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Compare and Contrast of Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA, Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru) and Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso)

Flag of the Shining Path

Both rebellion groups seemed to have the same idea of following a communist way, but they did not have the same mission. One group had more territory and followers compared to the other. Their founder leaders vision Peru in different ways, and both have different political ideas. When the internal conflict within Peru started, the whole nation changed with its leadership and armed conflicts. This conflict lasted over 39 years because both MRTA and the Shining Path were going against the Peruvian government trying to make an impact within Peru.

Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso)

The Communist Party of Peru - Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) (PCP-SL), was formed in 1970 as a breakaway faction from the Peruvian Communist Party (PCP). It had only a few dozen members, led by Abimael Guzman, a philosophy professor at the University of Ayacucho who had visited China and was deeply influenced by the ideas of Mao Zedong. Under leadership of Abimael Guzman Reynoso, a philosopher professor at the University of San Cristobal de Huamanga, University in Ayacucho. Guzman believed communism required the waging of a “popular war” and criticized members of the PCP who merely wanted to organize the workers.

Background on the name

The name derived from a quote from the founder of Peru’s communist party Jose Carlos Mariategui (she said Marxism-Leninism will open the Shining Path to revolution) which appeared in the group’s newspaper in 1964. The name “Shining Path'' was used by outsiders to distinguish the organization from other (pro-Moscow or pro-Cuba/Guevarist)Peruvian communist parties.

Origins of Shining Path

Abimael Guzman was opposed to Peru’s prevailing political elites. The followers that he had drew on to Marxism and saw the example of Cuba’s Fidel Castro and merged into a significant and violent guerrilla army. This army would regularly use terrorist tactics in their effort to sabotage and overthrow the Peruvian government. According to a report from the Jamestown Foundation, at the height of its power, Shining Path’s ranks numbered around ten thousand. The main goal of Shining Path has been to overthrow the existing Peruvian government and political institutions to replace them with a communist command. Guzman and his followers known as the Senderistas attempted to restore the “pure” ideology of Mao Zedong and adopted China’s Cultural Revolution and used it as a model for their own movement. The Shining Path relies primarily on peasantry and ruthless use of terror and violence.

Operations carried out by Shining Path

• Chose to begin a guerrilla war in the highlands of Ayacucho Region
• The Shining Path launched its first military operation in May 1980, on the eve of Peru’s first national elections in 17 years
• May 17, 1980 on the eve of the presidential elections, members of the Shining Path burned the ballot boxes in the town of Chuschi, this was the first act of war
• The perpetrators were quickly caught and additional ballots were shipped to the town of Chuschi
• It gained support from local peasants by filling the political void left by the central government and providing “popular justice,” public trails that disregard any legal and human rights that deliver brutal sentences that includes public executions
• That was caused the peasants of some Peruvian villages to express some sympathy for the Shining Path, especially in the impoverished and neglected regions of Ayacucho, Apurimac, and Huancavelica
• At times, the civilian population of small, neglected towns participated in popular trials, especially when the victims of the trails were widely disliked
• The Shining Path’s credibility was helped by the government’s halfhearted response to the insurgency
• For over an year the government refused to declare a state of emergency in the region where the Shining Path were operating
• Shining Path cadres sought to destroy all vestiges of Peru’s European heritage and to replace it with a “pure” rural communal indigenous society
• Mid 1980s Shining Path had moved from the countryside to the cities, stepping up assaults on key infrastructure, industries, and residential neighborhoods in Lima
• The government response to Shining Path registered as a threat, it launched a brutal and unforgiving attack on the villages without bothering to separate Shining Path followers from those who remained neutral or even opposed the guerrillas’ tactics
• The military swept through Ayacucho and other regions where Shining Path was known to have sympathizers, arbitarily arresting, torturing, and raping whomever they encountered, the effect on the peasantry was nothing short of disatrous
• Whole villages were wiped out, and many rural dwellers found themselves victims of both senderista attacks and military reprisals
• In the countryside they attacked urban areas, cut power to whole quarters of Lima, bombed Popular Revolutionary Alliance of America (APRA Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana) party headquarters, detonated explosives in shopping centers, and set off a huge car bomb in the wealthy neighborhood of Miraflores which killed over 20 people and injured many more
• Shining Path sought to eliminate those it considered to be competitors for the loyalty of the masses-particularly other leftists, progressives, and human rights activists
• Conflict with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA, Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru) which was another armed guerrilla organization, and some smaller leftist parties and peasant self-defense groups
• In 1983, it sabotaged several electrical transmission towers, causing a citywide blackout, and set fire and destroyed the Bayer industrial plant, that same year, it set off a powerful bomb in the offices of the governing party, Popular Action
• Escalating its activities in Lima, in June 1985, it blew up electricity transmission towers in Lima, producing a blackout, and detonated car bombs near the government palace and the justice palace
• In one of its last attacks in Lima, on July 16, 1992, the group detonated a powerful bomb on Tarata Street in the Miraflores District, full of civilian adults and children, killing 25 people and injuring an additional 155

Assassinations done by the Shining Path

The Shining Path assassinated specific individuals, notably leaders of other leftist groups, local political parties, labor unions, and peasant organizations, some of whom were anti-Shining Path Marxists. On April 24, 1985, during the midst of presidential elections, the movement tried assassinate Domingo Garcia Rada, an American citizen working for the United States Agency for International Development, was assassinated. The same went for two French workers on December 4, 1985. In August 1991, members of the Shining Path murdered one Italian and two Polish priests in the Ancash region. February 1991, Maria Elena Moyano, a well known community organizer in Villa El Salvador, a shanty town in Lima was murdered by the Shining Path.

