The Shining Path (, SL), officially the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a far-left political party and guerrilla group in Peru, following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. The group is designated as a terrorist organization by the government of Peru, the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Canada. Academics often refer to the group as the Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path (, abbr. PCP-SL) to distinguish it from other communist parties in Peru.
When it first launched its "people's war" in 1980, the Shining Path's goal was to overthrow the government through guerrilla warfare and replace it with a New Democracy. The Shining Path believed that by establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat, inducing a cultural revolution, and eventually sparking a world revolution, they could arrive at a Communist society. Their representatives stated that the then-existing socialist countries were revisionist, and the Shining Path was the vanguard of the world communist movement. The Shining Path's ideology and tactics have influenced other Maoist insurgent groups, such as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and other Revolutionary Internationalist Movement-affiliated organizations.Maske, Mahesh. "Maovichar", in Studies in Nepali History and Society, Vol. 7, No. 2 (December 2002), p. 275.
The Shining Path has been widely condemned for its excessive brutality, including violence deployed against peasants, such as the Lucanamarca massacre, as well as for its violence towards trade union organizers, competing Marxist groups, elected officials, and the general public. The Shining Path is regarded as a terrorist organization by the government of Peru, along with Japan, the United States, the European Union,Council Common Position 2005/936/CFSP. . 14 March 2005. Retrieved 13 January 2008. and Canada,Government of Canada. "Listed Entities" . Retrieved 11 June 2009. all of whom consequently prohibit funding and other financial support to the group.
Since the capture of Shining Path founder Abimael Guzmán in 1992 and of his successors Óscar Ramírez ("Comrade Feliciano") in 1999 and Eleuterio Flores ("Comrade Artemio") in 2012, the Shining Path has declined in activity. The main remaining faction of the Shining Path, the Militarized Communist Party of Peru (MPCP), is active in the VRAEM region of Peru, and it has since distanced itself from the Shining Path's legacy in 2018 in order to maintain the support of peasants previously persecuted by the Shining Path. In addition to the MPCP, the Communist Party of Peru – Red Mantaro Base Committee (PCP-CBMR) has been operating in the Mantaro Valley since 2001, while the Communist Party of Peru – Huallaga Regional Committee (PCP-CRH) was active at the Huallaga region from 2004 until Comrade Artemio's capture in 2012.
Name
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, 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: "" ("Marxism–Leninism will open the shining path to revolution"). This maxim was featured on the masthead of the newspaper of a Shining Path front group. The followers of this group are generally called senderistas.
Structure Organization The Shining Path's remnants currently operate in the VRAEM region and primarily comprises two groups and their sub-branches; a paramilitary wing and a political wing. 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. 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 (). 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, 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".
Paramilitary wing
The People's Guerrilla Army (, 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 (, EPL).
The EGP's structure is as follows: Main Force (; 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. Local Force (; 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 (; 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.
In 2009, then president Alan García accused the group of using child soldiers to execute wounded army personnel.Perú denunciará a Sendero Luminoso ante la ONU y la OEA por utilizar niños . 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.
Under the leadership of Víctor Quispe Palomino, it was reorganised as the Popular Revolutionary Army (; 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 (). In 2020, it was reported to have made money from selling cigarettes, clothes, candy, raffles and other methods.
Political wing The United Front () serves as the political and bureaucratic arm of the Shining Path that uses generated organisms (), 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. Examples of these include: