Shining Path
|
Communist Party of Peru
Partido Comunista del Perú |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Abbreviation | PCP |
| Leader | Abimael Guzmán |
| Founded | late 1960s |
| Armed wing | People's Guerrilla Army |
| Prisoners wing | Luminosas Trincheras de Combate |
| Ideology |
Communism Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Anti-Revisionism Gonzalo Thought |
| Political position | Far-left |
| International affiliation | Revolutionary Internationalist Movement |
| Colours | Red |
| Slogan |
¡Viva la Guerra Popular! ¡Guerra Popular hasta el comunismo! |
| People's Guerilla Army | |
|---|---|
|
Ejército Guerrillero Popular Participant in the Internal conflict in Peru |
|
| Active | 3 December 1982 – present |
| Ideology |
Communism Marxism–Leninism-Maoism |
| Area of operations | Peru |
| Strength | 350 |
| Part of | Communist Party of Peru |
| Opponents |
 Peru
|
| Battles and wars |
Tarata bombing Hatun Asha ambush Lucanamarca massacre |
The Communist Party of Peru (Spanish: Partido Comunista del Perú), more commonly known as the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso), is a communist militant group 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 establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat, inducing cultural revolution, and eventually sparking world revolution, they could arrive at pure communism. Their representatives said that existing socialist countries were revisionist, and they claimed to be the vanguard of the world communist movement. The Shining Path's ideology and tactics have been influential among 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 classified by the Peruvian government, the U.S., the European Union, and Canada as a terrorist organization.
Leader of the organization Abimael Guzmán stated that "the triumph of the revolution will cost a million lives" - at a time when Peru's population was only 19 million. To that end, the Shining Path attempted to eradicate elements of the political and social order, attacking community leaders, teachers and professors, and political leaders. The first case of "popular justice" was the assassination in December 1980 of Benigno Medina, a landowner. In January 1982, two teachers were executed in front of their students. Several months later, 67 "traitors" were subjected to public execution. In addition, they set about demolishing all government installations and infrastructure. In August 1982, they destroyed the Center for Agricultural Research and Experimentation in Allpahaca and killed the animals.
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