The Shining Path's credibility was also bolstered by 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 affected by the Shining Path's actions as the Interior Minister, José María de la Jara, believed the group could be easily defeated through Police actions. Additionally, the civilian president, Fernando Belaúnde Terry who returned to power in 1980, was reluctant to cede authority to the armed forces, as his first government had ended in a military coup. This gave the impression that the President was unconcerned about the activities of the Shining Path. The result was that, to the peasants in the areas where the Shining Path was active, the state gave the appearance of impotence or lack of interest in the region. However, it became evident that the Shining Path represented a clear threat to the state.
On December 29, 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 used this power extremely heavy-handedly, arresting scores of innocent people, at times subjecting them to torture and rape. Police, military forces and members of the Popular Guerrilla Army (Ejército Guerrillero Popular, or EGP) carried out several massacres throughout the conflict. Military personnel took to wearing black ski-masks in order to protect their identities and, therefore their safety and that of their families. Masks were also used to hide the identity of military personnel as they
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Neutral Take On The Topic
The Shining Path is Back, Well, Never Really Went Away
The leftist rebel group, the Shining Path, is still active in Peru, if only a small flicker compared to their previous existence when they terrorized the country, and tens of thousands died as part of the fighting between them and the government. Today, 13 soldiers were killed in the Ayacucho region in the southeast of Peru. Last year the guerrillas killed 25 soldiers and police. This is not the full-scale revolution that officially ended in 1992, but it is a rise in violence, and a sign that the political situation in Peru is not settled.
Why has the Shining Path started fighting again? It, like most fighting, is a response. The Peruvian government started Operation Excellence in 2008 to go after the remaining revolutionaries. These men have most likely been fighting for years, living in the forests, and are not going to be easy targets. They also are allegedly tied with some of the Peruvian cocaine industry, which would supply revenue for the group. Meanwhile, the former leader who is hailed as a hero by some for putting down the group, Fujimori, was just recently sentenced to 25 years for human rights abuses. His daughter is expected to run as a conservative candidate in the next elections. Looks like the ghosts from the past are coming out to settle things. I just hope that the people aren’t caught in the cross fire.
An American Journalist working for the International Herald Tribune
Why has the Shining Path started fighting again? It, like most fighting, is a response. The Peruvian government started Operation Excellence in 2008 to go after the remaining revolutionaries. These men have most likely been fighting for years, living in the forests, and are not going to be easy targets. They also are allegedly tied with some of the Peruvian cocaine industry, which would supply revenue for the group. Meanwhile, the former leader who is hailed as a hero by some for putting down the group, Fujimori, was just recently sentenced to 25 years for human rights abuses. His daughter is expected to run as a conservative candidate in the next elections. Looks like the ghosts from the past are coming out to settle things. I just hope that the people aren’t caught in the cross fire.
An American Journalist working for the International Herald Tribune
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Background
Flag of the Communist Party of PeruShining Path
The Communist Party of Peru, more commonly known as the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), is a Maoist guerrilla organization in Peru. When it first launched the internal conflict in Peru in 1980, its stated goal was to replace what it saw as bourgeois democracy with "New Democracy." The Shining Path believed that by imposing a dictatorship of the proletariat, inducing cultural revolution, and eventually sparking world revolution, they could arrive at pure communism. The Shining Path also believed that all existing socialist countries were revisionist, and that the Shining Path itself was the vanguard of the world communist movement. The Shining Path's ideology and tactics have been influential on other Maoist insurgent groups, notably the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and other Revolutionary Internationalist Movement-affiliated organizations.
Widely condemned for its brutality, including violence deployed against peasants, trade union organizers, popularly elected officials and the general civilian population, the Shining Path is regarded by Peru as a terrorist organization. The group is on the U.S. Department of State's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and the European Union and Canada likewise regard them as a terrorist organization and prohibit providing funding or other financial support.
Since the capture of its leader Abimael Guzmán in 1992, the Shining Path has only been sporadically active. Certain factions of the Shining Path now claim to fight in order to force the government to reach a peace treaty with the rebels. Similar to the larger FARC in Colombia, some factions of Shining Path have reinvented themselves as a highly efficient cocaine smuggling operation, with an ostensibly paternalistic relationship to villagers.
Widely condemned for its brutality, including violence deployed against peasants, trade union organizers, popularly elected officials and the general civilian population, the Shining Path is regarded by Peru as a terrorist organization. The group is on the U.S. Department of State's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and the European Union and Canada likewise regard them as a terrorist organization and prohibit providing funding or other financial support.
Since the capture of its leader Abimael Guzmán in 1992, the Shining Path has only been sporadically active. Certain factions of the Shining Path now claim to fight in order to force the government to reach a peace treaty with the rebels. Similar to the larger FARC in Colombia, some factions of Shining Path have reinvented themselves as a highly efficient cocaine smuggling operation, with an ostensibly paternalistic relationship to villagers.
Origins
The Shining Path was founded in the late 1960s by former university philosophy professor Abimael Guzmán (referred to by his followers by his nom de guerre Presidente Gonzalo), whose teachings created the foundation for its militant Maoist doctrine. It was an offshoot of the Communist Party of Peru — Bandera Roja ("red flag"), which in turn split from the original Peruvian Communist Party, a derivation of the Peruvian Socialist Party founded by José Carlos Mariátegui in 1928.
The Shining Path first established a foothold in San Cristóbal of Huamanga University, in Ayacucho, where Guzmán taught philosophy. The university had recently reopened after being closed for about half a century, and many students of the newly-educated class adopted the Shining Path's radical ideology. Between 1973 and 1975, the Shining Path gained control of the student councils in the Universities of Huancayo and La Cantuta, and developed a significant presence in the National University of Engineering in Lima and the National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas. Sometime later, it lost many student elections in the universities, including Guzmán's own San Cristóbal of Huamanga, and decided to abandon the universities and reconsolidate itself.
Beginning on March 17, 1980, the Shining Path held a series of clandestine meetings in Ayacucho, known as the Central Committee's second plenary. 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 militants were instructed in military tactics and weapons use. They also engaged in the "criticism and self-criticism," a Maoist practice intended to purge bad habits and avoid repeating mistakes. During 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.
The Shining Path first established a foothold in San Cristóbal of Huamanga University, in Ayacucho, where Guzmán taught philosophy. The university had recently reopened after being closed for about half a century, and many students of the newly-educated class adopted the Shining Path's radical ideology. Between 1973 and 1975, the Shining Path gained control of the student councils in the Universities of Huancayo and La Cantuta, and developed a significant presence in the National University of Engineering in Lima and the National University of San Marcos, the oldest university in the Americas. Sometime later, it lost many student elections in the universities, including Guzmán's own San Cristóbal of Huamanga, and decided to abandon the universities and reconsolidate itself.
Beginning on March 17, 1980, the Shining Path held a series of clandestine meetings in Ayacucho, known as the Central Committee's second plenary. 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 militants were instructed in military tactics and weapons use. They also engaged in the "criticism and self-criticism," a Maoist practice intended to purge bad habits and avoid repeating mistakes. During 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.
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