Abimael Guzmán, Shining Path Insurgency Leader in Peru dies
Abimael Guzman, brutal leader of Peru’s Maoist Shining Path guerrillas, blamed for one of the bloodiest insurgencies in Latin America, died Saturday in a military prison, his lawyer told AFP. He had been serving a life sentence in the maximum security prison at the Callao naval base near Lima.
Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso, SL)
aka – Ejército Guerrillero Popular (People’s Guerrilla Army); EGP; Ejército Popular de Liberación (People’s Liberation Army); EPL; Partido Comunista del Peru (Communist Party of Peru); PCP; Partido Comunista del Peru en el Sendero Luminoso de Jose Carlos Mariategui (Communist Party of Peru on the Shining Path of Jose Carlos Mariategui); Socorro Popular del Peru (People’s Aid of Peru); SPP; Militarizado Partido Comunista del Peru; MCPC; Militarized Communist Party of Peru
history – formed in the late 1960s as a breakaway faction of the Peruvian Communist Party by former university professor Abimael GUZMAN, whose teachings provided the basis of the group’s militant Maoist doctrine; was one of the most ruthless terrorist groups in the Western Hemisphere at its height in the 1980s; conducted an insurgency against the Peruvian Government and waged a campaign of violence on civilians, particularly the rural peasantry, that killed an estimated 70,000 Peruvians between 1980 and 2000; in September 1992, Peruvian authorities captured GUZMAN who, along with key accomplices, is serving a life sentence in prison; following his capture, membership declined and the remnants split into two factions; by 2014, one faction had largely been eliminated, while the other continued to operate; the group continues to try to reinvent itself, organize, and proselytize, particularly amongst university students and in rural areas; in recent years has called itself Militarizado Partido Comunista del Peru (the Militarized Communist Party of Peru); remnants of the group continued to be active into 2021
goals – generate revenue by providing security to narcotics traffickers and by growing coca to produce cocaine; historically aimed to replace existing Peruvian institutions with a peasant revolutionary regime
leadership and organization – political leader is Victor Quispe PALOMINO (aka Comrade Jose), who leads with his brother Jorge Quispe PALOMINO (aka Comrade Raul), the supreme operations commander; organization unknown
areas of operation – Peru; most active in the Apurimac, Ene, and Mantaro River Valleys (VRAEM) in eastern Peru
targets, tactics, and weapons – primary targets in recent years have been Peruvian soldiers and police personnel running counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism operations against the group; also abducts civilians; typically uses guerrilla style hit-and-run tactics, including grenade attacks and snipers with long-range rifles; weapons include small arms and other light weapons, grenades, and other explosives, including improvised explosive devices
strength – estimated in 2019 to be between 250 and 300 combatants
financial resources – primarily funded by the illicit narcotics trade
designation – placed on the US Department of State’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations on 8 October 1997