Shining Path

{{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,{{Cite book |title=El Partido Comunista del Perú (Sendero Luminoso) |publisher=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}} 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").{{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}} 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.

The Shining Path's remnants currently operate in the VRAEM region and primarily comprises two groups and their sub-branches; a paramilitary wing and a political wing.{{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}} 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.{{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}} This ensured the political party retained control of both its armed and social branches, contrasting itself with the more frequent foquismo model that swept through Latin American insurgencies after the Cuban Revolution.

The capture of Shining Path leader Abimael Guzmán in 1992 led to the eventual splintering of the group into several factions, 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,{{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}} 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".

{{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){{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}}

| partof =

| predecessor =

| successor = Revolutionary Armed Forces of Peru (splinter group)

| allies = State allies:

• {{flag|Libyan Arab Jamahiriya|name=Libya}} (until 2011){{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}}

Non-state allies:

• 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. 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.{{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}}
• 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.{{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}}

In 2009, then president Alan García accused the group of using child soldiers to execute wounded army personnel.[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. 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.{{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}}

Under the leadership of 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}}).{{Cite magazine |title=La guerra en el VRAEM: los problemas del Estado para restablecer la paz y los vacíos legales aplazados |magazine=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}} In 2020, it was reported to have made money from selling cigarettes, clothes, candy, raffles and other methods.

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. It has two main branches, MOVADEF (2009–2024) and FUDEPP, as well as a number of multiple smaller organisations, usually specified to a particular purpose or issue.{{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}} Examples of these include:

As its power grew, the Shining Path changed its official ideology from "Marxism–Leninism–Mao Zedong thought" to "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 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.{{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}}

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.[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{{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}}

{{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),{{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}}{{cite book|last=Alexander|first=Yonah|title=Combating terrorism: strategies of ten countries|year=2002|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0472098241|pages=92}} also known by its proposed name of "People's Republic of Peru" ({{langx|es|República Popular del Perú}}).{{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."}}{{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}} 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.{{Cite web |url=https://lum.cultura.pe/cdi/content/1992 |title=Año: 1992 § Violencia de origen político |website=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}}{{Cite book |title=Informe final |publisher=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}}

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.

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 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 bourgeois man, a position that was at the forefront of feudalism, like 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 ColinasCommunist 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.}}

After the collapse of the Fujimori government, interim President Valentín Paniagua established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the conflict. The Commission found in its 2003 Final Report that 69,280 people died or disappeared between 1980 and 2000 as a result of the armed conflict.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. The Shining Path was found to be responsible for about 54% of the deaths and disappearances reported to the commission.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 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. 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."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. The MRTA was held responsible for 1.5% of the deaths.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. 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."{{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}}{{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}} The TRC later came out to respond to these statements.{{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}}

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.artículo en el sitio web Actitud Gay Magazine (Buenos Aires) del 21 de mayo de 2007. Consultado el 9 de abril de 2012. 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."[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.[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.

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."{{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}}{{better source needed|date=March 2022}}

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.Nathaniel C. Nash: Shining Path Women: So Many and So Furios.. Lima Journal, Abschnitt A. The New York Times, New York. 22 September 1992.

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.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. 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.{{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 }} This was far different than what has been seen before the 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.{{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 }}

File:Shining Path electoral boycott poster.jpg]]

The Shining Path was founded in 1969 by Abimael Guzmán, a former university philosophy professor (his followers referred to him by his nom de guerre Presidente Gonzalo), and a group of 11 others.{{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."}} Guzmán was heavily influenced by a trip to China and admired the teachings of Mao Zedong.{{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}} 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.{{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 }}

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.Colin

Harding, “Antonio Díaz Martínez and the Ideology of Sendero Luminoso,” Bulletine for Latin American Research 7#1 (January 1988) pp 65–73.Julia Lovell, Maoism: A Global History (2019) pp 306–346.

From 1970 to 1977, Shining Path built a student organization and regional-committee based party in Lima and the central sierra.{{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}}{{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.{{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.'"}} Between 1973 and 1975, the Shining Path members gained control of the student councils at the Universities of Huancayo and 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. The Shining Path opposed large national strikes in 1977 and 1978 because it viewed some of the participants as revisionists or tools of "socio-imperialism".{{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=}}{{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.{{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 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.{{Rp|page=137}}

A timeline of the Peruvian Communist Party (PCP)'s splinter groups is as follows:

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id:Unidad value:rgb(0.7,0.7,1) # light blue

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id:SL value:rgb(1,1,0.7) # light yellow

id:SL-P value:rgb(1,1,0.9) # very light yellow

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from: 1928 till: 1930

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from: 1928 till: 1930

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from: 1964 till: 1969 color:BR text:

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from: 1928 till: 1930

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from: 1964 till: 1969 color:BR text:

from: 1969 till: 1992 color:SL text:PCP-SL

from: 1992 till: end color:SL-P

{{main|Internal conflict in Peru}}

File:ShiningPathFiveYears.jpg]]

By 1980, Shining Path had about 500 members. When Peru's military government allowed 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 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 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, Apurímac, and Huancavelica. At times, the civilian population of small, neglected towns participated in popular trials, especially when the victims of the trials were widely disliked.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.

