The country of Peru has been locked in civil war known as "the People's War" since 1980 when the Communist Party of Peru (or the PCP as it will be referred to from now on) declared it so. Specifically, the movement is designed to overthrow the "American backed" regimes of Peru. The Sendero Luminoso emerged during a series of splits in the Communist Party in the late 60's. Following the lead of Abimael Guzman, a professor at a regional Peruvian University, they formulated an ideology and have since stuck with it from the advent of the "People's War" all the way to present times (Selbin's Modern Latin American Revolutions) Their goal was to cause massive insurgency among the peasants of Peru and the destruction of the Democratic form of government in favor of an Indian based socialist system. During the course of the last 18 years, Guzman has since been captured by current Peruvian President Albert Fujimori and and attempted Guzman peace settlement has divided the Shining Path in two, thereby largely muting the violence associated with it.
LINKS
The Committee to Support
the Revolution in Peru Home Page 
A pro Shining
Path with a lot of information on the Shining Path movement as well as other
liberation movements around the world. Primarily, however, the focus is on
Peru. This site features Revolutionary artwork, the latest news on "The
People's War", as well as information as varied as the crimes of the Fujimori
regime and documents of the communist party. In other sections of the Home
Page (not directly linked to) you can order propaganda and even join the
campaign to save the life of Abimael Guzman.
Peru's Tarnished
Path 
Another pro Shining path
article from the Progressive Labor Party (a Communist Party's web page.
The article begins with a lamentation of sorts on the modern conditions in Peru
(many good statistics are available about the Indian population), followed
shortly by a history of the Shining Path movement (much more detailed than this
web page's). Following shortly are the aims, objectives and strategies of the
Sendero Luminoso. Unfortunately, the very last section of the document the
Final Word has not been done so this source is incomplete, but what is contained
in it is quite good.
The
Terrorism Research Center's Report on the Shining Path 
A clearly anti
Shining Path source that details a little about how the Shining Path manages to
keep itself funded as well as as some of the punishments it's member's have
received. While not clearly pro Fujimori, the source implies that
Fujimori's declaration of emergency rule in 1992 was a good and necessary
thing.
Interview with
Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori 
A five minute
interview with President Alberto Fujimori done by CNN on January 8, 1997.
In order to view the interview you must download a VIVO player. In
the interview, Fujimori is asked about what he plans to do to about reform of
the Judicial system, thus ending the oppression of his anti terrorist laws (Part
2), if he will use violence to end the standoff with the Sendero Luminoso (Part
1), among other questions. This source is a little neutral, and while the
information it provides is minimal it is a first hand source.
Violations of
International Accords perpetrated by the Fujimori Regime 
An anti
Fujimori article detailing the the violations of basic civil liberties by the
current Peruvian Regime. Inside the actual document itself are more
specific detailed accounts of the violations, as well as the actual texts of the
"emergency declarations" of the Fujimori regime. Also, the actual accords
that the Peruvian government has signed (and broken) are available through links
on the page.
Human Rights
Violations Perpetrated by the Sendero Luminoso 
A report documenting
various human rights violations perpetrated by the Shining Path
guerrillas. This document contains links to the official
Amnesty International report on the Human Rights Situation in Peru, which
includes the violations of the Fujimori Regime. Clearly, this site favors
neither side due to its stance on human rights and the clear violations by both
sides. As an interesting tidbit, one can read the Shining Path's rebuttal
to their documented violations on the CSRP web page.
The Role of
Women in the Shining Path Movement 
An article
written in Harvard Magazine by M. Elaine Mar detailing the expanded role of
women in the Shining Path Movement. She writes of how the Revolution in
Peru is the first Latin American Revolution that women have played such a vital
part in the movement, thereby breaking the "boys-only" club "forged in the Che
Guevara mold". It tells a little of journalist Robin Kirk (the translator
of the book The
Shining Path: A History of the Millenarian War in Peru) and his
interviews with women as to why they would become involved in such a violent
Revolution. More info on this topic from the Shining Path Perspective can be found
on their web page and from an interview from a
member of the Committee Sol Peru.
The
Future of the Shining Path 
Heading into the new
Millennium, the founder of the Shining Path sits in jail on a tiny island
outside Lima. The cause is divided due to a disagreement over the 1993
negotiated peace. Everyday the revolution seems to lose steam due to many
reports of the destruction the Guerillas caused. So what lies in store for
the future of the Shining Path Movement? This article by Peruvian
journalist Carlos Reyna Izaguirre probes the possible future of the Movement in
this short article that details the beginnings of the Movement, a few things
that went wrong with it, and lastly what lies in store for the movement in the
next Millennium.
Pro-Communist Artwork from the Movement
This Page Designed by: Turk Behlmann and Nate Owings
