Andina (news agency)|Andina]]}}</ref>

== Name ==
{{Further|Communism in Peru}}
The group's official name is the ''Communist Party of Peru'' (PCP), a name seen in all of its self-produced documents, periodicals, and other materials. The acronym ''PCP-SL'' is unofficially used by organizations, such as the [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]],<ref>{{Cite book |title=El Partido Comunista del Perú (Sendero Luminoso) |publisher=[[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)|Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación]] |pages=13 |language=es |url=https://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20II/CAPITULO%201%20-%20Los%20actores%20armados%20del%20conflicto/1.1.%20PCP-SL/CAP%20I%20SL%20ORIGEN.pdf |chapter=1. Los actores armados}}</ref> to distinguish the group from other groups who claim the original name and acronym.

The group's common name, ''Shining Path'', distinguishes it from several other Peruvian communist parties with similar names. The name is derived from a maxim of [[José Carlos Mariátegui]], the founder of the original [[Peruvian Communist Party]] (from which the rest of communist parties split; now commonly known as the "PCP-Unidad") in the 1920s: "{{lang|es|El Marxismo-Leninismo abrirá el sendero luminoso hacia la revolución}}" ("[[Marxism–Leninism]] will open the shining path to revolution").<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Shining Path |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica |date=11 January 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shining-Path |access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref> This maxim was featured on the masthead of the newspaper of a Shining Path [[front group]]. The followers of this group are generally called ''senderistas''.

== Structure ==
=== Organization ===
The Shining Path's remnants currently operate in the [[Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro|VRAEM region]] and primarily comprises two groups and their sub-branches; a [[#Paramilitary wing|paramilitary wing]] and a [[#Political wing|political wing]].<ref name=":7">{{Cite web|date=2 December 2020|title=Autoridades de Perú capturan a 71 supuestos integrantes de Sendero Luminoso|url=https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2020/12/02/autoridades-de-peru-capturan-a-71-supuestos-integrantes-de-sendero-luminoso/|access-date=4 December 2020|website=[[CNN]]|language=es}}</ref>  It was originally organised using a "concentric construction" model of structure with Communist Party organs as the complete center, followed by the paramilitary wing surrounding it, and lastly the political wing in the outermost circle.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Strong |first=Simon |date=1992-05-24 |title=Where the Shining Path Leads |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/24/magazine/where-the-shining-path-leads.html |access-date=2023-09-08 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> This ensured the political party retained control of both its armed and social branches, contrasting itself with the more frequent ''[[Foco|foquismo]]'' model that swept through Latin American insurgencies after the [[Cuban Revolution]].

The [[Operation Victoria|capture]] of Shining Path leader [[Abimael Guzmán]] in 1992 led to the eventual splintering of the group into several factions,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /> referred to by the [[Peruvian government]] as '''Shining Path remnants''' ({{langx|es|remanentes de Sendero Luminoso}}). Of these, the [[Militarized Communist Party of Peru]] (MPCP) is considered the group's main successor, founded in 1999 by brothers Víctor and Jorge Quispe Palomino after the collapse of ''Sendero Rojo'', the faction that had rejected Guzmán's peace treaty. Also active is a faction in the [[Mantaro Valley]] since 2001. The group's remnants reportedly obtain their revenue from cocaine trafficking,<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|last=Ellis|first=Evan|date=15 November 2020|title=Peru's Multidimensional Challenge – Part 2: the economic crisis, public insecurity, and organized crime|url=https://theglobalamericans.org/2020/11/perus-multidimensional-challenge-part-2-the-economic-crisis-public-insecurity-and-organized-crime/|access-date=3 December 2020|website=Global Americans|language=en-US|archive-date=1 December 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201201183409/https://theglobalamericans.org/2020/11/perus-multidimensional-challenge-part-2-the-economic-crisis-public-insecurity-and-organized-crime/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and of these, the MPCP has attempted to recharacterise and distance itself from the original group that had attacked rural communities in the area, describing Guzmán as a "traitor".<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" />

==== Paramilitary wing ====
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = People's Guerilla Army
| native_name      = Ejército Guerrillero Popular
| native_name_lang = es
| image            = Flag of Sendero Luminoso and the People's Guerrilla Army.svg
| caption          = 
| active           = {{nobr|3 December 1982 – 9 June 2018}}
| ideology         = 
| leaders          = 
| clans            = 
| headquarters     = 
| area             = Peru
| size             = 350 (2015)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2015/08/18/shining-path-is-back/|title=Shining Path is Back|date=18 August 2015|access-date=15 September 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926061045/http://www.internationalpolicydigest.org/2015/08/18/shining-path-is-back/|archive-date=26 September 2015|url-status=usurped}}</ref>
| partof           = 
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = [[Militarized Communist Party of Peru|Revolutionary Armed Forces of Peru]] (splinter group)
| allies           = '''State allies:'''
* {{flag|Libyan Arab Jamahiriya|name=Libya}} (until 2011)<ref>{{cite news |title=Gaddafi: a vicious, sinister despot driven out on tidal wave of hatred|work=The Guardian|date=August 23, 2011|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/23/libya-gaddafi-vicious-despot}}</ref>
'''Non-state allies:'''
* [[Revolutionary Internationalist Movement|RIM]] (until 2012)
| split            = 
| opponents        = {{flag|Peru|name=Government of Peru}}
| battles          = [[Internal conflict in Peru]]
| status           = 
| designated_as_terror_group_by = * {{flag|Canada}}
* {{flag|European Union}}
* {{flag|Japan}}
* {{flag|Peru}}
* {{flag|United Kingdom}}
* {{flag|United States}}
}}
The '''People's Guerrilla Army''' ({{lang|es|Ejército Guerrillero Popular}}, '''EGP''') was officially created on 3 December 1982 for the purposes of combat, mobilisation and producing an income for the group.<ref name=":7" /> After 1992, it continued to operate under ''Sendero Rojo'', the group's armed successor until 1999, and later under the Huallaga faction that existed from 2004 to 2012. Since 2001, it has been operated by the Mantaro faction under the name of '''People's Liberation Army''' ({{lang|es|Ejército Popular de Liberación}}, '''EPL''').

The EGP's structure is as follows:
* Main Force ({{lang|es|Fuerza Principal}}; FP): Mainly armed with larger weapons, such as the [[AKM]] and [[FN FAL]] rifles as well as the [[Heckler & Koch HK21]] machine gun. Due to proficiency in armaments, this group is tasked with ambushing police and soldiers. They do not remain in locations, usually traveling across regions.<ref>{{cite book |title=Inicio, Desarrollo y Ocaso del Terrorismo en el Perú: el ABC de Sendero Luminoso y el MRTA ampliado y comentado|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=66XoAAAAIAAJ|last=Jiménez Bacca|first=Benedicto|publisher=Impr. Sanki|page=110|year=2000|access-date=7 December 2017}}</ref>
* Local Force ({{lang|es|Fuerza Local}}; FL): These members are local agricultural workers who are provided minor weapons and periodically assist FP members, then later return to their work. Skilled FL members are moved into the FP's ranks.
* Base Force ({{lang|es|Fuerza de Base}}; FB): Some of the peasants of territories captured by the Shining Path are grouped into the FB, typically serving as reservists armed with handheld weapons such as knives, spears and machetes. FB members occasionally serve in surveillance tasks.'''<ref name=":2">{{cite book |title=Breve historia de Sendero Luminoso|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=scg6swEACAAJ|last1=Ríos|first1=Jerónimo|last2=Sánchez|first2=Marté|publisher=Catarata|language=es|date=December 2017|access-date=28 November 2018|isbn=9788490973950}}</ref>'''

In 2009, then president [[Alan García]] accused the group of using [[Children in the military|child soldiers]] to execute wounded army personnel.<ref>[http://www.larepublica.pe/politica/30/05/2009/peru-denunciara-sendero-luminoso-ante-la-onu-y-la-oea-por-utilizar-ninos Perú denunciará a Sendero Luminoso ante la ONU y la OEA por utilizar niños] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627142735/http://www.larepublica.pe/politica/30/05/2009/peru-denunciara-sendero-luminoso-ante-la-onu-y-la-oea-por-utilizar-ninos |date=27 June 2009 }}. 30 May 2009. La República. Accessed 13 October 2009.</ref> The following year, the ''[[Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos]]'' presented a report to the [[Inter-American Commission on Human Rights]] (CIDH) detailing this practice by both the group and the [[Peruvian Armed Forces]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=NIÑOS usados como SOLDADOS en el Perú |publisher=[[Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos]] |year=2010 |language=es |url=https://lum.cultura.pe/cdi/sites/default/files/documento/pdf/Ni%C3%B1os%20usados%20como%20soldados%20en%20el%20Per%C3%BA%20-%20siglo%20XXI.pdf}}</ref>

Under the leadership of [[Comrade José|Víctor Quispe Palomino]], it was reorganised as the '''Popular Revolutionary Army''' ({{langx|es|Ejército Popular Revolucionario}}; '''ERP''') until the MPCP's formal establishment and distancing from Guzmán's original Shining Path in June 2018, after which it has claimed the name of '''Revolutionary Armed Forces of Peru''' ({{langx|es|Fuerzas armadas revolucionarias del Perú}}).<ref name=Villasante>{{Cite magazine |title=La guerra en el VRAEM: los problemas del Estado para restablecer la paz y los vacíos legales aplazados |magazine=[[:es:Instituto de Defensa Legal|Ideele]] |last=Villasante |first=Mariella |url=https://revistaideele.com/ideele/content/la-guerra-en-el-vraem-los-problemas-del-estado-para-restablecer-la-paz-y-los-vac%C3%ADos-legales |issue=284}}</ref> In 2020, it was reported to have made money from selling cigarettes, clothes, candy, raffles and other methods.<ref name=":7" />

==== Political wing ====
The '''United Front''' ({{lang|es|Frente Unido}}) serves as the political and bureaucratic arm of the Shining Path that uses ''generated organisms'' ({{langx|es|organismo generado}}), or civil organisations that support the group.<ref name=":7" /> It has two main branches, [[#MOVADEF|MOVADEF]] (2009–2024) and [[#FUDEPP|FUDEPP]],<ref name=":7" /> as well as a number of multiple smaller organisations, usually specified to a particular purpose or issue.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Los actores armados |url=https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Peru01-Report/Peru01-Report_Vol2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170125223257/http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Peru01-Report/Peru01-Report_Vol2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 January 2017}}</ref> Examples of these include:
{| class="wikitable" 
|-
!Group
!Description
|-
| Frente para la Unidad y Defensa del Pueblo Peruano
| The '''Front for Unity and Defense of the Peruvian People''' ('''FUDEPP''') was created in 2015.<ref>{{cite news|title=Fudepp: la nueva fachada del Movadef en cuatro claves|url=http://elcomercio.pe/politica/actualidad/fudepp-conoce-nueva-fachada-movadef-cuatro-claves-noticia-1934801|date=28 September 2016|access-date=10 June 2018|work=El Comercio|language=es-PE |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160928155328/https://elcomercio.pe/politica/actualidad/fudepp-conoce-nueva-fachada-movadef-cuatro-claves-noticia-1934801/ |archive-date=2016-09-28}}</ref> In association with MOVADEF, the group announced that it had 73 provincial committees and allegedly received 400,000 to 500,000 signatures for the JNE to participate in the [[2016 Peruvian general election]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Frente asociado al Movadef dice tener 500 mil firmas para ir a elecciones|url=http://rpp.pe/politica/elecciones/frente-asociado-al-movadef-dice-tener-500-mil-firmas-para-ir-a-elecciones-noticia-926821|access-date=27 June 2017|work=RPP Noticias}}</ref> They were ultimately prevented from participating in the elections.
|-
| [[Peru People's Movement|Movimiento Popular Perú]]
| The Peru People's Movement (MPP) serves as the group's international relations front.
|-
|colspan=2|<div style="text-align: center;">'''Defunct organisations'''</div>
|-
| Asociación de Abogados Democráticos
| The Democratic Lawyer's Association (AAD) was in charge of the legal defence of captured militants.
|-
| [[Support Committees for the Peruvian Revolution|Comités de Apoyo a la Revolución Peruana]] 
| The Support Committees for the Peruvian Revolution (CARP) were a series of overseas associations that formed part of the group's international support branch.
|-
| Coordinadora Clasista Magisterial
| The Classist Teachers Coordination (CCM) was a teacher union front whose goal was to usurp the influence of the Single Union of Education Workers of Peru (SUTEP), which held ties to one of the Shining Path's political rivals, [[Communist Party of Peru – Red Fatherland|Red Fatherland]] (PCP-PR). The CCM was to be purposed as a unification of Peru's teachers to serve as both dissemination and recruitment for the Shining Path's [[Internal conflict in Peru|violent takeover of the country]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-07-30 |title=MAGISTERIO DEL PERÚ: A propósito de una huelga del CONARE |url=https://magisterioperu1.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-proposito-de-una-huelga-del-conare.html |access-date=2023-09-20 |website=MAGISTERIO DEL PERÚ}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Quechua |first=Víctor Manuel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=97wTAQAAIAAJ&q=%22Coordinadora+Clasista+Magisterial%22 |title=Perú-- 13 años de oprobio: terrorismo internacional |date=1995 |publisher=V.M. Quechua |language=es}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=INFILTRACIÓN DEL MOVADEFEN ALGUNAS DIRIGENCIAS DEL MAGISTERIO |url=https://www.congreso.gob.pe/Docs/comisiones2017/Comision_de_Educacion__Juventud/files/exposici%C3%B3n_carlos_basombrio_21.08.2017.pdf }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MAGISTERIO Y VIOLENCIA POLÍTICA 1978-2000 |url=https://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20III/CAPITULO%203%20-%20Org%20Sociales%20frente%20al%20conflicto/3.5.%20ELSISTEMA%20EDUCATIVO%20Y%20MAGISTERIO.pdf }}</ref>
|-
| [[Shining Trenches of Combat|Luminosas Trincheras de Combate]]
| The Shining Trenches of Combat (LTC) served as support bases for Shining Path prisoners until their dissolution in 1992.
|-
| Musical Guerrilla Army
| Also known in Spanish as the ''Ejército Musical Guerrillero'' (EMG), it was a British musical group founded by Adolfo Olaechea in 1991 as part of the group's international propaganda arm.<ref>{{Cite web |last=lahaine.org |title=Perú: Adolfo Olaechea, viejo hidalgo que murió soñando con la revolución |url=https://www.lahaine.org/mundo.php/peru-adolfo-olaechea-viejo-hidalgo-que-m |access-date=2023-09-23 |website=La Haine Mundo |language=es-ES}}</ref> It was made up of various Latin American musicians (especially Peruvian) residing in the [[United Kingdom]] and would typically play both folk and revolutionary songs at yearly [[May Day]] events in [[London]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Brooke |first=James |date=1991-12-18 |title=Shining Path Supporters Abroad Anger Peru |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/18/world/shining-path-supporters-abroad-anger-peru.html |access-date=2023-09-23 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Such music included ''Flor de Retama'', ''El Hombre'', and ''Jovaldo''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=PRIMERO DE MAYO: ORGANICÉMOS LA REVOLUCIÓN - El Diario Internacional |url=http://www.eldiariointernacional.com/spip.php?article3685 |access-date=2023-09-23 |website=www.eldiariointernacional.com}}</ref>
|-
| "[[Young Pioneers (Peru)|Pioneritos]]"
| Youth organisations based on the [[Pioneer movement]].
|-
| Socorro Popular
| People's Aid (SOPO) was created in 1979 under the leadership of Yovanka Pardavé Trujillo<ref name=UcedaR>{{Cite book |last=Uceda |first=R. |title=Muerte en el Pentegonito |pages=11}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Nash |first=Nathaniel C. |date=1992-09-15 |title=PERU REBELS SAID TO REMAIN POTENT |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/15/world/peru-rebels-said-to-remain-potent.html |access-date=2023-09-25 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> after the party's Tenth Expanded Plenary Session session established civil organizations to recruit the civilian population into a United Front for subversion. It was purposed to provide legal defence to members and associates accused by the state for crimes such as [[terrorism]]. It also provided logistical and medical support.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-17 |title=Abogada de Sendero Luminoso liberada tras cumplir condena en Perú |url=https://www.france24.com/es/20171017-abogada-de-sendero-luminoso-liberada-tras-cumplir-condena-en-peru |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=France 24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=1.1.4. La expansión del conflicto armado |url=https://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20II/CAPITULO%201%20-%20Los%20actores%20armados%20del%20conflicto/1.1.%20PCP-SL/Cap%20IV%20SL%2086-92.pdf}}</ref> In 1985, SOPO suffered an internal line struggle over the issue of the militarization of mass organizations.  By the end of 1986, SOPO became integral to the Shining Path's armed "[[Internal conflict in Peru|people's war]]," with militant detachments carved out of the group for conducting various terrorist attacks. Directed by the Pilot Plan of the Revolutionary Movement for the Defense of the People (MRDP), SOPO would displace the Metropolitan Committee (METRO) as an important central apparatus.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-04-08 |title=LAS OPERACIONES DE INTELIGENCIA DEL GEIN QUE CONDUJERON A LA CAPTURA DEL LÍDER DE SL ABIMAEL GUZMAN by Benedicto Jiménez 1509 - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/abogadolitigante912/docs/operaciones_gein |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=issuu.com |language=en}}</ref> Pardavé was replaced by [[Martha Huatay]] in 1991, who led the group until it was dismantled in 1992 after both Trujillo and Huatay were captured by [[DIRCOTE]] agents.<ref name=UcedaR/><ref>{{Cite web |last=PERÚ |first=Empresa Peruana de Servicios Editoriales S. A. EDITORA |title=Peru: Judiciary orders 9-month pre-trial detention for Martha Huatay |url=https://andina.pe/ingles/noticia-peru-judiciary-orders-9month-pretrial-detention-for-martha-huatay-935379.aspx |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=andina.pe |language=es}}</ref>
|-
| Movimiento Clasista Barrial
| The Neighbourhood Class Movement (MCB) tended to invade and occupy private property until their disestablishment.
|-
| Movimiento de Artistas Populares
| The Popular Artist Movement (MAP) was formed in 1988.<ref name=Pacarina>{{Cite web |title=Violencia política y teatro en el Perú de los 80. El teatro producido por Sendero Luminoso y el Movimiento de Artistas Populares |url=https://pacarinadelsur.com/home/pielago-de-imagenes/625-violencia-politica-y-teatro-en-el-peru-de-los-80-el-teatro-producido-por-sendero-luminoso-y-el-movimiento-de-artistas-populares |access-date=2023-10-12 |website=Pacarina del Sur |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130209173300/https://pacarinadelsur.com/home/pielago-de-imagenes/625-violencia-politica-y-teatro-en-el-peru-de-los-80-el-teatro-producido-por-sendero-luminoso-y-el-movimiento-de-artistas-populares |archive-date=2013-02-09 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Its purpose was to utilize artists to disseminate political propaganda to the population through the art of [[slogan]]eering, with particular attention to the universities. It regularly incorporated folklore in its work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.verdadyreconciliacionperu.com/admin/files/articulos/2070_digitalizacion.pdf|title=EL PCP-SENDERO LUMINOSO EN LAS UNIVERSIDADES, CONCEPTO Y PRÁCTICA DEL FOLKLORE: El "Arte de nuevo tipo" en los sikuris}}</ref> Although the exact connection between Shining Path's central apparatus and MAP is disputed, with some considering it as an independent development from the party, the MAP was a contributing effort to the communists' protracted "people's war."<ref name=Valenzuela>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.scielo.org.mx/scielo.php?script=sci_abstract&pid=S0188-70172011000100015&lng=es&nrm=iso&tlng=es|title=Subalternidad y violencia política en el teatro peruano: El ingreso del campesino como referente de cambio en los discursos teatrales|first=Manuel Luis|last=Valenzuela Marroquín|date=June 30, 2011|journal=Alteridades|volume=21|issue=41|pages=161–174|via=SciELO}}</ref> MAP actions were carried out in universities, union halls, neighbourhoods, cultural institutions and young towns.<ref name=":0" /> Performances included theatrical performances, dance and music through [[sikuri]] groups.<ref name=Valenzuela/>
|-
| Movimiento de Obreros y Trabajadores Clasistas
| The Movement of Classist Workers and Laborers (MOTC) was formed in 1976, and formalised into the Shining Path's united front in 1979.<ref>{{Cite web |title=LA REGIÓN LIMA METROPOLITANA |url=https://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20IV/SECCION%20TERCERA-Los%20Escenarios%20de%20la%20Violencia/Historias%20Regionales/1.5%20REGION%20LIMA%20METROPOLITANA.pdf}}</ref> It had the objective of recruiting urban [[Trade union|union workers]] for the party, however it mainly had a presence with [[Informal economy|informal]] and [[Migrant worker|itinerant workers]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=La violencia política en el mundo laboral peruano |url=https://revistas.pucp.edu.pe/index.php/debatesensociologia/article/download/2167/2098/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-11-23 |title=Memorias desde Némesis by P.C.P. - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/pcp_/docs/memoriasdesdenemesis |access-date=2023-09-29 |website=issuu.com |language=en}}</ref> After the Chuschi attack, the MOTC initiated the first Shining Path attack in [[Lima]] with [[molotov cocktail]]s at [[San Martín de Porres District]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Informe Final Tomo III - CVR |url=https://idehpucp.pucp.edu.pe/images/docs/tomo_iii.pdf}}</ref>
|-
| Movimiento de Trabajadores Ambulantes
| The Street Vendors' Movement (MTA) was created to target [[Hawker (trade)|street vendors]].
|-
| Movimiento Femenino Popular
| The Popular Woman's Movement (MFP) was created by [[Augusta La Torre]] as the main feminist branch of the group.
|-
| Movimiento Intelectual Popular
| The Popular Intellectual Movement (MIP) was an academic-based mass organization created in 1979 as part of the party's Fourth Expanded Plenary Session, which defined the structure and duties of various legal fronts to serve recruitment of the united front.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Los actores armados |url=https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Peru01-Report/Peru01-Report_Vol2.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170125223257/http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Peru01-Report/Peru01-Report_Vol2.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=25 January 2017}}</ref> It was directed by Hugo Muñoz Sánchez and targeted students, professors, writers, artists, and journalists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=La Universidad Nacional de Educación Enrique Guzmán y Valle "La Cantuta" |url=https://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20V/SECCION%20TERCERA-Los%20Escenarios%20de%20la%20violencia%20(continuacion)/2.%20HISTORIAS%20REPRESENTATIVAS%20DE%20LA%20VIOLENCIA/2.19%20LA%20CANTUTA.pdf}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2018-03-30 |title=El ABC de Sendero Luminoso Tomo i Edición 2000 Autor Benedicto Jiménez by Benedicto Jiménez 1509 - Issuu |url=https://issuu.com/abogadolitigante912/docs/sendero_luminoso_parte_uno_5600edf3e54f00 |access-date=2023-10-29 |website=issuu.com |language=en}}</ref> The organization had influence in both universities and pro-Sendero neighbourhoods, which would be used to form an ideological justification for the party's subversive actions, including its terrorist attacks.<ref>{{Cite web |title=El olvido está lleno de memoria. Juventud, universitaria y violencia política en el Perú: la matanza de estudiantes de La Cantuta _ Cap3 |url=https://sisbib.unmsm.edu.pe/bibvirtual/tesis/human/sandoval_l_p/cap3.htm |access-date=2023-10-29 |website=sisbib.unmsm.edu.pe}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Interrogatorio realizado a Manuel Juan Angulo Andia (a) Camarada "Javier" o "Ivan" |url=https://cedoc.sisbib.unmsm.edu.pe/public/pdf/gorriti/Subfondo_%20INFORMES%20Y%20OFICIOS/Serie_%20MINISTERIO%20DEL%20INTERIOR/Subserie_%20PIP/4.2.3.15.pdf}}</ref> MIP was involved with the propaganda of other mass organizations, such as the Popular Women's Movement, The Front of Mariateguist Artists and Intellectuals (FAIM), The Pink School (in [[France]]), and The Ayacucho Study Circle (in [[Sweden]]).<ref>{{Cite web |last=República |first=La |date=2003-07-12 |title=Mientras SL se fracciona, sus líderes se pierden en pleitos de callejón Por el Sendero de la div |url=https://larepublica.pe/politica/344727-mientras-sl-se-fracciona-sus-lideres-se-pierden-en-pleitos-de-callejon-por-el-sendero-de-la-div |access-date=2023-10-29 |website=larepublica.pe |language=es}}</ref> Like many public fronts associated with the Shining Path, the MIP fell in significance with the relative decline and collapse of the central party body.
|-
| Movimiento Juvenil Popular
| The Popular Youth Movement (MJP) was one of the first organisms established by the group.
|-
| Movimiento por la Amnistía y Derechos Fundamentales
| The '''Movement for Amnesty and Fundamental Rights''' ('''MOVADEF''') was created on 20 November 2009 when Alfredo Crespo, the defense lawyer of Abimael Guzmán, and fifteen others gathered.<ref name=":0">{{cite news|last=Vásquez|first=Rocío La Rosa|title=Apología sin castigo: casos relacionados a terrorismo que fueron archivados|url=http://elcomercio.pe/politica/apologia-castigo-casos-relacionados-terrorismo-archivados-427097|date=30 May 2017|access-date=23 June 2017|work=El Comercio|language=es}}</ref> MOVADEF has three sub-branches; the Central Historical Committee, the Provisional Central Committee and the National Executive Committee (CEN).<ref name=":7" /> The branch filed to become a political party in Peru with the [[National Jury of Elections]] (JNE) in 2011, though the application was denied.<ref name=":1">{{cite news|title=A propósito de capturas, qué es el Movadef y qué pretende|url=http://elcomercio.pe/politica/justicia/proposito-capturas-movadef-pretende-377452|date=10 April 2014|access-date=27 June 2017|work=El Comercio|language=es}}</ref> The Peruvian government had accused MOVADEF of advocating terrorism,<ref>{{cite news|title=Estado peruano se defenderá con firmeza frente a denuncia del Movadef ante la CIDH|url=http://rpp.pe/politica/judiciales/estado-peruano-se-defendera-con-firmeza-frente-a-denuncia-del-movadef-ante-la-cidh-noticia-1055706|access-date=23 June 2017|work=rpp.pe}}</ref> eventually ordering the dissolution of the group in 2024.<ref name=MOVADEF2024/>
|}

=== Ideology ===
As its power grew, the Shining Path changed its official ideology from "[[Marxism–Leninism–Maoism|Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong thought]]" to "[[Gonzalo Thought|Marxism–Leninism–Maoism–Gonzalo thought]]" – according to some authors, a [[cult of personality]] grew around Guzmán.{{sfn|Gorriti|1999|p=185}}

Ideologically Maoist, the Shining Path is unique because it did not completely accept orthodox Marxist doctrine, instead, it considered the teachings of Guzmán to supersede the teachings of Marx, Lenin, Stalin and Mao. Guzmán's philosophy combined Marxism–Leninism, Maoism and indigenous Indian traditionalism, championing the liberation of Peru's [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]]-speaking Incans and mestizos. The party's name was also coined by Guzmán, who infused his communist rhetoric with [[Inca mythology]], he described his form of Marxist-Maoist thought as a "shining path" towards the liberation of Peru's natives. Because of this, the Shining Path also featured elements of Incan particularism, and it also rejected outside influences, especially non-indigenous influences.<ref>{{cite book |title=Understanding Terrorism: Challenges, Perspectives, and Issues |edition=3rd |first=Gus |last=Martin |author-link=C. Augustus Martin |publisher=SAGE Publications, Inc. |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-4129-7059-4 |pages=234–235}}</ref>

The Shining Path declared that it was a feminist organization and in accordance with this declaration, many women acquired leadership positions. In the organisation, 40% of the fighters and 50% of the members of its Central Committee were women.<ref>[https://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/2020/04/ZAMORA_YUSTI/61627 Género y conflicto armado en el Perú], Sous la direction d’Anouk Guiné et de Maritza Felices-Luna</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=CAPÍTULO 1 EXPLICANDO EL CONFLICTO ARMADO INTERNO |url=https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Peru01-Report/Peru01-Report_Vol8.pdf |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201216041221/https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Peru01-Report/Peru01-Report_Vol8.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=16 December 2020 |access-date=1 July 2022}}</ref>

==== People's Republic ====
{{main|Territory of the Shining Path}}
The Shining Path sought to replace the [[Republic of Peru]] with a "[[People's Republic]] which would adhere to the doctrine of [[New Democracy]]" ({{langx|es|República Popular de Nueva Democracia}}, RPND),<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mauceri |first1=Philip |title=State Under Siege: Development And Policy Making In Peru |date=1996 |page=123 |publisher=Westview Press |location=Boulder, Colo. |isbn=0813336074}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Alexander|first=Yonah|title=Combating terrorism: strategies of ten countries|year=2002|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0472098241|pages=92}}</ref> also known by its proposed name of "People's Republic of Peru" ({{langx|es|República Popular del Perú}}).<ref>{{Cite news |title=Peru rebel calls for 'People's War' |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1992/09/25/peru-rebel-calls-for-peoples-war/1b44c63b-7206-4e96-9ea3-013c5d8d542e/ |last=Schmidt-Lynch |first=Corinne |date=1992-09-25 |newspaper=[[Washington Post]] |quote=Guzman urged his followers to "continue the tasks" laid out by the guerrilla leadership. He ended his seven-minute talk, declaring, "The people's war will triumph, and from here we salute the future birth of the People's Republic of Peru." Then he shouted to journalists, "That's all. If you want an interview, ask your government."}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Atwood |first=Roger |date=1990-04-01 |title=Prison in Peru Becomes a Forge for Guerrillas |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-04-01-mn-730-story.html |access-date=2023-08-13 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> The RPND was first named at the third session of the first central committee, held in 1983, with its establishment meaning that the armed branch of the group would become a "People's Liberation Army," as per the group's so-called grand plan. Additionally, the term "People's Republic" was also suggested as a possible name for the upcoming state.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://lum.cultura.pe/cdi/content/1992 |title=Año: 1992 § Violencia de origen político |website=[[Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion|Centro de Documentación e Investigación]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320161226/https://lum.cultura.pe/cdi/content/1992 |archive-date=2021-03-20}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Informe final |publisher=[[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)|Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación]] |year=2003 |pages=44–45, 286 |language=es |url=https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Peru01-Report/Peru01-Report_Vol2.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170125223257/http://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/file/resources/collections/commissions/Peru01-Report/Peru01-Report_Vol2.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=25 January 2017 |volume=2}}</ref>

=== Use of violence ===
Although the reliability of reports regarding the Shining Path's actions remains a matter of controversy in Peru, the organization's use of violence is well documented. According to [[InSight Crime]], Shining Path would kill their opponents "with assassinations, bombings, [[beheadings]] and massacres" as well as "[[stoning]] victims to death.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":8" />

The Shining Path rejected the concept of human rights; a Shining Path document stated:
{{blockquote|text=We start by not ascribing to either the [[Universal Declaration of Human Rights]] or the Costa Rica [[American Convention on Human Rights|Convention on Human Rights]], but we have used their legal devices to unmask and denounce the old Peruvian state... For us, human rights are contradictory to the rights of the people, because we base rights in man as a social product, not man as an abstract with innate rights. "Human rights" do not exist except for the [[Bourgeoisie|bourgeois]] man, a position that was at the forefront of [[feudalism]], like [[Liberté, égalité, fraternité|liberty, equality, and fraternity]] were advanced for the bourgeoisie of the past. But today, since the appearance of the [[proletariat]] as an organized class in the Communist Party, with the experience of triumphant revolutions, with the construction of socialism, new democracy and the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]], it has been proven that human rights serve the oppressor class and the exploiters who run the [[imperialist]] and landowner-bureaucratic states. Bourgeois states in general... Our position is very clear. We reject and condemn human rights because they are bourgeois, reactionary, counterrevolutionary rights, and are today a weapon of revisionists and imperialists, principally [[Yankee]] imperialists.|author=Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path|source=''Sobre las Dos Colinas''<ref>Communist Party of Peru. "Sobre las Dos Colinas" [http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/docs_sp/colinas3.htm Part 3] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061114214002/http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/docs_sp/colinas3.htm |date=14 November 2006}} and [http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/docs_sp/colinas5.htm Part 5] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060901112526/http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/docs_sp/colinas5.htm |date=1 September 2006}} available online. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref>}}

After the collapse of the Fujimori government, interim President [[Valentín Paniagua]] established a [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] to investigate the conflict. The Commission found in its 2003 ''Final Report'' that 69,280 people died or [[Forced disappearance|disappeared]] between 1980 and 2000 as a result of the armed conflict.<ref name="CVRdead">Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/Tomo%20-%20ANEXOS/ANEXO%202.pdf Annex 2] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070204001340/http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/Tomo%20-%20ANEXOS/ANEXO%202.pdf|date=4 February 2007}} Page 17. Retrieved 14 January 2008.</ref> The Shining Path was found to be responsible for about 54% of the deaths and disappearances reported to the commission.<ref>Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20I/Primera%20Parte%20El%20Proceso-Los%20hechos-Las%20v%EDctimas/Seccion%20Primera-Panorama%20General/3.%20LOS%20ROSTROS%20Y%20PERFILES%20DE%20LA%20VIOLENCIA.pdf Book I Part I] Page 186. Retrieved 14 January 2008</ref> A statistical analysis of the available data led the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to estimate that the Shining Path was responsible for the death or disappearance of 31,331 people, 46% of the total deaths and disappearances.<ref name="CVRdead" /> According to a summary of the report by [[Human Rights Watch]], "Shining Path{{nbsp}}... killed about half the victims, and roughly one-third died at the hands of government security forces{{nbsp}}... The commission attributed some of the other slayings to a smaller guerrilla group and local militias. The rest remain unattributed."<ref>Human Rights Watch. 28 August 2003. [https://www.hrw.org/en/news/2003/08/28/peru-prosecutions-should-follow-truth-commission-report "Peru – Prosecutions Should Follow Truth Commission Report"]. Retrieved 21 April 2009.</ref> The MRTA was held responsible for 1.5% of the deaths.<ref>Laura Puertas, Inter Press Service. 29 August 2003. [http://www.oneworld.net/article/view/66920/1/ Peru: 20 Years of Bloodshed and Death"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040321152630/http://www.oneworld.net/article/view/66920/1/|date=21 March 2004}}. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> A 2019 study disputed the casualty figures from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, estimating instead "a total of 48,000 killings, substantially lower than the TRC estimate", and concluding that "the Peruvian State accounts for a significantly larger share than the Shining Path."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rendon|first=Silvio|date=1 January 2019|title=Capturing correctly: A reanalysis of the indirect capture–recapture methods in the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission|journal=Research & Politics|language=en|volume=6|issue=1|pages=2053168018820375|doi=10.1177/2053168018820375|issn=2053-1680|doi-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Rendon|first=Silvio|date=1 April 2019|title=A truth commission did not tell the truth: A rejoinder to Manrique-Vallier and Ball|journal=Research & Politics|language=en|volume=6|issue=2|pages=2053168019840972|doi=10.1177/2053168019840972|issn=2053-1680|doi-access=free}}</ref> The TRC later came out to respond to these statements.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Manrique-Vallier |first1=Daniel |last2=Ball |first2=Patrick |date=January 2019 |title=Reality and risk: A refutation of S. Rendón's analysis of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission's conflict mortality study |language=en |volume=6 |pages=205316801983562 |doi=10.1177/2053168019835628 |issn=2053-1680 |doi-access=free |number=1 |periodical=Research & Politics}}</ref>

==== Allegations of violence against LGBT people ====
The Shining Path has been accused of [[violence against LGBT people]]. Between 1989 and 1992, the Shining Path and the MRTA killed up to 500 "non-heterosexual" people.<ref>artículo en el sitio web ''Actitud Gay Magazine'' (Buenos Aires) del 21 de mayo de 2007. Consultado el 9 de abril de 2012.</ref> According to one woman who was kidnapped by the Shining Path in 1981, a homosexual man's penis was cut into pieces before he was murdered. The Peruvian government did not reveal the name of the victim. The Shining Path defended its actions by saying that LGBT individuals were not killed because of their sexual identity, instead, they were killed because of their "collaboration with the police."<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121111074121/http://www.m-x.com.mx/2012-02-27/movimiento-homosexual-peruano-pide-un-castigo-contra-lider-de-sendero-luminoso-por-muerte-de-500-gays-y-travestis/ «El Movimiento Homosexual Peruano pide un castigo contra el líder de Sendero Luminoso por la muerte de 500 gays y travestis»], artículo en el sitio web M-X. Consultado el 9 de abril de 2012.</ref><ref>[http://gpuc-guds.blogspot.com/2010/05/los-homosexuales-y-sendero-luminoso.html «Los homosexuales y Sendero Luminoso»], artículo en el sitio web GPUC (Grupo Universitario por la Diversidad Sexual). Consultado el 9 de abril de 2012.</ref>

The Shining Path has denied such allegations, stating, "It is probable that the PCP has executed a homosexual, but rest assured that it was not done because of their sexual orientation but because of their position against the revolution... Our view is that homosexual orientation is not an ideological matter but one of individual preference... Party membership is open to all those who support the cause of communist revolution and the principles of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, Gonzalo Thought, regardless of what their sexual preferences may be."<ref>{{Cite web |title=PCP Responds to Allegations of Gay Persecution |url=https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/1994/mar/15/pcp-responds-to-allegations-of-gay-persecution/ |access-date=22 March 2022 |website=www.prisonlegalnews.org}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=March 2022}}

==== Women in the Shining Path ====
The number of women involved in the armed struggle remained high throughout the war, participating at almost all logistical, military and strategic levels as militants, guerrilla commanders and top party leaders of the organisation. The high proportion of women was a given and desired from the outset; the success of the internal Peruvian revolution was explicitly made dependent on the participation of women. Up to forty per cent of the guerrillas were women, and there were countless "ladies of death" who led military commandos. In 1992, at least eight of the nineteen members of the Central Committee were women, including three of the five members of the Politburo, and in 1980 more than a third of the women arrested had a degree. In criminal proceedings against senderista in 1987, the majority were women. The Shining Path was the first guerrilla organisation to incorporate women on a completely equal military footing with its male members, actively recruiting women on a large scale and appointing them to leading positions.<ref>Nathaniel C. Nash: Shining Path Women: So Many and So Furios.. Lima Journal, Abschnitt A. The New York Times, New York. 22 September 1992.</ref>

The Movimiento Femenino Popular (MFP) group was officially formed in 1974 from the merger of two groups, the Centro Femenino Popular and the Frente Femenino Universitario. The "MFP Manifiesto" traces the origins of the group back to the mid-1960s, when female students and academics began to organise their own groups and factions in other student organisations and to reflect on revolution and "the thesis of the great Lenin on the participation of women and the success of a revolution" from 1968 onwards. During these years, more and more women were studying and trying to enter the labour market. The percentage of women at university in Ayacucho was particularly high: in 1968, 30% of students were women, mainly in the departments of obstetrics and social and educational services. The unequal access to work and education exacerbated the differences between classes and between rural and urban populations, especially within the female population. Women became increasingly involved and organised in various movements as an expression of their protest and frustration.<ref>Jaymie Patricia Heilman: "Family Ties: The Political Genealogy of Shining Path's Comrade Norah". ''Bulletin of Latin American Research'', Vol. 29. 1. April 2010, 155–169.</ref> So much so, that by the year 1990, women held eight of the nineteen Central Committee positions. This was more involvement from women than any of the other leftist movements in Peru. Women in Peru even acknowledge the Shining Path movement as a step-away from the male-dominated societies that are renowned in many parts of Latin America.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Starn |first=Orin |date=1995 |title=Maoism in the Andes: The Communist Party of Peru-Shining Path and the Refusal of History |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/158120 |journal=Journal of Latin American Studies |volume=27 |issue=2 |pages=399–421 |doi=10.1017/S0022216X00010804 |jstor=158120 |issn=0022-216X|url-access=subscription }}</ref> This was far different than what has been seen before the [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)|Peruvian Truth]] was revealed. Many women were joining the armed forces to obtain basic rights and securities. Despite many arrests and incarcerations of women, this time period revolutionized women's rights in Peru.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Boutron |first1=Camille |last2=Constant |first2=Chloé |date=2013 |title=Gendering Transnational Criminality: The Case of Women's Imprisonment in Peru |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/670827 |journal=Signs |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=177–195 |doi=10.1086/670827 |jstor=10.1086/670827 |issn=0097-9740|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== History ==
=== Establishment ===
[[File:Shining Path electoral boycott poster.jpg|thumb|right|Shining Path poster supporting an [[electoral boycott]]]]

The Shining Path was founded in 1969 by [[Abimael Guzmán]], a former university philosophy professor (his followers referred to him by his [[Pseudonym|nom de guerre]] Presidente Gonzalo), and a group of 11 others.<ref name="Fourth Sword 78">{{Cite book |title=La cuarta espada : la historia de Abimael Guzmán y Sendero Luminoso |last=Roncagliolo |first=Santiago |date=2007 |publisher=Debate |isbn=9789871117468 |edition=5th |location=Buenos Aires |page=78 |trans-title=The Fourth Sword: The History of Abimael Guzman and the Shining Path |chapter=3 – Por el Sendero Luminoso de Mariátegui |trans-chapter=3 – On the Shining Path of Mariategui |oclc=225864678 |quote="Y en su fundación de 1969 sólo eran doce personas." ''"And at the founding in 1969, they were only 12 people."''}}</ref> Guzmán was heavily influenced by a trip to China and admired the teachings of [[Mao Zedong]].<ref name=":8">{{Cite web|date=27 March 2017|title=Shining Path|url=https://www.insightcrime.org/peru-organized-crime-news/shining-path-profile/|access-date=4 December 2020|website=[[InSight Crime]]|language=en-US}}</ref> His teachings created the foundation of its militant Maoist doctrine. It was an offshoot of the [[Peruvian Communist Party – Red Flag]], which itself split from the original [[Peruvian Communist Party]] founded by [[José Carlos Mariátegui]] in 1928.<ref>{{cite book |title=Final Report - Book II |publisher=Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación [Truth and Reconciliation Commission] |page=16 |url=https://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/ |access-date=17 August 2024 |chapter-url=http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20II/CAPITULO%201%20-%20Los%20actores%20armados%20del%20conflicto/1.1.%20PCP-SL/CAP%20I%20SL%20ORIGEN.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240807133256/http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20II/CAPITULO%201%20-%20Los%20actores%20armados%20del%20conflicto/1.1.%20PCP-SL/CAP%20I%20SL%20ORIGEN.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2024 |chapter=Capítulo 1: Los actores armados |trans-quote="José Carlos Mariátegui, one of the most influential Peruvian intellectuals of the 20th century, is recognised by the different left-wing tendencies as the founder of socialism in the country. After his death in 1930, the organisation he had founded quickly aligned itself with the parties of the Third International, influenced by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and adopted the name of the Peruvian Communist Party (PCP). (...) In the early 1960s, the repercussions of the Sino-Soviet polemic were felt within the Peruvian left and precipitated its split. On one side was the majority of trade union cadres aligned with the positions of the CPSU. On the other, the party's youth, teachers' cadres and peasant work nuclei, flying the Maoist banners. To distinguish them, the other parties began to use the name of their respective newspapers. PCP-Unity for the pro-Soviets. PCP-Red Flag for the pro-Chinese. (...) At the time of the split, Abimael Guzmán, by then a communist leader of the ‘José Carlos Mariátegui’ Regional Committee of Ayacucho, aligned himself with the PCP-Red Flag, led by the lawyer Saturnino Paredes. The unity of the Maoists, however, was short-lived. In 1967, the youth and an important sector of the teachers' work split to form the Communist Party of Peru-Red Fatherland. Although the youth offered him the leadership of this split, Guzmán continued to align himself with Saturnino Paredes, but by then he had long since formed his own ‘red faction’ in Ayacucho." |quote="José Carlos Mariátegui, uno de los más influyentes intelectuales peruanos del S.XX, es reconocido por las diferentes tendencias de izquierda como fundador del socialismo en el país. Luego se su muerte en 1930, la organización que había fundado se alineó rápidamente con los partidos de la III Internacional, influenciados por el Partido Comunista de la Unión Soviética (PCUS), y adoptó el nombre de Partido Comunista Peruano (PCP). (...) A principios de los años 60s, las repercusiones de la polémica chino-soviética se hicieron sentir dentro de la izquierda peruana y precipitaron su división. De un lado quedó la mayoría de cuadros sindicales alineados con las posiciones del PCUS. De otro, la juventud del partido, cuadros magisteriales y núcleos de trabajo campesino, enarbolando las banderas maoístas. Para distinguirlos, el resto de partidos comenzó a usar el nombre de sus respectivos periódicos. PCP-Unidad para los prosoviéticos. PCP-Bandera Roja para los prochinos. (...) En el momento de la ruptura, Abimael Guzmán, ya para entonces dirigente comunista del Comité Regional «José Carlos Mariátegui» de Ayacucho, se alineó con el PCP-Bandera Roja, dirigido por el abogado Saturnino Paredes. La unidad de los maoístas, sin embargo, duró poco. En 1967, la juventud y un sector importante del trabajo magisterial se escindieron para formar el Partido Comunista del Perú-Patria Roja. A pesar de que los jóvenes le ofrecieron encabezar esa escisión, Guzmán siguió alineándose con Saturnino Paredes, pero para entonces hacía ya tiempo que había formado su propia «fracción roja» en Ayacucho." |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[Antonio Díaz Martínez]], an agronomist who became a leader of the Shining Path, made several important contributions to the group's ideology. In his books ''Ayacucho, Hambre y Esperanza'' (1969) and ''China, La Revolución Agraria'' (1978), he expressed his own conviction of the necessity that revolutionary activity in Peru follow strictly the teachings of Mao Zedong.<ref>Colin
Harding, “Antonio Díaz Martínez and the Ideology of Sendero Luminoso,” ''Bulletine for Latin American Research'' 7#1 (January 1988) pp 65–73.</ref><ref>Julia Lovell, ''Maoism: A Global History'' (2019) pp 306–346.</ref>

From 1970 to 1977, Shining Path built a student organization and regional-committee based party in Lima and the central sierra.<ref name=":2323">{{Cite book |last=Scott Palmer |first=David |title=Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History |date=2013 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-05722-7 |editor-last=Cook |editor-first=Alexander C. |location=Cambridge |pages= |chapter=The Influence of Maoism in Peru}}</ref>{{Rp|page=137}} The Shining Path first established a foothold at [[San Cristóbal of Huamanga University]], in [[Ayacucho]], where Guzmán taught philosophy. The university had recently reopened after being closed for about half a century.<ref name="History University of Huamanga">{{Cite web |url=http://www.unsch.edu.pe/index.php/resena-historica/ |title=Reseña Histórica |website=UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE SAN CRISTÓBAL DE HUAMANGA |language=es |trans-title=Historical Overview |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327094821/http://www.unsch.edu.pe/index.php/resena-historica/ |archive-date=27 March 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=27 March 2019 |quote="Con auspicios de la corona española y del Poder Pontificio, el 3 de julio de 1677 el obispo de la Diócesis de Huamanga, don Cristóbal de Castilla y Zamora, fundó la 'Universitas Guamangensis Sancti Christhophosi'{{nbsp}}... Clausurada en 1886 y reabierta 80 años después, reiniciando sus labores académicas el 3 de julio de 1959 como 'Universidad Nacional de San Cristóbal de Huamanga.'" ''"Closed in 1886 and reopened 80 years later, it restarted its academic work 3 July 1959 as the 'National University of Saint Christopher of Huamanga.'"''}}</ref> Between 1973 and 1975, the Shining Path members gained control of the [[student council]]s at the Universities of [[Huancayo]] and [[National University of Education Enrique Guzmán y Valle|La Cantuta]], and they also developed a significant presence at the [[National University of Engineering]] in Lima and the [[National University of San Marcos]]. Sometime later, it lost many student elections in the universities, including Guzmán's San Cristóbal of Huamanga.

Guzmán believed that communism required a "popular war" and distanced himself from organizing workers.<ref name=":8" /> The Shining Path opposed large national strikes in 1977 and 1978 because it viewed some of the participants as [[Revisionism (Marxism)|revisionists]] or tools of "socio-imperialism".<ref name=":9">{{Cite book |last=Degregori |first=Carlos Iván |author-link=Carlos Iván Degregori |title=How Difficult It Is to Be God: Shining Path's Politics of War in Peru, 1980-1999 |last2= |first2= |last3= |first3= |last4= |first4= |last5= |first5= |date=2012 |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin Press]] |isbn=978-0-299-28924-9 |series=Critical Human Rights Series |location=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=40}}

From 1977 to 1980, the Shining Path focused on preparing for revolution, including building training camps in Ayacucho, developing a political and military organization, and recruiting more radical members of other Marxist groups.<ref name=":2323" />{{Rp|page=137}} Beginning on 17 March 1980, the Shining Path held a series of clandestine meetings in Ayacucho, known as the Central Committee's second plenary.{{sfn|Gorriti|1999|p=21}} It formed a "Revolutionary Directorate" that was political and military in nature and ordered its militias to transfer to strategic areas in the provinces to start the "armed struggle". The group also held its "First Military School", where members were instructed in military tactics and the use of weapons. They also engaged in [[Self-criticism (Marxism–Leninism)|criticism and self-criticism]], a Maoist practice intended to purge bad habits and avoid the repetition of mistakes. During the existence of the First Military School, members of the Central Committee came under heavy criticism. Guzmán did not, and he emerged from the First Military School as the clear leader of the Shining Path.{{sfn|Gorriti|1999|pp=29–36}} By May 1980, the central committed concluded the party and its military structure had been sufficiently developed to begin revolution.<ref name=":2323" />{{Rp|page=137}}

A timeline of the Peruvian Communist Party (PCP)'s splinter groups is as follows:
<timeline>
ImageSize = width:600 height:100
PlotArea = width:90% height:80 left:10% bottom:20
AlignBars = justify

Colors =
  id:Unidad value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # light blue
  id:BR     value:rgb(1,0.7,0.7) # light red
  id:PR     value:rgb(0.7,1,0.7) # light green
  id:SL     value:rgb(1,1,0.7)   # light yellow
  id:SL-P     value:rgb(1,1,0.9)   # very light yellow
  id:eon    value:rgb(1,0.7,1)   # light blue
  id:black  value:black

Period = from:1926 till:2007
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = increment:10 unit:year start:1930
ScaleMinor = increment:1 unit:year start:1926

PlotData=
  align:center textcolor:black fontsize:7 mark:(line,black)

  bar:1 color:Unidad
  from: 1928 till: 1930 text: _~[[Peruvian Communist Party|P]]~_~[[Peruvian Communist Party|S]]~_~[[Peruvian Communist Party|P]]
  from: 1930 till: 1964 text: ~[[Peruvian Communist Party|P]]
  from: 1964 till: end text: [[Peruvian Communist Party|PCP-Unidad]]

  bar:2 color:Unidad
  from: 1928 till: 1930
  from: 1930 till: 1964 text:~[[Peruvian Communist Party|C]]
  from: 1964 till: end  color:BR text:[[Peruvian Communist Party (Marxist–Leninist)|PCP-BR]]

  bar:3 color:Unidad
  from: 1928 till: 1930
  from: 1930 till: 1964 text:~[[Peruvian Communist Party|P]]
  from: 1964 till: 1969 color:BR text:
  from: 1969 till: end  color:PR text:[[Communist Party of Peru – Red Fatherland|PCP-PR]]

  bar:4 color:Unidad
  from: 1928 till: 1930
  from: 1930 till: 1964 
  from: 1964 till: 1969 color:BR text:
  from: 1969 till: 1992  color:SL text:[[Shining Path|PCP-SL]]
  from: 1992 till: end   color:SL-P
</timeline>

=== Armed conflict (1980–1993) ===
{{main|Internal conflict in Peru}}

[[File:ShiningPathFiveYears.jpg|thumb|Poster of Abimael Guzmán celebrating five years of [[people's war]]]]

By 1980, Shining Path had about 500 members.<ref name=":8" /> When Peru's military government allowed [[Elections in Peru|elections]] for the first time in twelve years in 1980, the Shining Path was one of the few leftist political groups that declined to take part. It chose instead to begin a guerrilla war in the highlands of the [[Ayacucho Region]]. On 17 May 1980, on the eve of the presidential elections, it [[Chuschi ballot burning incident|burned ballot boxes]] in the town of [[Chuschi]]. It was the first "act of war" by the Shining Path. The perpetrators were quickly caught, and additional ballots were shipped to Chuschi. The elections proceeded without further problems, and the incident received little attention in the Peruvian press.{{sfn|Gorriti|1999|p=17}}

Throughout the 1980s, the Shining Path grew both in terms of the territory it controlled and in the number of militants in its organization, particularly in the [[Andes|Andean]] highlands. It gained support from local peasants by filling the political void left by the central government and providing what they called "popular justice", public trials that disregard any legal and human rights that deliver swift and brutal sentences including public executions. This caused the peasantry of some Peruvian villages to express some sympathy for the Shining Path, especially in the impoverished and neglected regions of [[Ayacucho Region|Ayacucho]], [[Apurímac Region|Apurímac]], and [[Huancavelica Region|Huancavelica]]. At times, the civilian population of small, neglected towns participated in popular trials, especially when the victims of the trials were widely disliked.<ref>Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VI/SECCION%20CUARTA-Crimenes%20y%20violaciones%20DDHH/FINAL-AGOSTO/1.1.%20LOS%20ASESINATOS%20Y%20MASACRES.pdf Book VI Chapter 1] p. 41. Retrieved 14 January 2008.</ref>

The Shining Path's credibility benefited from the government's initially tepid response to the [[insurgency]]. For over a year, the government refused to declare a [[state of emergency]] in the region where the Shining Path was operating. The Interior Minister, José María de la Jara, believed the group could be easily defeated through police actions.<ref>Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20III/Cap.%202%20Los%20actores%20polIticos/2.1%20ACCION%20POPULAR.pdf Book III Chapter 2] pp. 17–18. Retrieved 16 January 2008.</ref> Additionally, the president, [[Fernando Belaúnde Terry]], who returned to power in 1980, was reluctant to cede authority to the armed forces since his first government had ended in a military [[Coup d'état|coup]].

On 29 December 1981, the government declared an "emergency zone" in the three Andean regions of Ayacucho, Huancavelica, and Apurímac and granted the [[Military of Peru|military]] the power to arbitrarily detain any suspicious person. The military abused this power, arresting scores of innocent people, at times subjecting them to torture during interrogation<ref>[[Amnesty International]]. [http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=79848E75B7FB5E878025690000692C8D "Peru: Summary of Amnesty International's concerns 1980–1995"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080330053228/http://www.amnestyusa.org/document.php?lang=e&id=79848E75B7FB5E878025690000692C8D |date=30 March 2008}}. Retrieved 17 January 2008.</ref> as well as rape.<ref>[[Human Rights Watch]] [https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Hrw-04.htm "The Women's Rights Project."]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> Members of the Peruvian Armed Forces began to wear black [[Balaclava (clothing)|ski-masks]] to hide their identities, in order to protect themselves and their families.

In some areas, the military trained peasants and organized them into anti-rebel militias, called "[[Ronda Campesina|rondas]]". They were generally poorly equipped, despite being provided arms by the state. The rondas would attack the Shining Path guerrillas, with the first such reported attack occurring in January 1983, near [[Huata]]. ''Ronderos'' would later kill 13 guerrilla fighters in February 1983, in [[Sacsamarca]]. In March 1983, ''ronderos'' brutally killed Olegario Curitomay, one of the commanders of the town of [[Lucanamarca]]. They took him to the town square, [[stoning|stoned]] him, [[Stabbing|stabbed]] him, set him on fire, and finally shot him. The Shining Path's retaliation to this was one of the worst attacks in the entire conflict, with a group of guerrilla members entering the town and going house by house, killing dozens of villagers, including babies, with guns, hatchets, and axes. This action has come to be known as the [[Lucanamarca massacre]].<ref name=Huancasancos>Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. 28 August 2003. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.6.%20LUCANAMARCA.pdf "La Masacre de Lucanamarca (1983)"]. (in Spanish) Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> Additional massacres of civilians by the Shining Path would occur throughout the conflict.<ref name=":8" /><ref>Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.18.%20MARCAS.pdf Book VII "Ataque del PCP-SL a la Localidad de Marcas (1985)"]. Retrieved 14 January 2008.</ref><ref>Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ingles/informacion/nprensa/notas.php?idnota=117 "Press Release 170."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180903215218/http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ingles/informacion/nprensa/notas.php?idnota=117 |date=3 September 2018 }}. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref>

The Shining Path's attacks were not limited to the countryside. It executed several attacks against the infrastructure in [[Lima]], killing civilians in the process. In 1983, it sabotaged several electrical transmission towers, causing a citywide [[Power outage|blackout]], and set fire and destroyed the [[Bayer]] industrial plant. That same year, it set off a powerful bomb in the offices of the governing party, [[Popular Action (Peru)|Popular Action]]. Escalating its activities in Lima, in June 1985, it blew up electricity transmission towers in Lima, producing a blackout, and detonated [[car bomb]]s near the government palace and the justice palace. It was believed to be responsible for bombing a shopping mall.<ref>[[Human Rights Watch]]. [https://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/WR95/AMERICAS-10.htm Peru: Human Rights Developments]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> At the time, President Fernando Belaúnde Terry was receiving the Argentine president [[Raúl Alfonsín]].

During this period, the Shining Path assassinated specific individuals, notably leaders of other leftist groups, local political parties, [[Trade union|labor unions]], and peasant organizations, some of whom were anti-Shining Path [[Marxism|Marxists]].<ref name="Quien" /> On 24 April 1985, in the midst of presidential elections, it tried to assassinate Domingo García Rada, the president of the Peruvian National Electoral Council, severely injuring him and mortally wounding his driver. In 1988, Constantin (Gus) Gregory,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1988-07-07-vw-8223-story.html|title=A Most Unlikely Target : Good Samaritan Aiding the Peruvian Poor Became a Casualty in the Nation's Political Struggle|first=Beverly|last=Beyette|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times|date=7 July 1988|access-date=13 October 2017}}</ref> an American citizen working for the [[United States Agency for International Development]], was assassinated. Two French aid workers were killed on 4 December that same year.<ref name="Courtois677">[[Stéphane Courtois]] et al. ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]: Crimes, Terror, Repression''. [[Harvard University Press]], 1999. {{ISBN|0-674-07608-7}} p. 677</ref>

==== Level of support ====
[[File:Zones registering Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) activity.svg|thumb|243x243px|Areas where the Shining Path was active in Peru]]

By 1990, the Shining Path had about 3,000 armed members at its greatest extent.<ref name=":8" /> The group had gained control of much of the countryside of the center and south of Peru and had a large presence in the outskirts of Lima. The Shining Path began to fight against Peru's other major guerrilla group, the [[Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement]] (MRTA),<ref>[[Nelson Manrique|Manrique, Nelson]]. "The War for the Central Sierra," p. 211 in ''Shining and Other Paths: War and Society in Peru, 1980–1995'', ed. Steve Stern, Duke University Press: Durham and London, 1998 ({{ISBN|0-8223-2217-X}}).</ref> as well as ''[[Peasant|campesino]]'' self-defense groups organized by the Peruvian armed forces.

The Shining Path quickly seized control of large areas of Peru. The group had significant support among peasant communities, and it had the support of some slum dwellers in the capital and elsewhere. The Shining Path's interpretation of Maoism did not have the support of many city dwellers. According to opinion polls, only 15 percent of the population considered [[Subversion (politics)|subversion]] to be justifiable in June 1988, while only 17 percent considered it justifiable in 1991.<ref>Kenney, Charles D. 2004. ''Fujimori's Coup and the Breakdown of Democracy in Latin America.'' Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame. Citing Balibi, C.R. 1991. "Una inquietante encuesta de opinión." ''Quehacer'': 40–45.</ref> In June 1991, "the total sample disapproved of the Shining Path by an 83 to 7 percent margin, with 10 percent not answering the question. Among the poorest, however, only 58 percent stated disapproval of the Shining Path; 11 percent said they had a favorable opinion of the Shining Path, and some 31 percent would not answer the question."<ref name="Kenney">Kenney, Charles D. 2004. ''Fujimori's Coup and the Breakdown of Democracy in Latin America.'' Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame.</ref> A September 1991 poll found that 21 percent of those polled in Lima believed that the Shining Path did not torture and kill innocent people. The same poll found that 13 percent believed that society would be more just if the Shining Path won the war and 22 percent believed society would be equally just under the Shining Path as it was under the government.<ref name="Kenney" /> Polls have never been completely accurate since Peru has several anti-terrorism laws, including "apologia for terrorism", that makes it a punishable offense for anyone who does not condemn the Shining Path. In effect, the laws make it illegal to support the group in any way.<ref>Sandra Coliver, Paul Hoffman, Joan Fitzpatrick, Stephen Bowman, Secrecy and Liberty: National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access To Information, (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague Publishers,) 1999, p. 162.</ref>

Many peasants were unhappy with the Shining Path's rule for a variety of reasons, such as its disrespect for [[Indigenous peoples in Peru|indigenous]] culture and institutions.<ref>Del Pino H., Ponciano. "Family, Culture, and 'Revolution': Everyday Life with Sendero Luminoso," p. 179 in ''Shining and Other Paths: War and Society in Peru, 1980–1995'', ed. Steve Stern, Duke University Press: Durham and London, 1998 ({{ISBN|0-8223-2217-X}}).</ref> However, they had also made agreements and alliances with some indigenous tribes. Some did not like the brutality of its "popular trials" that sometimes included "slitting throats, strangulation, stoning, and burning."<ref>U.S. Department of State. March 1996 {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20010217013051/http://www.freelori.org/gov/statedept/95_perureport.html "Peru Human Rights Practices, 1995"]}}. Retrieved 16 January 2008.</ref><ref>[[Orin Starn|Starn, Orin]]. "Villagers at Arms: War and Counterrevolution in the Central-South Andes," p. 237 in ''Shining and Other Paths: War and Society in Peru, 1980–1995'', ed. Steve Stern, Duke University Press: Durham and London, 1998 ({{ISBN|0-8223-2217-X}}).</ref> Peasants were offended by the rebels' injunction against burying the bodies of Shining Path victims.<ref>Degregori, p. 140.</ref>

The Shining Path followed Mao Zedong's dictum that guerrilla warfare should start in the countryside and gradually choke off the cities.<ref>''Desarrollar la lucha armada del campo a la ciudad'', San Marcos 1985 PCP speech</ref>

According to multiple sources, the Shining Path received support from [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Gaddafi's Libya]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/marie-colvin-colonel-gadaffi-gaddafi-libya-mad-dog-and-me-chn0vrpjf|title=Mad Dog and me – the Colonel Gadaffi I knew|last1=Colvin|first1=Marie}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/aug/23/libya-gaddafi-vicious-despot|title=Gaddafi: a vicious, sinister despot driven out on tidal wave of hatred|date=23 August 2011|work=The Guardian|first=Simon|last=Tisdall|access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://uk.news.yahoo.com/news/muammar-gaddafi-kitsch-dictator-162327388.html|title=Muammar Gaddafi: The Kitsch Dictator|work=Sky News|via=Yahoo News|date=5 September 2011|first=Tim|last=Marshall|access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Qaddafi, Terrorism, and the Origins of the U.S. Attack on Libya|first=Brian Lee|last=Davis|page=17|publisher=Praeger|date=1990|isbn=9780275933029|lccn=89016095}}</ref>

==== Fujimori government ====
[[File:Al Fujimori.jpg|thumb|215x215px|President [[Alberto Fujimori]], who led the violent government response towards guerrilla groups during his tenure]]

When President [[Alberto Fujimori]] took office in 1990, he responded to Shining Path with repressive force.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":8" /> His government issued a law in 1991 that gave the ''rondas'' a legal status, and from that time, they were officially called ''Comités de auto defensa'' ("Committees of Self-Defense").<ref>[http://www.congreso.gob.pe/ntley/Imagenes/DecretosLegislativos/00741.pdf Legislative Decree No. 741] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060219214358/http://www.congreso.gob.pe/ntley/Imagenes/DecretosLegislativos/00741.pdf |date=19 February 2006}}. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> They were officially armed, usually with 12-gauge shotguns, and trained by the [[Peruvian Army]]. According to the government, there were approximately 7,226 ''comités de auto defensa'' as of 2005;<ref>Army of Peru (2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20060216085857/http://www.ejercito.mil.pe/contribucion/dirace/estudios.htm Proyectos y Actividades que Realiza la Sub Dirección de Estudios Especiales."]. Retrieved 17 January 2008.</ref> almost 4,000{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} are located in the central region of Peru, the stronghold of the Shining Path.

The Peruvian government also cracked down on the Shining Path in other ways. Military personnel were dispatched to areas dominated by the Shining Path, especially [[Ayacucho Region|Ayacucho]], to fight the rebels. Ayacucho, [[Huancavelica Province|Huancavelica]], Apurímac and [[Huánuco Region|Huánuco]] were declared emergency zones, allowing for some constitutional rights to be suspended in those areas.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://apnews.com/84b38ad18c1ed38872889f0a739bdbe2|title=Government Declares State of Emergency with Curfew in Lima|work=AP News|date=7 February 1986|access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref>

Initial government efforts to fight the Shining Path were not very effective or promising. Military units engaged in many human rights violations, which caused the Shining Path to appear in the eyes of many as the lesser of two evils. They used excessive force, tortured individuals accused of being sympathizers and killed many innocent civilians. Government forces destroyed villages and killed ''campesinos'' suspected of supporting the Shining Path. They eventually lessened the pace at which the armed forces committed atrocities such as massacres. Additionally, the state began the widespread use of intelligence agencies in its fight against the Shining Path. However, atrocities were committed by the [[National Intelligence Service (Peru)|National Intelligence Service]] and the [[Army Intelligence Service]], notably the [[La Cantuta massacre]], the [[Santa massacre]] and the [[Barrios Altos massacre]], which were committed by [[Grupo Colina]].<ref name=":8" /><ref>La Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. 28 August 2003. "2.45. Las Ejecuciones Extrajudiciales en Barrios Altos (1991.)" [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.45.%20BARRIOS%20ALTOS.pdf Available online in Spanish]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref><ref>La Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. 28 August 2003. "2.19. La Universidad Nacional de educación Enrique Guzmán y Valle «La Cantuta»." [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20V/SECCION%20TERCERA-Los%20Escenarios%20de%20la%20violencia%20(continuacion)/2.%20HISTORIAS%20REPRESENTATIVAS%20DE%20LA%20VIOLENCIA/2.19%20LA%20CANTUTA.pdf Available online in Spanish]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref>

In one of its last attacks in Lima, on 16 July 1992, the Shining Path [[Tarata bombing|detonated a powerful bomb]] on [[Calle Tarata|Tarata Street]] in the [[Miraflores District, Lima|Miraflores District]], full of civilian adults and children,<ref>"Ataque terrorista en Tarata." [https://web.archive.org/web/20041114012731/http://www.solblanco.8m.com/ataq_tarata.htm Archived online]. Retrieved 16 January 2008</ref> killing 25 people and injuring an additional 155.<ref>Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.60.%20TARATA.pdf Los Asesinatos y Lesiones Graves Producidos en el Atentado de Tarata (1992)]. p. 661. Retrieved 9 February 2008.</ref>

=== Capture of Guzmán and collapse (1992–1993) ===
On 12 September 1992, the [[Special Intelligence Group]] (GEIN) [[Operation Victoria|captured Guzmán and several Shining Path leaders]] in an apartment above a dance studio in the [[Surquillo]] district of Lima. GEIN had been monitoring the apartment since a number of suspected Shining Path militants had visited it. An inspection of the garbage of the apartment produced empty tubes of a skin cream used to treat [[psoriasis]], a condition that Guzmán was known to have. Shortly after the raid that captured Guzmán, most of the remaining Shining Path leadership fell as well.{{sfn|Rochlin|2003|p=71}}

The capture of Guzmán left a huge leadership vacuum for the Shining Path. "There is no No. 2. There is only Presidente Gonzalo and then the party," a Shining Path political officer said at a birthday celebration for Guzmán in Lurigancho prison in December 1990. "Without President Gonzalo, we would have nothing."<ref>[http://www.deseretnews.com/article/247397/GUZMAN-ARREST-LEAVES-VOID-IN-SHINING-PATHS-LEADERSHIP.html "Guzman arrest leaves Void in Shining Path Leadership"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180422133139/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/247397/GUZMAN-ARREST-LEAVES-VOID-IN-SHINING-PATHS-LEADERSHIP.html |date=22 April 2018 }} Associated Press/[[Deseret News]].com, 14 September 1992</ref>

At the same time, the Shining Path suffered embarrassing military defeats to self-defense organizations of rural ''campesinos'' – supposedly its social base. When Guzmán called for peace talks with the Peruvian government, the organization fractured into splinter groups, with some Shining Path members in favor of such talks and others opposed.<ref name=":8" /><ref>Sims, Calvin (5 August 1996) [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9402E5D81E3FF936A3575BC0A960958260&scp "Blasts Propel Peru's Rebels From Defunct To Dangerous."]. ''[[The New York Times]]''. Retrieved 17 January 2008</ref>

=== Remnants (1993–present) ===
Guzmán's role as the leader of the Shining Path was taken over by [[Óscar Ramírez (terrorist)|Óscar Ramírez]] ("Comrade Feliciano"), who established ''Sendero Rojo'' (or PCP Pro-Seguir), aiming to reorganise the party and to continue the armed struggle while breaking with Guzmán, but not with his [[Gonzalo Thought|ideology]].<ref name="Vigara2019">{{cite journal |access-date=2023-09-05 |last=Vigara |date=2019 |doi=10.46661/americania.4912 |first=Miguel Jiménez |issn=2174-0178 |language=es |number=10 |pages=172–201 |periodical=Americanía: Revista de Estudios Latinoamericanos |title=Sendero Rojo o el Partido Comunista del Perú Marxista-Leninista-Maoísta (1992-1999) Ideología, Organización y Estrategia |url=https://www.upo.es/revistas/index.php/americania/article/view/4912 |doi-access=free |archive-date=2023-04-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230417090725/https://www.upo.es/revistas/index.php/americania/article/view/4912 |url-status=live }}<!-- auto-translated from Spanish by Module:CS1 translator --></ref> Together with Ramírez, [[Comrade Artemio|Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala]], who controlled the Huallaga area, formed the initial leadership of the party. Sendero Rojo was disbanded after "Comrade Feliciano's capture in 1999.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Los múltiples Sendero Luminoso en el actual Perú |url=http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/bitstream/handle/10915/44799/Documento_completo.pdf?sequence=1 |access-date=2024-08-15 |archive-date=2024-12-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20241208230013/http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/bitstream/handle/10915/44799/Documento_completo.pdf?sequence=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> After Ramírez's capture, the group further splintered, guerrilla activity diminished sharply, and peace returned to the areas where the Shining Path had been active.<ref name="activity">Rochlin, pp. 71–72.</ref>

<timeline>
ImageSize = width:600 height:100
PlotArea = width:90% height:80 left:10% bottom:20
AlignBars = justify

Colors =
  id:SL     value:rgb(1,1,0.7)   # light yellow
  id:PS     value:rgb(1,1,0.9)   # very light yellow
  id:MP     value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # light blue
  id:FH     value:rgb(0.7,1,0.7) # light green
  id:FM     value:rgb(1,0.7,0.7) # light red
  id:black  value:black

Period = from:1968 till:2025
TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal
ScaleMajor = increment:10 unit:year start:1968
ScaleMinor = increment:1 unit:year start:2025

PlotData=
  align:center textcolor:black fontsize:7 mark:(line,black)

  bar:1 color:SL
  from: 1970 till: 1992 text: 
  from: 1992 till: 1999 color: PS text: Pro-Seguir
  from: 1999 till: 2018 color:PS text: [[Militarized Communist Party of Peru|People's Revolutionary Army]]
  from: 2018 till: end  color:MP text: [[Militarized Communist Party of Peru|MPCP]]

  bar:2 color:SL
  from: 1970 till: 1992 text:~ Shining Path (PCP-SL)
  from: 2001 till: end  color:FH text:Huallaga faction

  bar:3 color:SL
  from: 1970 till: 1992 text:~
  from: 2004 till: 2012 color:FM text:Mantaro faction

</timeline>

The three remaining splinter groups based themselves in the [[VRAEM]] area:
*The "[[Militarized Communist Party of Peru|People's Guerrilla Army]]" (ERP)<ref name=Villasante/> led by the Quispe Palomino brothers ([[Comrade José|Víctor]] and [[Jorge Quispe Palomino|Jorge]]).<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" />
*The "Communist Party of Peru – Red Mantaro Base Committee" (PCP-CBMR), established in 2001 as a base committee in the [[Mantaro Valley]] led by a "Comrade Netzel López Lozano".<ref>{{Cite news |title=Condena Fujimori atentado de Sendero Luminoso |date=2015-09-23 |url=https://vanguardia.com.mx/noticias/internacional/2844781-condena-fujimori-atentado-de-sendero-luminoso-KVVG2844781 |work=Vanguardia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Perú |first=ONG de derechos humanos Waynakuna |title=La expansión ideológica del terrorista comité de base Mantaro rojo |url=https://waynakuna.blogspot.com/2018/04/la-expansion-ideologica-del-terrorista.html |access-date=2023-09-08 |website=ONG Waynakuna Perú}}</ref>
*The "Communist Party of Peru – Huallaga Regional Committee" (PCP-CRH), a collective established in 2004 in the [[Huallaga Valley]] led by [[Comrade Artemio]].<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":6" />

==== Temporary resurgence (2001–2009) ====
Although the organization's numbers had lessened by 2003,<ref name="activity" /> a militant faction of the Shining Path called ''Proseguir'' ("Onward") continued to be active.<ref>United States Department of State (2005). [https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61738.htm Country Reports on Human Rights Practices: Peru – 2005]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> The group had allegedly made an alliance with the [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]] (FARC) in the early 2000s, learning how to use rockets against aircraft.<ref name=":8" />
[[File:Flag of the PCP-CBMR.svg|thumb|right|Flag used by the Red Mantaro Base Committee (PCP-CBMR), established in 2001.]]
On Tuesday, August 9, 2001, an armed shootout between Peruvian policemen and Shining Path guerrillas took place in [[Satipo province]]. Police forces had broken through a primary line of defence as part of a special operation while underestimating the group's numbers, who had coincidentally reunited and thus increased their numbers. This led to a shootout that lasted five hours and took the lives of four policemen and 12 ''senderistas''.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Perú: 16 muertos en enfrentamientos |date=2001-08-09 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_1481000/1481436.stm |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref>

On 20 March 2002, a [[2002 Lima bombing|car bomb exploded outside the US embassy in Lima]] just before a visit by President [[George W. Bush]]. Nine people were killed, and 30 were injured; the attack was suspected to be the work of the Shining Path.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1884762.stm "Peru bomb fails to deter Bush"]. [[BBC]]. 21 March 2002. Retrieved 14 April 2009.</ref>

On 9 June 2003, a Shining Path group attacked a camp in Ayacucho and took 68 employees of the Argentinian company [[Techint]] and three police guards as hostages. They had been working on the [[Camisea Gas Project|Camisea gas pipeline project]] that would take natural gas from [[Cusco Region|Cusco]] to Lima.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E2DD1339F933A25755C0A9659C8B63 "Pipeline Workers Kidnapped"]. ''[[The New York Times]]'', 10 June 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> According to sources from Peru's Interior Ministry, the rebels asked for a sizable ransom to free the hostages. Two days later, after a rapid military response which involved a [[signals intelligence]] [[Embraer R-99|aircraft]] from the [[Brazilian Air Force]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/brasil/fc2109200326.htm|title=Jato da FAB ajuda a libertar reféns no Peru|author=Folha de S. Paulo|date=21 September 2003|access-date=7 November 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.fab.mil.br/noticias/imprime/22972/|title=Esquadrão responsável pela vigilância da Amazônia completa 40 mil horas de voo|date=17 September 2015|access-date=7 November 2021}}</ref> the rebels abandoned the hostages; according to government sources, no ransom was paid.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2980154.stm "Peru hostages set free"]. [[BBC]], 11 June 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2008.</ref> However, there were rumors that US$200,000 was paid to the rebels.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20050515162722/http://americas.org/item_8405 "Gas Workers Kidnapped, Freed"] Americas.org. Retrieved 17 January 2008</ref>

Government forces have captured three leading Shining Path members. In April 2000, Commander [[José Arcela Chiroque]], called "Ormeño", was captured, followed by another leader, Florentino Cerrón Cardozo, called "Marcelo", in July 2003. In November of the same year, Jaime Zuñiga, called "Cirilo" or "Dalton", was arrested after a clash in which four guerrillas were killed and an officer was wounded.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3255911.stm "Peru Captures Shining Path Rebel."]. [[BBC News]], 9 November 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> Officials said he took part in planning the kidnapping of the Techint pipeline workers. He was also thought to have led an ambush against an army helicopter in 1999 in which five soldiers died.