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.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. 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.

On 29 December 1981, the government declared an "emergency zone" in the three Andean regions of Ayacucho, Huancavelica, and Apurímac and granted the 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 interrogationAmnesty 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. as well as rape.Human Rights Watch [https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Hrw-04.htm "The Women's Rights Project."]. Retrieved 13 January 2008. Members of the Peruvian Armed Forces began to wear black 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 "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, stoned him, 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.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. Additional massacres of civilians by the Shining Path would occur throughout the conflict.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.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.

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 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. Escalating its activities in Lima, in June 1985, it blew up electricity transmission towers in Lima, producing a blackout, and detonated car bombs near the government palace and the justice palace. It was believed to be responsible for bombing a shopping mall.Human Rights Watch. [https://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/WR95/AMERICAS-10.htm Peru: Human Rights Developments]. Retrieved 13 January 2008. 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, labor unions, and peasant organizations, some of whom were anti-Shining Path Marxists. 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,{{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}} 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.Stéphane Courtois et al. The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press, 1999. {{ISBN|0-674-07608-7}} p. 677

File:Zones registering Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) activity.svg

By 1990, the Shining Path had about 3,000 armed members at its greatest extent. 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),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}}). as well as 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 to be justifiable in June 1988, while only 17 percent considered it justifiable in 1991.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. 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."Kenney, Charles D. 2004. Fujimori's Coup and the Breakdown of Democracy in Latin America. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame. 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. 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.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.

Many peasants were unhappy with the Shining Path's rule for a variety of reasons, such as its disrespect for indigenous culture and institutions.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}}). 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."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.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}}). Peasants were offended by the rebels' injunction against burying the bodies of Shining Path victims.Degregori, p. 140.

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

According to multiple sources, the Shining Path received support from Gaddafi's Libya.{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}{{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}}

File:Al Fujimori.jpg, 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. 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").[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. 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;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. 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, to fight the rebels. Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Apurímac and Huánuco were declared emergency zones, allowing for some constitutional rights to be suspended in those areas.{{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}}

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 and the Army Intelligence Service, notably the La Cantuta massacre, the Santa massacre and the Barrios Altos massacre, which were committed by Grupo Colina.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.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.

In one of its last attacks in Lima, on 16 July 1992, the Shining Path detonated a powerful bomb on Tarata Street in the Miraflores District, full of civilian adults and children,"Ataque terrorista en Tarata." [https://web.archive.org/web/20041114012731/http://www.solblanco.8m.com/ataq_tarata.htm Archived online]. Retrieved 16 January 2008 killing 25 people and injuring an additional 155.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.

On 12 September 1992, the Special Intelligence Group (GEIN) 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."[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

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.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

Guzmán's role as the leader of the Shining Path was taken over by 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 ideology.{{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 }} Together with Ramírez, 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.{{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 }} 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.Rochlin, pp. 71–72.

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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

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Period = from:1968 till:2025

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from: 1970 till: 1992 text:

from: 1992 till: 1999 color: PS text: Pro-Seguir

from: 1999 till: 2018 color:PS text: People's Revolutionary Army

from: 2018 till: end color:MP text: MPCP

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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

The three remaining splinter groups based themselves in the VRAEM area:

• The "People's Guerrilla Army" (ERP) led by the Quispe Palomino brothers (Víctor and Jorge).
• 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".{{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}}{{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}}
• The "Communist Party of Peru – Huallaga Regional Committee" (PCP-CRH), a collective established in 2004 in the Huallaga Valley led by Comrade Artemio.

Although the organization's numbers had lessened by 2003, a militant faction of the Shining Path called Proseguir ("Onward") continued to be active.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. 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.

File:Flag of the PCP-CBMR.svg

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.{{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}}

On 20 March 2002, a 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.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1884762.stm "Peru bomb fails to deter Bush"]. BBC. 21 March 2002. Retrieved 14 April 2009.

