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Shining Path
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=== Armed conflict (1980–1993) === {{main|Internal conflict in Peru}} [[File:ShiningPathFiveYears.jpg|thumb|Poster of Abimael Guzmán celebrating five years of [[people's war]]]] By 1980, Shining Path had about 500 members.<ref name=":8" /> When Peru's military government allowed [[Elections in Peru|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 [[Chuschi ballot burning incident|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 [[Andes|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 Region|Ayacucho]], [[Apurímac Region|Apurímac]], and [[Huancavelica Region|Huancavelica]]. At times, the civilian population of small, neglected towns participated in popular trials, especially when the victims of the trials were widely disliked.<ref>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.</ref> 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.<ref>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.</ref> 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 d'état|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 of Peru|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 interrogation<ref>[[Amnesty 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.</ref> as well as rape.<ref>[[Human Rights Watch]] [https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/WR93/Hrw-04.htm "The Women's Rights Project."]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> Members of the Peruvian Armed Forces began to wear black [[Balaclava (clothing)|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 "[[Ronda Campesina|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, [[stoning|stoned]] him, [[Stabbing|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]].<ref name=Huancasancos>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.</ref> Additional massacres of civilians by the Shining Path would occur throughout the conflict.<ref name=":8" /><ref>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.</ref><ref>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.</ref> 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 [[Power outage|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 (Peru)|Popular Action]]. Escalating its activities in Lima, in June 1985, it blew up electricity transmission towers in Lima, producing a blackout, and detonated [[car bomb]]s near the government palace and the justice palace. It was believed to be responsible for bombing a shopping mall.<ref>[[Human Rights Watch]]. [https://www.hrw.org/reports/1995/WR95/AMERICAS-10.htm Peru: Human Rights Developments]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> 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, [[Trade union|labor unions]], and peasant organizations, some of whom were anti-Shining Path [[Marxism|Marxists]].<ref name="Quien" /> 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,<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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.<ref name="Courtois677">[[Stéphane Courtois]] et al. ''[[The Black Book of Communism]]: Crimes, Terror, Repression''. [[Harvard University Press]], 1999. {{ISBN|0-674-07608-7}} p. 677</ref> ==== Level of support ==== [[File:Zones registering Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) activity.svg|thumb|243x243px|Areas where the Shining Path was active in Peru]] By 1990, the Shining Path had about 3,000 armed members at its greatest extent.<ref name=":8" /> 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),<ref>[[Nelson Manrique|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}}).</ref> as well as ''[[Peasant|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 (politics)|subversion]] to be justifiable in June 1988, while only 17 percent considered it justifiable in 1991.<ref>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.</ref> 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."<ref name="Kenney">Kenney, Charles D. 2004. ''Fujimori's Coup and the Breakdown of Democracy in Latin America.'' Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame.</ref> 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.<ref name="Kenney" /> 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.<ref>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.</ref> Many peasants were unhappy with the Shining Path's rule for a variety of reasons, such as its disrespect for [[Indigenous peoples in Peru|indigenous]] culture and institutions.<ref>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}}).</ref> 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."<ref>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.</ref><ref>[[Orin Starn|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}}).</ref> Peasants were offended by the rebels' injunction against burying the bodies of Shining Path victims.<ref>Degregori, p. 140.</ref> The Shining Path followed Mao Zedong's dictum that guerrilla warfare should start in the countryside and gradually choke off the cities.<ref>''Desarrollar la lucha armada del campo a la ciudad'', San Marcos 1985 PCP speech</ref> According to multiple sources, the Shining Path received support from [[History of Libya under Muammar Gaddafi|Gaddafi's Libya]].<ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref><ref>{{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}}</ref> ==== Fujimori government ==== [[File:Al Fujimori.jpg|thumb|215x215px|President [[Alberto Fujimori]], 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.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":8" /> 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").<ref>[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.</ref> 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;<ref>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.</ref> 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 Region|Ayacucho]], to fight the rebels. Ayacucho, [[Huancavelica Province|Huancavelica]], Apurímac and [[Huánuco Region|Huánuco]] were declared emergency zones, allowing for some constitutional rights to be suspended in those areas.<ref>{{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}}</ref> 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 (Peru)|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]].<ref name=":8" /><ref>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.</ref><ref>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.</ref> In one of its last attacks in Lima, on 16 July 1992, the Shining Path [[Tarata bombing|detonated a powerful bomb]] on [[Calle Tarata|Tarata Street]] in the [[Miraflores District, Lima|Miraflores District]], full of civilian adults and children,<ref>"Ataque terrorista en Tarata." [https://web.archive.org/web/20041114012731/http://www.solblanco.8m.com/ataq_tarata.htm Archived online]. Retrieved 16 January 2008</ref> killing 25 people and injuring an additional 155.<ref>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.</ref>
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