The Birth of Sendero Luminoso

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“No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good.” 

As history can tell us, each side of a war thinks they are doing what is best for whatever they are fighting for. Most people don’t wake up with the intention of doing evil, but instead get lost along the way. I think this best summarizes what started the biggest civil war of Peruvian history. 

In 1960’s Ayacucho, a well-respected man by the name of Abimael Guzmán taught philosophy. Guzmán frequently ran in left-wing political circles. Being influenced by the works of Marx, Lenin and Mao, he began passing on his beliefs onto his students.  As his students, later turned followers, spread his words, his influence and power began to grow. This was the birth of his party, “Sendero Luminoso”, derived from a quote of of the founder of Peru’s first communist party, José Carlos Mariátegui: “El Marxismo-Leninismo abrirá el sendero luminoso hacia la revolución” (“Marxism-Leninism will open the shining path to revolution”). When recruitment at universities became fruitless, Guzmán began recruiting from poor urban districts in Peru, particularly Indigenous people. Guzmán took advantage of Peruvian’s peasants’ mistrust of the government to move them over to his side and fight his war. 
Guzmán believed that he needed to start a class war. He believed that no change could be made without violence. His followers soon became armed and started militias. The first reported case of violence was on May 17th, 1980. Around this time, presidential elections were taking place. Sendero Luminoso entered the town of Chuschi and burned the ballot boxes as Guzmán’s first act of war. While this caught the eye of the Peruvian government, it was swiftly ignored by the press and media. This began, what he called, “The People’s War”.

References:

Documenting the Peruvian Insurrection. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.gale.com/intl/c/documenting-the-peruvian-insurrection

Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2021, April 16). Shining Path. Encyclopedia Britannica.)

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