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 pipeline project that would take natural gas from Cusco to Lima.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9904E2DD1339F933A25755C0A9659C8B63 "Pipeline Workers Kidnapped"]. The New York Times, 10 June 2003. Retrieved 13 January 2008. 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 aircraft from the Brazilian Air Force,{{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}}{{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}} the rebels abandoned the hostages; according to government sources, no ransom was paid.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/2980154.stm "Peru hostages set free"]. BBC, 11 June 2003. Retrieved 17 January 2008. However, there were rumors that US$200,000 was paid to the rebels.[https://web.archive.org/web/20050515162722/http://americas.org/item_8405 "Gas Workers Kidnapped, Freed"] Americas.org. Retrieved 17 January 2008

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.[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. 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.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. By late October 2003, there were 96 attacks in Peru, projecting a 15% decrease from the 134 kidnappings and armed attacks in 2002. Also for the year, eightUnited 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. or nine people were killed by the Shining Path, and 6 senderistas were killed and 209 were captured.

File:Artemioandfriends.jpg, 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.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. 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.[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, 29 September 2004. Retrieved 16 January 2008. {{in lang|es}}

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, killing eight.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E2D81430F931A15751C1A9639C8B63 "Rebels Kill 8 Policemen"]. The New York Times, 22 December 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2008. 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.[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}} 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.The Washington Times. 12 December 2006. "Troops dispatched to corral guerrillas." In November 2007, police said they killed Artemio's second-in-command, a guerrilla known as JL.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7116301.stm "Peru police 'kill leading rebel'"]. BBC. Retrieved 13 January 2008.

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.[https://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN09325588 "Peru army may have killed farmers – rights group"]. Reuters. Retrieved 11 June 2009. 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.[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. 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.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7664107.stm "Peru rebels launch deadly ambush'"]. BBC. Retrieved 11 June 2009.[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. It came one day after a clash in the Vizcatan region, which left five rebels and one soldier dead.[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.

In November 2008, the rebels utilized hand grenades and automatic weapons in an assault that claimed the lives of 4 police officers.[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. In April 2009, the Shining Path ambushed and killed 13 government soldiers in Ayacucho.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7995524.stm "Rebels kill 13 soldiers in Peru"]. BBC. Retrieved 12 April 2009. Grenades and dynamite were used in the attack. The dead included eleven soldiers and one captain, and two soldiers were also injured, with one reported missing. Poor communications were said to have made relay of the news difficult. The country's Defense Minister, Antero Flores Aráoz, said many soldiers "plunged over a cliff". 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". In the aftermath, a Sendero leader called this "the strongest [anti-government] blow{{nbsp}}... in quite a while".{{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}} 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.[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.

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.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8648299.stm "Peru rebels ambush and kill coca plantation clearers".] BBC, 28 April 2010 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).{{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 | 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}}{{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 | 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}}{{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}} 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.{{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" | 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}}

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,{{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}} 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.{{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}} Walter Diaz, the lead candidate to succeed Artemio,{{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}} was captured on 3 March,{{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}} further ensuring the disintegration of the Alto Huallaga valley faction. On 3 April 2012, Jaime Arenas Caviedes, a senior leader in the group's remnants in Alto Huallaga Valley who was also regarded to be the leading candidate to succeed Artemio following Diaz's arrest,[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}} was captured.{{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}} After Caviedes, alias "Braulio", was captured, Humala declared that the Shining Path was now unable to operate in the Alto Huallaga Valley.{{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}} 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.{{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}} According to the military Joint Command spokesman, Col. Alejandro Lujan, no one was kidnapped or injured during the attack.{{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}} The capture of Artemio effectively ended the war between Shining Path and the Government of Peru.

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 million.[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. 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.{{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}}

On 9 April 2016, on the eve of 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.[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. Shining Path snipers killed three police officers in the Ene Apurimac Valley on 18 March 2017.{{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}}

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. Objectives were created to first attack public officials, then regain lost territory and then finally overthrow the government.

Into the 2020s, Shining Path has existed in remaining splinter groups. 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. 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. 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.{{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}}

Another notable splinter group called the Communist Party of Peru – Red Mantaro Base Committee (PCP-CBMR),{{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}} which remains loyal to Abimael Guzman,{{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}} 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.{{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}} The group has in the past signed documents{{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}} 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. Alfredo Crespo, the secretary general of MOVADEF and Guzmán's former lawyer, was included among those arrested.{{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}} Operation Olimpo included 752 military personnel and 98 government prosecutors that utilized evidence obtained through wiretapping, undercover agents and surveillance. Those arrested were charged with operating shell operations to initiate terrorist activities in Callao and Lima.

American hard rock band Guns N' Roses quotes a speech by a Shining Path officer in their 1990 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."{{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}}

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.{{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}}

• 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.
• 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

• Communism in Peru
• Definitions of terrorism
• Communist terrorism
• Left-wing terrorism
• List of designated terrorist groups

{{notelist|30em}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

• Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación (2003). "Informe Final". Lima: CVR. {{in lang|es}}
• 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. 306–346 on Peru.
• Martín-Baró, I. (1988) El Salvador 1987. Estudios Centroamericanos (ECA), No. 471-472, pp. 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}}

• [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: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

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Category:Anti-Americanism