Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path, SL)
Name(s). Sendero Luminoso, Shining Path, SL.
Goals and Objectives. Shining Path is a leftist organization in Peru. Its original goal was to overthrow the government and social structure of Peru and neighboring countries and replace them with a Maoist socialist system controlled by the indigenous peoples of the region. The group also opposes any foreign influence in Peru.
Favored Tactics. Shining Path has favored car bombings and assassinations, as well as massacres using machetes.

Brief History. SL was formed in the late 1960s by former university professor Abimael Guzman as a splinter group from the Communist Party of Peru. Although the group worked to bring about a Maoist revolution in Peru, its campaign did not turn into an armed conflict until 1980 when the group began to murder local officials in rural areas and assume their functions. During the 1980s and early 1990s, the group conducted numerous attacks in Peru, taking rural regions under its command. It was known for excessive brutality in bringing under its power the peasants in these regions. Indeed, SL has been responsible for one of the most violent terrorist insurgencies in the Western Hemisphere; at least 30,000 people have died since the group took up arms.447 Areas that came under SL control included prime cocagrowing regions, and the group acquired much of its funding by protecting the coca farmers from government eradication programs.448 The 1992 capture of the charismatic Guzman and a subsequent government crackdown sharply reduced the group’s capabilities. While in prison, Guzman urged followers to end their campaign against the government. One faction heeded the call for cease fire, while another did not. In March 2002, just before President Bush visited Peru, a car bomb exploded near the U.S. Embassy, killing nine people and wounding thirty. Some observers believe that the group has recently begun to reconstitute itself after years of decline.

In August of 2003, Peru’s Truth and Reconciliation Committee released its report to the public stating that upwards of 69,000 people died in the struggle between the Shining Path and government security forces.450 The report highlights the extreme brutality of the war and places blame on all sides.

Favored Tactics. Shining Path has favored car bombings and assassinations, as well as massacres using machetes.

Anti-American Activities. The group opposes any foreign influence in Peru, including that of the United States. In 1990, it attempted to bomb the U.S. Embassy in Lima using a car bomb. SL is also believed to be responsible for a 2002 car bomb attack near the U.S. Embassy three days before a visit to Lima by President George W. Bush.

Areas of Operation. The group operates almost exclusively in Peru, and mainly in rural areas. Strength and Composition. The State Department estimates the group’s current strength at 400 to 500 members. Its strength has been reduced sharply by arrests and defections; at its highpoint in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the group fielded as many as 10,000 militants, according to some accounts. The U.S. State Department’s Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2002, states that membership has begun to grow recently, perhaps because SL has become more heavily involved in narcotrafficking.

Connections With Other Terrorist Organizations. Shining Path is not known to have ties with other terrorist organizations.

State Supporters and Other Sources of Funding. SL is not funded or supported by any foreign state. It receives much of its financing from coca farmers, who pay the group to protect them from government eradication programs. The groups also finances itself through robberies and extortion.

Originally Designated as an FTO. October 8, 1997.

Re-designated. October 8, 1999, October 5, 2001.

Issues of Concern for Congress. The question of whether the Shining Path could be reconstituting itself, even in a weaker form, has potential implications for the security of Western citizens and interests, as well as the future stability of the Peruvian government. Shining Path’s involvement in narco-trafficking is also a worrisome element.