In 2003, the Peruvian National Police broke up several Shining Path training camps and captured many members and leaders.<ref name=PGT2003>United States Department of State, Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. 29 April 2004. [https://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2003/31640.htm "Patterns of Global Terrorism: Western Hemisphere Overview"]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> By late October 2003, there were 96 attacks in Peru, projecting a 15% decrease from the 134 kidnappings and armed attacks in 2002.<ref name=PGT2003/> Also for the year, eight<ref name="DRL2003">United States Department of State. 25 February 2004. [https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27916.htm Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2003: Peru]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> or nine<ref name=PGT2003/> people were killed by the Shining Path, and 6 ''senderistas'' were killed and 209 were captured.<ref name=PGT2003/>

[[File:Artemioandfriends.jpg|thumb|right|[[Comrade Artemio]], now captured and serving a life sentence in prison]]
In January 2004, a man known as [[Comrade Artemio]] and identifying himself as one of the Shining Path's leaders, said in a media interview that the group would resume violent operations unless the Peruvian government granted amnesty to other top Shining Path leaders within 60 days.<ref>Issue Papers and Extended Responses. [http://www2.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=437340 Available online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206015221/http://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/research/rir/?action=record.viewrec&gotorec=437340 |date=6 December 2008}}. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> Peru's Interior Minister, Fernando Rospigliosi, said that the government would respond "drastically and swiftly" to any violent action. In September that same year, a comprehensive sweep by police in five cities found 17 suspected members of a "Huallaga Regional Committee" ({{lang|es|Comité Regional Huallaga}}; CRH). According to the interior minister, eight of the arrested were school teachers and high-level school administrators.<ref>[http://www.larepublica.com.pe/component/option,com_contentant/task,view/id,53820/Itemid,0/ "En operativo especial capturan a 17 requisitoriados por terrorismo"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328171709/http://www.larepublica.com.pe/component/option,com_contentant/task,view/id,53820/Itemid,0/ |date=28 March 2008}}. ''[[La República (Peru)|La República]]'', 29 September 2004. Retrieved 16 January 2008. {{in lang|es}}</ref>

Despite these arrests, the Shining Path continued to exist in Peru. On 22 December 2005, the Shining Path ambushed a police patrol in the [[Huánuco Region|Huánuco region]], killing eight.<ref>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E2D81430F931A15751C1A9639C8B63 "Rebels Kill 8 Policemen"]. ''The New York Times'', 22 December 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> Later that day, they wounded an additional two police officers. In response, then President [[Alejandro Toledo]] declared a state of emergency in Huánuco and gave the police the power to search houses and arrest suspects without a warrant. On 19 February 2006, the Peruvian police killed Héctor Aponte, believed to be the commander responsible for the ambush.<ref>[http://www.larepublica.com.pe/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103189&Itemid=2&fecha_edicion=2006-02-20 "Jefe militar senderista ‘Clay’ muere en operativo policial"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080328171820/http://www.larepublica.com.pe/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=103189&Itemid=2&fecha_edicion=2006-02-20 |date=28 March 2008}}. ''La República'', 20 February 2006. Retrieved 20 January 2008. {{in lang|es}}</ref> In December 2006, Peruvian troops were sent to counter renewed guerrilla activity, and according to high-level government officials, the Shining Path's strength has reached an estimated 300 members.<ref>[[The Washington Times]]. 12 December 2006. "Troops dispatched to corral guerrillas."</ref> In November 2007, police said they killed Artemio's second-in-command, a guerrilla known as JL.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7116301.stm "Peru police 'kill leading rebel'"]. [[BBC]]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref>

In September 2008, government forces announced the killing of five rebels in the [[Vizcatan]] region. This claim was subsequently challenged by the [[APRODEH]], a Peruvian human rights group, which believed that those who were killed were in fact local farmers and not rebels.<ref>[https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN09325588 "Peru army may have killed farmers – rights group"]. [[Reuters]]. Retrieved 11 June 2009.</ref> That same month, Artemio gave his first recorded interview since 2006. In it, he stated that the Shining Path would continue to fight despite escalating military pressure.<ref>[https://www.usatoday.com/news/topstories/2008-09-18-2891478017_x.htm "Peru rebel leader refuses to lay down arms"]. AP. Retrieved 11 June 2009.</ref> In October 2008, in [[Huancavelica Region]], the guerrillas engaged a military convoy with explosives and firearms, demonstrating their continued ability to strike and inflict casualties on military targets. The conflict resulted in the death of 12 soldiers and two to seven civilians.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7664107.stm "Peru rebels launch deadly ambush'"]. [[BBC]]. Retrieved 11 June 2009.</ref><ref>[http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/10/10/international/i081213D15.DTL "Peru says 14 killed in Shining Path attack"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081011191325/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fn%2Fa%2F2008%2F10%2F10%2Finternational%2Fi081213D15.DTL |date=11 October 2008}}. Associated Press. Retrieved 11 June 2009.</ref> It came one day after a clash in the Vizcatan region, which left five rebels and one soldier dead.<ref>[http://www.chinapost.com.tw/international/americas/2008/10/11/178195/1-Peruvian.htm "1 Peruvian soldier, 5 rebels killed in military campaign"]. Associated Press. Retrieved 11 June 2009.</ref>

In November 2008, the rebels utilized hand grenades and automatic weapons in an assault that claimed the lives of 4 police officers.<ref>[https://archive.today/20120903130159/http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jhH0I44QVP2nNc9pM0bXZUkgxkvg "Peru's Shining Path kill four police in ambush"]. AFP. Retrieved 11 June 2009.</ref> In April 2009, the Shining Path ambushed and killed 13 government soldiers in Ayacucho.<ref name="Rebels kill 13 soldiers in Peru">[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7995524.stm "Rebels kill 13 soldiers in Peru"]. BBC. Retrieved 12 April 2009.</ref> Grenades and dynamite were used in the attack.<ref name="Rebels kill 13 soldiers in Peru"/> The dead included eleven soldiers and one captain, and two soldiers were also injured, with one reported missing.<ref name="Rebels kill 13 soldiers in Peru"/> Poor communications were said to have made relay of the news difficult.<ref name="Rebels kill 13 soldiers in Peru" /> The country's Defense Minister, [[Antero Flores Aráoz]], said many soldiers "plunged over a cliff".<ref name="Rebels kill 13 soldiers in Peru" /> His prime minister, [[Yehude Simon]], said these attacks were "desperate responses by the Shining Path in the face of advances by the armed forces" and expressed his belief that the area would soon be freed of "leftover terrorists".<ref name="Rebels kill 13 soldiers in Peru" /> In the aftermath, a Sendero leader called this "the strongest [anti-government] blow{{nbsp}}... in quite a while".<ref name="Shining Path rebels stage comeback in Peru">{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/04/21/peru.shining.path/index.html|title=Shining Path rebels stage comeback in Peru|date=21 April 2009|access-date=24 April 2009|publisher=CNN}}</ref> In November 2009, Defense Minister [[Rafael Rey]] announced that Shining Path militants had attacked a military outpost in southern Ayacucho province. One soldier was killed and three others wounded in the assault.<ref>[https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/sdut-peru-rebels-attack-army-outpost-killing-1-soldier-2009nov05-story.html "Peru rebels attack army outpost, killing 1 soldier"]. [[Associated Press]]. Retrieved 4 January 2022.</ref>

==== Continued downfall ====
On 28 April 2010, Shining Path rebels in Peru ambushed and killed a police officer and two civilians who were destroying coca plantations of Aucayacu, in the central region of Haunuco, Peru. The victims were gunned down by sniper fire coming from the thick forest as more than 200 workers were destroying coca plants.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8648299.stm "Peru rebels ambush and kill coca plantation clearers".] BBC, 28 April 2010</ref> Following the attack, the Shining Path faction, based in the Upper Huallaga Valley of Peru and headed by Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala, alias Comrade Artemio, was operating in survival mode and lost 9 of their top 10 leaders to Peruvian National Police-led capture operations. Two of the eight leaders were killed by PNP personnel during the attempted captures. The nine arrested or killed Shining Path (Upper Huallaga Valley faction) leaders include Mono (Aug. 2009), Rubén (May 2010), Izula (Oct. 2010), Sergio (Dec. 2010), Yoli/Miguel/Jorge (Jun. 2011), Gato Larry (Jun. 2011), Oscar Tigre (Aug. 2011), Vicente Roger (Aug. 2011), and Dante/Delta (Jan. 2012).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://elcomercio.pe/peru/653636/noticia-senderistaizula-responsable-secuestro-asesinato-40-civiles |title=Senderista 'Izula' es responsable del secuestro y asesinato de 40 civiles &#124; El Comercio Perú |publisher=Elcomercio.pe |date=13 October 2010 |access-date=26 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602084111/http://elcomercio.pe/peru/653636/noticia-senderistaizula-responsable-secuestro-asesinato-40-civiles |archive-date=2 June 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://elcomercio.pe/peru/691519/noticia-policia-nacional-capturo-cabecilla-terroristasergio-alto-huallaga |title=Policía Nacional capturó a cabecilla terrorista 'Sergio' en el Alto Huallaga &#124; El Comercio Perú |publisher=Elcomercio.pe |date=30 December 2010 |access-date=26 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602033457/http://elcomercio.pe/peru/691519/noticia-policia-nacional-capturo-cabecilla-terroristasergio-alto-huallaga |archive-date=2 June 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pnp.gob.pe/direcciones/dircote/logros.html |title=Policía Nacional del Perú |publisher=Pnp.gob.pe |access-date=26 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024061407/http://www.pnp.gob.pe/direcciones/dircote/logros.html |archive-date=24 October 2012}}</ref> This loss of leadership, coupled with a sweep of Shining Path (Upper Huallaga Valley) supporters executed by the PNP in November 2010, prompted Comrade Artemio to declare in December 2011 to several international journalists that the guerrilla war against the Peruvian Government has been lost and that his only hope was to negotiate an amnesty agreement with the Government of Peru.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://elcomercio.pe/politica/1344679/noticia-entrevista-camaradaartemio-no-vamos-realizar-mas-ataques |title=Entrevista con senderista 'Artemio': "No vamos a realizar más ataques" &#124; El Comercio Perú |publisher=Elcomercio.pe |date=7 December 2011 |access-date=26 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130602164832/http://elcomercio.pe/politica/1344679/noticia-entrevista-camaradaartemio-no-vamos-realizar-mas-ataques |archive-date=2 June 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

On 12 February 2012, Comrade Artemio was found badly wounded after a clash with troops in a remote jungle region of Peru. President [[Ollanta Humala]] said the capture of Artemio, nicknamed ''Operation Crepúsculo'',<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cayó "Artemio": Operación Crepúsculo |url=https://panamericana.pe/panorama/politica/101121-cayo-artemio-operacion-crepusculo |access-date=2023-09-05 |website=Panamericana Televisión}}</ref> marked the defeat of the Huallaga faction, located in a central area of cocaine production. President Humala has stated that he would now step up the fight against the remaining bands of Shining Path rebels in the Ene-Apurímac valley.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17005739 |work=BBC News |title=Peru Shining Path leader Comrade Artemio captured |date=13 February 2012}}</ref> Walter Diaz, the lead candidate to succeed Artemio,<ref name="iiqvz">{{cite web|author=Christopher Looft|title=Peru Arrests 'Successor' to Captured Shining Path Leader|url=http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2307-peru-arrests-successor-to-captured-shining-path-leader |date=5 March 2012|access-date=6 March 2012}}{{dead link|date=May 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> was captured on 3 March,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17253453 |work=BBC News |title=Peruvian police capture 'Shining Path boss' Walter Diaz |date=4 March 2012}}</ref> further ensuring the disintegration of the Alto Huallaga valley faction.<ref name="iiqvz" /> On 3 April 2012, Jaime Arenas Caviedes, a senior leader in the group's remnants in Alto Huallaga Valley<ref name="uuooboov" /> who was also regarded to be the leading candidate to succeed Artemio following Diaz's arrest,<ref>[http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2444-peru-arrests-comrade-artemios-right-hand-man] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120412015116/http://insightcrime.org/insight-latest-news/item/2444-peru-arrests-comrade-artemios-right-hand-man|date=12 April 2012}}</ref> was captured.<ref name="uuooboov">{{cite news| url=http://www.peruviantimes.com/05/peru-captures-shining-path-leader-in-upper-huallaga/15474/| work=Peruvian Times| title=Peru Captures Shining Path Leader In Upper Huallaga| author=Andean Air Mail & Peruvian Times| date=5 April 2012| access-date=5 April 2012}}</ref> After Caviedes, alias "Braulio",<ref name="uuooboov" /> was captured, Humala declared that the Shining Path was now unable to operate in the Alto Huallaga Valley.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17633498|work=BBC News|title=Shining Path 'defeated' in Alto Huallaga stronghold|date=6 April 2012|access-date=4 June 2012}}</ref> Shining Path rebels carried out an attack on three helicopters being used by an international gas pipeline consortium on 7 October, in the central region of Cusco.<ref>{{cite news|title=Peru rebels burn helicopters at jungle airfield|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-19858757|publisher=BBC|access-date=9 October 2012|work=BBC News|date=7 October 2012}}</ref> According to the military Joint Command spokesman, Col. Alejandro Lujan, no one was kidnapped or injured during the attack.<ref>{{cite web|title=Rebels Burn 3 Helicopters in Peru |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rebels-burn-helicopters-peru-17413345 |publisher=ABC News |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121007063357/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rebels-burn-helicopters-peru-17413345 |archive-date=7 October 2012}}</ref> The capture of Artemio effectively ended the war between Shining Path and the Government of Peru.<ref name=":3" />

