1. SENDERO LUMINOSO SHINING PATH BY
Colleen Rojas Courtney Morris Amanda Watson Sarah Howard

2. Region The Shining Path originated in the Peruvian Andes
Impoverished area
Class-based discrimination

3. Name In Spanish they are called Sendero Luminoso
Maoist guerrilla insurgents
They preferred to be known as The Communist Party of Peru

4. Founder Abimael Guzman Early involvement with radical politics
Mid seventies controlled many of the universities student council

5. Military Training Begins
1980 held several meetings
Opened the first military school
First attempt of guerilla warfare

6. Ignored by Peruvian Govt.
They grew in both territory and number of militants
Emergency Zone set up
Attacks spread to outside of the countryside

7. Powerful Group They continued to grow
Known as being ruthlessly violent
Individual attack, killing 69

8. Female Terrorist Consist of 20% of their fighting force
Considered an enemy if individual did not join
Augusta La Torre married Guzman

9. Decline of Shining Path
Guzman arrested in 1992
69 thousand dead
Continuing attempts to control rural region

10. Beginning of Sendero Luminoso
1970 Guzman & followers expelled from BR for doctrinal heresy & occultism
Established the true Communist Party of Peru
-Shining Path, Sendero Luminoso
Became personal director of a university in 1971 to establish a radical facility
-recruit & indoctrinate students
-recruit among Indian population, Ayachucho
Mid 1970’s established local cells surrounding depts. Cusco, Apurimac, Huancavelica, & Junín

11. Beginning of SL con’t.
Largest pool of non-Spanish speaking highland slum dwellers, large cities
Spent years recruiting and preparing ultimate debut before turned to violence
1978, underground to by groundwork for final struggle for power
May 1980, presidential election, attacks against polling places in Ayachucho

12. Communications with the Media
No media coverage
Only 2 short texts/ July 1981 & March 1982
Supplemented by trial testimony of captured Senderista
-occasional communiqué, slogans
Leadership refused to be interviewed
-until September 1986, Guzman accepted an
interview with ‘El Nuevo Diano’
-propaganda by deed, publicized by actions not words

13. Ideology

14. Guzman in Relation to Shining Path
Guzman controls all, undisputed authority
Autonomy does not extend to level or strategy
Carefully cultivated image of omnipresence
Photos; plain, overweight, and uninspired
4th sword of Marxism
Isolated and aloof
Presented in almost a religious manner – to appeal to local superstition and custom as well
Highly individualized organization
Charismatic leader
Armed struggle was the only means to achieve victory

15. Basic Tenants Maoist beliefs
Political agenda is based on Mao’s writings & deeds as reinterpreted by Comrade Gonzalo
Sendero calls for the abolition of a national market economy, industry, the banking system, all foreign trade, the use of currency, and the establishment of a communal village-oriented economy based on barter exchange

16. What they want? Liberated Areas
Liberated areas usually resemble the above measures
‘Liberated’ areas use the following plan;
1. Senderistas move into a village
2. They round up and slaughter local landowners & turn their
holdings over to the peasantry in 2-hectore parcels
3. Trade is halted
4. The peasantry is made to plant agriculture for their own
needs not cash
5. These actions are to help isolate the countryside from the city & end the capitalistic money obsession
Sendero wants to create a state of workers & peasants

17. International Goals
The revolution of Sendero must spread to all of South America and institute revolutions uniting all the Quechua speaking people into a socialist slate
Guzman states violence is the only means to satisfy his goals of a united S.A. socialist state

18. Guzman’s Plan for the Oncoming Struggle
Guzman has a plan for this struggle like the theory of guerrilla warfare by Mao Zedong, which consists of 3 stages:
-Stage 1: agitation & propaganda – gain support of the countryside, gain followers, develop beginnings of a guerilla army, & lay ground work for the struggle
-Stage 2: creation of select ‘liberated’ areas – widen control over rural areas, isolate the city from countryside, and bring struggle to the city through a dedicated urban support network
-Stage 3: uprising of the countryside, collapse of urban society, & the destruction of the Lima regime. The destruction of the Lima regime comes from the urban support network

19. Structure
The leader Abimael Guzman holds supreme power, authority, & control over the strategy of the entire organization
Guzman cultivates a semi-omnipresent image to his followers, he is believed to possess a special vision & have supernatural qualities
Guzman’s followers follow him unquestionably, comply with orders & directives without condition, and give him complete devotion
Guzman operates through a National Directorate & Central Committee responsible for the movements operation

20. Structure con’t.
The organization is split up into numerous regional commands, which jobs may include recruitment & the choosing of local targets. They work with a degree of tactical independence
The many members are organized along cellular lines and draw subsistence from local sympathizers
Notable leaders – Julio Mezich-number 2 man, Osman Barrionuevo-original (he’s still alive), Augusta La Torre-wife of Guzman. Most of the original leaders have been killed

21. Recruitment
The largest pool of recruits come from the non-Spanish speaking peoples of the highlands and indian slum dwellers in major cities
Students from the Huamanga University
Indian populations of Ayachucho
And other areas of Cusco, Apurimac, Huancavelica, and Junín

22. Attacks from the Shining Path Terrorist Group
In 1980, Peru’s military government allowed for the first time elections in the country
May 17th, 1980, they burned ballot boxes in the town of Chuschi, Ayachucho
In the Andean hills, Shining Path got support from peasantry by beating and killing disliked people of the countryside
In 1983, Shining Path took out several electrical transmission towers
1983, they set off several bombs in the offices of governing parties

23. Attacks con’t. April 1985 – Tried to assassinate Domingo Garcia Rada
June 1985 – Again took out electrical transmission towers in Lima
August 1991 – They killed one Italian and two Polish priests in the department of Ancash
1991 – Shining Path had control of most of the countryside south and in the center of Peru
February 1992 – Assassinated Maria Elena Moyano
June 1992 – Detonated a powerful bomb at Tarata Street in Lima

24. Attacks con’t. 2002 – Car bombing of the U.S. Embassy
During their reign they also targeted other leaders of Leftist groups, local political parties, labor unions, and peasant organizations
The state did not publicize the actions of the Shining Path because they believed that this group would just go away, but that turned out not to be the case

25. Future Their comeback concerning the attack of the U.S. Embassy
Possible rebirth of the Shining Path if their leader’s convictions are overturned
Shining Path would be able to survive in today’s world

26. References
Griset, P., & Mahan, S. (2003). Terrorism in perspective. University of
Central Florida at Dayton Beach: Sage Publications
MIPT Terrorism knowledge base. Retrieved 2006 from
Raport, D. (2001). Inside terrorist organizations. London: Frank Cass Publishers
Shining path biography. Retrieved 2006 from:
Shining path. Retrieved 2006 from
Shining path. (2006). Retrieved February 11, 2006, from:
Shining path suspect in Peru blast. (2002). Retrieved February 11, 2006 from
Terrorist group profiles. (2005) Retrieved 2006 from: