Sendero Luminoso- the “Shining Path”- ranks among the most elusive secretative and brutal guerrilla organizations in the world. For a decade, it has carried out a violent, clandestine rebellion in Peru unlike any seen thus far in the Western Hemisphere. Strenghened by adherence to the theories of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, and Mao Zedong, the insurgency is determined to overthrow Peru´s existing socioeconomic system and reconstructure the state with its own unique interpretation of communism.

The Sendero Luminoso movement first emerged in May 1980, at the time when democracy returned to Peru after 12 years of military dictatorship. Since then it has continued to grow steadily. Once a radical uprising limited to the Andean highlands of Ayacucho, it is now a movement of national proportions that was woven itself into the fabric of Peruvian society.  At first essentially ignored as a temporary disturbance, it is recognized today as the Peruvian government´s greatest domestic problem. Even the nation´s hyperinflation pales in comparison.

Unlike many other terrorist groups, Sendero Luminoso is founded upon an intellectual infrastructure. The movement is led by the now legendary Abimael Guzmán, a former philosophy professor revered by Senderistas as “the fourth sword of communism” (after Marx, Lenin and Mao).