Comrade Artemio was convicted of terrorism, drug trafficking, and money laundering on 7 June 2013. He was sentenced to life in prison and a fine of $183&nbsp;million.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-22821052 "Peru's Shining Path leader jailed for life for terrorism."] BBC News. 7 June 2013. Retrieved 11 August 2013.</ref> On 11 August 2013, [[Comrade Alipio]], the Shining Path's leader in the Ene-Apurímac Valley, was killed in a battle with government forces in Llochegua.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2013/08/13/Peru-captures-Sendero-Luminosos-No-2-man-Comrade-Alipio/UPI-53221376426270/ |title=Alejandro Borda Casafranca, 2 other Senderistas killed in Peru |work=United Press International |date=13 August 2013 |access-date=26 April 2014}}</ref>

On 9 April 2016, on the eve of [[2016 Peruvian general election|the country's presidential elections]], the Peruvian government blamed remnants of the Shining Path for a guerrilla attack that killed eight soldiers and two civilians.<ref>[http://www.ticotimes.net/2016/04/11/death-toll-climbs-10-peru-guerrilla-attack "Death toll climbs to 10 in Peru guerrilla attack on election eve"] Tico Times. 11 April 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2016.</ref> Shining Path snipers killed three police officers in the Ene Apurimac Valley on 18 March 2017.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/recent-attack-police-shows-shining-path-still-strong|title=Recent Attack on Peru Police Shows Shining Path Still Strong|last=Goi|first=Leonardo|website=www.insightcrime.org|language=en-gb|access-date=1 July 2017}}</ref>

In a document 400 pages in length recovered from a mid-level Shining Path commander and analyzed by the Counter-Terrorism Directorate ([[DIRCOTE]]) of the National Police, the Shining Path planned to initiate operations against the Government of Peru that included killings and surprise attacks beginning in 2021, the bicentennial of Peru's independence.<ref name=":5" /> Objectives were created to first attack public officials, then regain lost territory and then finally overthrow the government.<ref name=":5" />

==== VRAEM stronghold ====
Into the 2020s, Shining Path has existed in remaining splinter groups.<ref name=":3" /><ref name="activity" /> The main remaining group, called the [[Militarized Communist Party of Peru]] (MPCP) of about 450 individuals remained in the [[Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro]] (VRAEM) region, reportedly making revenue by escorting cocaine traffickers and are reportedly led by two brothers; Víctor and [[Jorge Quispe Palomino]].<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":8" /> The MPCP has attempted to recharacterize themselves to distance itself from the original Shining Path groups that had attacked rural communities in the area, describing Guzmán as a traitor.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":5" /> According to [[InSight Crime]], Shining Path's stronghold in the VRAEM, headquartered in Vizcatán, is a similar strategy as the [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia]].<ref name=":8" /><ref>{{Cite web|date=20 March 2017|title=Recent Attack on Peru Police Shows Shining Path Still Strong|url=https://www.insightcrime.org/news/brief/recent-attack-police-shows-shining-path-still-strong/|access-date=4 December 2020|website=[[InsightCrime]]}}</ref>

Another notable splinter group called the Communist Party of Peru – Red Mantaro Base Committee (PCP-CBMR),<ref>{{cite web |title=The dangerous network of Sendero Luminoso in Peru and abroad |url=https://larazon.pe/la-peligrosa-red-de-sendero-luminoso-en-peru-y-el-exterior/ |website=La Razón |date=20 April 2018 |access-date=20 August 2023}}</ref> which remains loyal to Abimael Guzman,<ref>{{cite web |title=In Defense of Gonzalo Thought! |url=https://mantarorojo.blogspot.com/2011/01/en-defensa-del-pensamiento-gonzalo.html |website=Mantaro Rojo |date=21 January 2011 |access-date=20 August 2023}}</ref> also operates in the VRAEM region. According to the human rights organization Waynakuna Peru, the PCP-CBMR has infiltrated schools in the area setting up "Popular Schools" to spread the group's propaganda.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sendero Indoctrinates Children In Popular Schools |url=https://waynakuna.blogspot.com/2017/10/sendero-adoctrina-ninos-en-escuelas.html |website=Waynakuna |access-date=20 August 2023}}</ref> The group has in the past signed documents<ref>{{cite web |title=Joint Declaration: The international unity of the communists demands the defeat of revisionism and centrism! |url=https://cedema.org/digital_items/4754 |website=CeDeMA |access-date=20 August 2023}}</ref> with the [[Communist Party of Ecuador – Red Sun]].

Following a five-year intelligence operation that began in 2015 and was codenamed Operation Olimpo, 71 alleged members of the Shining Path's United Front and People's Guerrilla Army were arrested on 2 December 2020.<ref name=":7" /> Alfredo Crespo, the secretary general of MOVADEF and Guzmán's former lawyer, was included among those arrested.<ref>{{Cite web|date=5 December 2020|title=Estos son los videos y audios que demuestran cómo Sendero se reinventó en Movadef {{!}} POLITICA|url=https://peru21.pe/politica/estos-son-los-videos-y-audios-que-demuestran-como-sendero-se-reinvento-en-movadef-noticia/|access-date=5 December 2020|website=[[Peru21]]|language=es}}</ref> Operation Olimpo included 752 military personnel and 98 government prosecutors that utilized evidence obtained through wiretapping, undercover agents and surveillance.<ref name=":7" /> Those arrested were charged with operating shell operations to initiate terrorist activities in Callao and Lima.<ref name=":7" />

== In popular culture ==
American hard rock band [[Guns N' Roses]] quotes a speech by a Shining Path officer in their 1990 song "[[Civil War (song)|Civil War]]", as saying "We practice selective annihilation of mayors and government officials, for example, to create a vacuum, then we fill that vacuum. As popular war advances, peace is closer."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1989-07-09-8902150889-story.html|title='More War Will Bring Peace,' Say Peru's Maoists After 15,000 Die|last=de Lama|first=George|date=9 July 1989|work=Chicago Tribune|access-date=7 March 2019}}</ref>

American rock band [[Rage Against the Machine]] released a music video for their 1993 song "[[Bombtrack]]" as a response to the arrest of Abimael Guzman the previous year. The video expresses support for Guzman and the Shining Path, featuring various clips of the organization's activities, as well as showing the band in a cage to mimic Guzman's imprisonment.<ref>{{cite web |last=Antonio |first=Zoila |translator-last=Sutterman |translator-first=Anthony |title=Disputed reality: 'Bombtrack' and Peru's internal armed conflict The song remains controversial to this day in Peru |url=https://globalvoices.org/2022/01/07/disputed-reality-bombtrack-and-perus-internal-armed-conflict/ |date=7 January 2022 |access-date=5 July 2022 |publisher=GlobalVoices}}</ref>

=== Other fictional depictions ===
* ''The Vision of Elena Silves: A Novel'' by [[Nicholas Shakespeare]]
* ''[[The Dancer Upstairs]]: A Novel'' by [[Nicholas Shakespeare]], {{ISBN|0-385-72107-2}}.
* ''Strange Tunnels Disappearing'' by [[Gary Ley]], {{ISBN|1-85411-302-X}}.
* ''The Evening News'', by [[Arthur Hailey]], {{ISBN|0-385-50424-1}}.
* ''[[Death in the Andes]]'', by [[Mario Vargas Llosa]], {{ISBN|0-14-026215-6}}.
* ''War Cries'', a first-season episode of ''[[JAG (TV series)|JAG]]''.
* ''[[Escape from L.A.]]'' a movie starring [[Kurt Russell]]
* ''[[Red April]]'': a novel by [[Santiago Roncagliolo]]
* ''[[The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures]]'', a play by [[Tony Kushner]]

== See also ==
* [[Communism in Peru]]
* [[Definitions of terrorism]]
** [[Communist terrorism]]
*** [[Left-wing terrorism]]
* [[List of designated terrorist groups]]

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{notelist|30em}}

=== Citations ===
{{Reflist|30em}}

=== Sources ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)|Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación]] (2003). "Informe Final". Lima: CVR. {{in lang|es}}
* [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)|Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación]] (2003). "La verdad después del silencio (Informe final tomo 6)". Lima. Perú
* Courtois, Stephane (1999). ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]: Crimes, Terror, Repression''. [[Harvard University Press]].
* Crenshaw, Martha, "Theories of Terrorism: Instrumental and Organizational Approaches" in: ''Inside Terrorist Organizations'', (ed. David Rapoport), 2001. Franck Cass, London
* Degregori, Carlos Iván (1998). "Harvesting Storms: Peasant ''Rondas'' and the Defeat of Sendero Luminoso in Ayacucho". In Steve Stern (Ed.), ''Shining and Other Paths: War and Society in Peru, 1980–1995.'' Durham and London: [[Duke University Press]].  {{ISBN|978-0-8223-2217-7}}.
* {{cite book |last1=Gorriti |first1=Gustavo |author-link=Gustavo Gorriti |title=The Shining Path: A History of the Millenarian War in Peru |year= 1999 |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill, NC |isbn=978-0-8078-4676-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WXh3nmA4iE4C |language=en}}
* Isbell, Billie Jean (1994). "Shining Path and Peasant Responses in Rural Ayacucho". In ''Shining Path of Peru'', ed. David Scott Palmer. 2nd ed., New York: [[St. Martin's Press]]. {{ISBN|0-312-10619-X}}
* Koppel, Martin. ''Peru's 'Shining Path' Evolution of a Stalinist Sect'' (1994)
* Laqueur, W. (1999). ''The new terrorism: Fanaticism and the arms of mass destruction''. New York: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN?}}
* Lovell, Julia. ''Maoism: A Global History'' (2019) pp.&nbsp;306–346 on Peru.
* Martín-Baró, I. (1988) El Salvador 1987. Estudios Centroamericanos (ECA), No. 471-472, pp.&nbsp;21–45.
* {{cite book |editor-last=Palmer |editor-first=David Scott |title=The Shining Path of Peru |edition=2nd |date=1994 |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-137-05210-0 |isbn=978-0-312-10619-5 |doi=10.1007/978-1-137-05210-0}}
* {{cite book |last=Rochlin |first=James F. |title=Vanguard Revolutionaries in Latin America: Peru, Colombia, Mexico |date=2003 |publisher=[[Lynne Rienner Publishers]] |location=Boulder and London |isbn=1-58826-106-9}}
* Starn, Orin. "Maoism in the Andes: The Communist Party of Peru-Shining Path and the refusal of history." ''Journal of Latin American Studies'' 27.2 (1995): 399–421. [http://www.umass.edu/legal/Benavides/Fall2005/397U/Readings%20Legal%20397U/8%20Orin%20Starn.pdf online]
* Starn, Orin and Miguel La Serna, ''The Shining Path: Love, Madness, and Revolution in the Andes''. New York: W.W. Norton, 2019.
* {{Cite book |last=Stern |first=Steve J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dxQ7yz_-mmcC |title=Shining and Other Paths: War and Society in Peru, 1980–1995 |date=1998 |publisher=Duke University Press |isbn=978-0-8223-2217-7 |language=en |ref=SteveJStern1998 |access-date=2024-01-13}}
* {{Cite book |last=United States Congress House Committee on Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrzfhR2IWsIC |title=The Threat of the Shining Path to Democracy in Peru: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives, One Hundred Second Congress, Second Session, March 11 and 12, 1992 |date=1992 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-16-039086-9 |language=en |ref=USCHC1992 |access-date=2024-01-13}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061003131815/http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/ The People's War in Perú Archive – Information about the Communist Party of Perú (PCP)] Shining Path's official website until 1998
* {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20020827101631/http://bandera-roja.com/peru.htm Shining Path communiqués]}} on the web site of the "Partido Comunista de España [Maoista]" {{in lang|es}}
* [http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/peru/libros/cv/ Report of the (CVR) Truth and Reconciliation Commission (HTML)] {{in lang|es}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20041123140616/http://www.terrorism.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=TGroups&file=index&alpha=S Terrorism Research Center list of Terrorist Organizations.]
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/1992_cr/s921002-terror.htm Peru and the Capture of Abimael Guzman], Congressional Record, (Senate—2 October 1992)
* [http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB96/ The Search for Truth: The Declassified Record on Human Rights Abuses in Peru]. Edited by Tamara Feinstein, Director, Peru Documentation Project

{{Internal conflict in Peru}}
{{Peruvian political parties}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Shining Path| ]]
[[Category:1960s establishments in Peru]]
[[Category:Anti-revisionist organizations]]
[[Category:Anti-imperialist organizations]]
[[Category:Banned communist parties]]
[[Category:Communist parties in Peru]]
[[Category:Entities added to the Consolidated List by Australia]]
[[Category:Internal conflict in Peru]]
[[Category:Maoism in South America]]
[[Category:Maoist parties]]
[[Category:Organized crime groups in Peru]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by the European Union]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by Japan]]
[[Category:Organizations based in Latin America designated as terrorist]]
[[Category:Organizations based in South America designated as terrorist]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by the United States]]
[[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by New Zealand]]
[[Category:Political parties established in the 1960s]]
[[Category:Rebel groups in Peru]]
[[Category:Terrorism in Peru]]
[[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Canada]]
[[Category:Anti-Americanism]]