Shining Path

The Shining Path, known in Spanish as Sendero Luminoso (SL), is a far-left Peruvian guerrilla group and political party. Its official name is the Communist Party of Peru (Partido Comunista del Perú, PCP). The group follows Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. It is listed as a terrorist organization by Peru, the United States, the European Union, Japan, and Canada, which all ban financial support to it. To set it apart from other Peruvian communist parties, scholars often call it the Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path (PCP-SL).

When the Shining Path began its "people's war" in 1980, its aim was to use guerrilla warfare to topple the government and install a New Democracy. The group’s vision for reaching a communist society involved creating a dictatorship of the proletariat, carrying out a cultural revolution, and ultimately igniting a worldwide revolution. Its leaders considered existing socialist states to be revisionist and saw the Shining Path as the leading force of the global communist movement. This ideology and approach have shaped other Maoist insurgent groups, such as the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) and organizations tied to the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement.

The Shining Path has faced widespread criticism for extreme brutality. This includes violence against peasants, most notably the Lucanamarca massacre, as well as attacks on trade union organizers, rival Marxist groups, elected officials, and ordinary citizens. Since the capture of its founder, Abimael Guzmán, in 1992, and later leaders Óscar Ramírez ("Comrade Feliciano") in 1999 and Eleuterio Flores ("Comrade Artemio") in 2012, the group’s activity has dropped. Its main surviving faction, the Militarized Communist Party of Peru (MPCP), operates in the VRAEM region. In 2018, the MPCP distanced itself from the Shining Path’s legacy to gain support from peasants the original group had persecuted. Two other factions exist: the Communist Party of Peru – Red Mantaro Base Committee (PCP-CBMR), active in the Mantaro Valley since 2001, and the Communist Party of Peru – Huallaga Regional Committee (PCP-CRH), which operated in the Huallaga region from 2004 until Comrade Artemio’s capture.

The group’s official name, Communist Party of Peru (PCP), appears on all its own documents and publications. The acronym PCP-SL is used informally by bodies like the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to differentiate it from other groups claiming the same name. The common name "Shining Path" comes from a phrase by José Carlos Mariátegui, founder of the original Peruvian Communist Party in the 1920s: "Marxism–Leninism will open the shining path to revolution." This slogan appeared on the masthead of a newspaper run by a Shining Path front group. Followers are often called *senderistas*.

The Shining Path’s remnants, mainly in the VRAEM region, consist of two parts: a paramilitary wing and a political wing. The original structure used a "concentric construction" model, with Communist Party organs at the core, the paramilitary wing around them, and the political wing on the outside. This kept the party in control of both armed and social branches, unlike the *foquismo* model common in Latin American insurgencies after the Cuban Revolution. After Guzmán’s capture, the group splintered into several factions, which the Peruvian government calls Shining Path remnants. The MPCP, founded in 1999 by brothers Víctor and Jorge Quispe Palomino after the collapse of Sendero Rojo, is seen as the main successor. Another faction has been active in the Mantaro Valley since 2001. These remnants reportedly fund themselves through cocaine trafficking. The MPCP has tried to rebrand itself and distance from the original group’s attacks on rural communities, calling Guzmán a "traitor."

The paramilitary wing, the People’s Guerrilla Army (EGP), was formally created on 3 December 1982 for combat, mobilization, and generating income. After 1992, it continued under Sendero Rojo until 1999, then under the Huallaga faction from 2004 to 2012. Since 2001, the Mantaro faction has operated it under the name People’s Liberation Army (EPL). The EGP has three tiers: the Main Force (FP), armed with larger weapons like AKM and FN FAL rifles and HK21 machine guns, tasked with ambushing police and soldiers and moving across regions; the Local Force (FL), made up of local agricultural workers given minor weapons who periodically assist the FP before returning to work, with skilled members moving into the FP; and the Base Force (FB), composed of peasants from captured territories who serve in support roles.