Support Committees for the Peruvian Revolution
{{Infobox militant organization
| name = Support Committees for the Peruvian Revolution
| native_name = Comités de Apoyo a la Revolución Peruana
| native_name_lang = es
| caption = Bulletin cover for the Madrid branch of CARP
| logo = CARP Madrid.png
| other_name = CARP
| active = 1980s–2000s
| allegiance = {{flagicon image|Emblem_of_the_PCP-Shining_Path.svg}} Shining Path
| ideology = Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
Anti-imperialism
Gonzalo Thought
| position = far-left
| attacks = Assassination of Juan Vega Llona,
Various attacks on Peruvian embassies
| status = Defunct
| partof = {{flagicon image|Logo of the Popular Movement of Peru.svg}} Peru People's Movement
| opponents = {{flagicon image|Flag of Peru (war).svg}} Peruvian Armed Forces
{{flagicon image|Seal of the National Intelligence Service of Peru.svg}} National Intelligence Service
| war = Internal conflict in Peru
}}
Support Committees for the Peruvian Revolution (Spanish: Comités de Apoyo a la Revolución Peruana, CARP) were a series of associations purposed to rally support for the Communist Party of Peru-Shining Path, as part of the party's international arm
Places
Support committees were established in Sweden, France, Spain, United States, Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Mexico, and Bolivia.{{Cite web |title=The Shining Path: The Successful Blending of Mao and Mariategui in Peru |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA255144.pdf |website=}}
Activities
= Propaganda =
Objectives include performing proselytism, collecting funds, making propaganda, and spreading a positive image of the Shining Path.{{Cite news |last=Comas |first=José |date=1992-09-17 |title=Fujimori cita con nombres y apellidos a siete senderistas residentes en España |language=es |work=El País |url=https://elpais.com/diario/1992/09/17/internacional/716680815_850215.html |access-date=2023-09-23 |issn=1134-6582}}{{Cite web |last=Tiempo |first=Casa Editorial El |date=1992-09-17 |title=FUJIMORI INTENSIFICA LA PRESIÓN |url=https://www.eltiempo.com/archivo/documento/MAM-203159 |access-date=2023-09-23 |website=El Tiempo |language=spanish}}
The committee's financial support for the Shining Path was raised through cultural and artistic events such as the Musical Guerrilla Army, conferences, and selling brochures such as El Diario, the official newspaper of the group.
In 1992, after Abimael Guzmán's arrest, the "Committee to Support the Revolution in Peru" placed ads in The Nation, The Village Voice and La Opinión criticizing the Peruvian government. These ads were signed by Ramsey Clark, Noam Chomsky, Philip Berrigan, and other activists. Some of the signatories (including Berrigan) told The Nation after the fact that they had not agreed to sign or had been misled as to the group behind the ads.Goldenberg, Sonia. "Shining Path's American 'Friends'". The Nation. March 15, 1993. After the ads were published, the Peru Peace Network (PPN), a group of American religious and human rights organizations working in Peru, launched a counter-campaign, approaching signers of the ad individually and giving them a flier.{{Cite news |last=Goldenberg |first=Sonia |date=Mar 15, 1993 |title=Shining Path's American 'friends.' |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Shining+Path%27s+American+%27friends.%27-a013519086 |access-date=January 7, 2023 |work=The Nation}}
= Terrorism =
The support committees were also involved in the Shining Path's clandestine terrorism, such as the 1988 assassination of Peruvian captain Juan Vega Llona and the 1992 Peruvian embassy attack in Stockholm.{{Cite web |last=CORREO |first=NOTICIAS |date=2016-12-06 |title=El asesinato de Vega Llona {{!}} OPINION |url=https://diariocorreo.pe/opinion/el-asesinato-de-vega-llona-715981/ |access-date=2023-09-23 |website=Correo |language=es}}{{Cite news |last=Strong |first=Simon |date=1992-05-24 |title=Where the Shining Path Leads |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/24/magazine/where-the-shining-path-leads.html |access-date=2023-09-23 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
In 1988, Peruvian captain Juan Vega Llona was shot to death during a trip to La Paz, Bolivia by a hit squad of Shining Path assassins supported by CARP-Bolivia. The Central Committee had ordered for Llona's annihilation in retribution for his involvement in the 1986 Peruvian prison riots, in which 224 Shining Path prisoners were killed during an uprising.{{Cite web |title=Punishment and Extermination: The Massacre of Political Prisoners in Lima, Peru, June 1986 |url=https://pages.uoregon.edu/caguirre/Aguirre_Punishment%20and%20Extermination.pdf}}
CARP's branches were also used to vandalize and threaten numerous Peruvian embassies, a tactic mainly inspired by the 1992 attempted assassination of Peruvian ambassador Gustavo Silva Aranda in Stockholm, Sweden.{{Cite journal |last=Gao |first=Jian |date=2021-01-01 |title=Causing Troubles Elsewhere: The Shining Path and Its International Networks, 1980–1993 |url=https://www.academia.edu/47916962 |journal=Asian Journal of Latin American Studies}}
Opposition
Due to the brutal nature of Shining Path, these Committees often faced opposition.
When Alberto Fujimori visited San Francisco, Amnesty International picketed both the hotel where he spoke and a Berkeley bookstore selling Shining Path propaganda.{{Cite news |last=Brooke |first=James |date=1991-12-18 |title=Shining Path Supporters Abroad Anger Peru |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/18/world/shining-path-supporters-abroad-anger-peru.html |access-date=2024-01-07 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
The Peruvian government published a booklet listing the atrocities of the groups and asked the European host countries to withdraw political asylum status from Peruvians who propagandize for the guerrillas.