Shining Path facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Communist Party of Peru
Partido Comunista del Perú
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| Abbreviation | PCP (official) PCP-SL (unofficial) |
| Leaders |
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| Founder | Abimael Guzmán |
| Founded | 1969 (de facto) |
| Split from | Peruvian Communist Party (Red Flag) |
| Armed wing | People's Liberation Army |
| Ideology |
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| Political position | Far-left |
| International affiliation |
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| Colors | Red |
| Slogan | ¡Viva la Guerra Popular! ¡Guerra Popular hasta el comunismo! ("Long live the People's War! People's War until communism!") |
| Party flag | |
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The Shining Path (Spanish: Sendero Luminoso), self-named the Communist Party of Peru (Partido Comunista del Perú, abbr. PCP), is a far-left political party and guerrilla group in Peru.
When it first launched its "people's war" in 1980, the Shining Path's goal was to overthrow the government through guerrilla warfare and replace it with a New Democracy. The Shining Path believed that by establishing a dictatorship of the proletariat, inducing a cultural revolution, and eventually sparking a world revolution, they could arrive at full communism.
The Shining Path has been widely condemned for its excessive brutality, including violence deployed against peasants, trade union organizers, competing Marxist groups, elected officials and the general public. The Shining Path is regarded as a terrorist organization by the government of Peru, along with Japan, the United States, the European Union, and Canada, all of whom consequently prohibit funding and other financial support to the group.
Since the captures of Shining Path founder Abimael Guzmán in 1992 and his successors Óscar Ramírez in 1999 and Comrade Artemio in 2012, the Shining Path declined in activity. The main remaining faction of the Shining Path, the Militarized Communist Party of Peru (MPCP), is active in the Valle de los Ríos Apurímac, Ene y Mantaro (VRAEM) region of Peru, and it has since distanced itself from the Shining Path's legacy.
See also
In Spanish: Sendero Luminoso para niños