Women and Shining Path

• Women were frequently commanders of army units, carried out attacks on villages, were known to lob dynamite sticks hidden in their shawls at police stations or other targets, and were often designated to carry out the final, execution-style, assassination of Shining Path’s captives
• Journalist Robin Kirk conducted an extensive study of the women senderistas and reported that, according to Peruvian police records, of the 19 member Central Committee, eight were women (Comparing to other political organizations, clandestine or above-ground, this was a high number)
• Women may have been drawn to Shining Path because it provided a sense of purpose and promised to create a better life for them and their children
• When senderistas took control of an area they immediately prohibited drinking, imposed a strict code of discipline for sexual relations between men and women, closed brothels, and outlawed infidelity, gambling, and other vices that were seen to interfere with party discipline and pose security risks
• The appeal of a group was considerable when it banned the main scourges indigenous women endured from their husbands and boyfriends - alcoholism, infidelity, and abuse
• The party actively recruited women to its risk, and like most revolutionary organizations, argued that women’s liberation would come about as a result of their active participation in the struggle, also women who had faced lifetime of violence may have welcomed the chance to learn to fight, shoot a gun, and defend themselves
• Abimael Guzman control over women with whom he had contact with, to the extent that they were expected to worship “Comrade Gonzalo” and satisfy his sexual demands
• Shining Path became known far more for its atrocities than for its ability to redress the grievances of the poor

The Conclusion of the Shining Path

The rebel leader admits that Peru's Shining Path is defeated. An estimated 70,000 people died in the conflict with the Shining Path (BBC News). This occured during the hieght of powers that the group itself had in the 1980s and 1990s. Comrade Artemio said, "his group was prepared for dialogue with the authorities, but added that they would only surrender their weapons if the government were serious about wanting to end the armed conflict." (BBC News) The arrest of Shining Path founder and leader Abimael Guzman back in 1992 and the fierce campaign they had with the Peruvian government cause the dismantled of the organization.

Flag of Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)

Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)

The Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA, Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru) is a Traditional Marxist-Leninist revolutionary movement formed in 1983. Their aim to establish a Marxist regime and to rid Peru of all imperialist elements (primarily U.S. and Japanese influence). The merging of the Marxist-Leninist Revolutionary Socialist Party and the militant faction of the Revolutionary Left Movement. MRTA celebrates the anniversary of 4 November 1780, when Tupac Amaru II, a blood heir to the Inca throne, initiated a bloody and futile rebellion against the Spaniards. Tupac Amaru was the last indigenous leader of the Inca people.

Origins of Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement

Being named after the eighteenth century rebel leader who fought against Spanish colonial control gives this movement a message for many to see that they want change. Mainly had control over rural areas when this movement started back in 1984. According to the book: “Peru’s MRTA: Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement,” examines the group’s philosophy and tactics, the MRTA’s primarily goal was to reform the Peruvian government and create a society in which ownership of property was shared and everyone enjoyed similar levels of prosperity. For the group to succeed towards their goal and to fight the war was to attack the holding’s of Peru’s wealthy elite. At the same time wanted to cause the least amount of injuries as possible which made them normally send out warnings for their attacks in advance to the public. The MRTA simultaneously preached Peruvian Nationalism while arguing they were part of a larger Latin American effort to remove North American interference. Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement has been less violent compared to the Shining Path.  

Operations of the MRTA

• The first action by the MRTA occurred on 31 May 1982, when five of its members, including Victor Polay Campos and Jorge Talledo Feria (members of the Central Committee) robbed a bank in La Victoria, Lima. During the hold up, Talledo was killed by friendly fire
• On the midnight of September 28, 1984, members of the MRTA fired on the United States Embassy, causing damage but no casualties (The MRTA members were disguised as police, and fled after receiving returning fire from Peruvian guards)
• The MRTA claimed responsibility of the attack by sending a message to the U.S. embassy
• Peru's counterterrorist program diminished the group's ability to carry out terrorist attacks, and the MRTA suffered from infighting as well as violent clashes with Maoist rival Shining Path, the imprisonment or deaths of senior leaders, and loss of leftist support
• The MRTA attempted to expand in to rural areas which caused issues to place them in conflict with the Shining Path since they were known to have territory within rural areas
• The Shining Path's strength within the countryside forced the MRTA to largely remained in their urban and middle-class base
• On 6 July 1992, MRTA fighters staged a raid on the town of Jaen, Peru, a jungle town located in the northern department of Cajamarca. One policeman, Eladio Garcia Tello, responded to the calls for help. After an intense shootout, the guerrillas were driven out of the town. Eladio Garcia perished in the firefight
• In December 1996, during the rule of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, fourteen MRTA members occupied the Japanese Ambassador’s residence in Lima - in response to this Fujimori ordered armed forces to raid the residence in April 1997, rescuing all but one hostage and killing all fourteen MRTA militants including the leaders of the terrorist organization
• MRTA's last major action resulted in the 1997 Japanese embassy hostage crisis. In December 1996, 14 MRTA members occupied the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, holding 72 hostages for more than four months
• Under orders from then-President Alberto Fujimori, armed forces stormed the residence in April 1997, rescuing all but one of the remaining hostages and killing all 14 MRTA militants
• The Japanese embassy hostage crisis marked the end of MRTA as any threat to the Peruvian state and effectively dissolved the group

The Conclusion of the MRTA

During the time that this movement carried out their operations their would be a lost of members because of the military or the opposite leftist group such as the Shining Path. Most of the members in the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary movement were either killed or jailed. Having 400 member and most of its top leaders this rebel group couldn't carried a lot of their operations it was only a handful. In Peru, the rebels' nationalism cooperated with like minded guerrilla groups in Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, and Panama. The MRTA crossed pathways with Peru's larger and ruthless guerrilla group, the Shining Path. In the 1990s, the fight over lucative coca trade became so bitter that it seems likely more Tupac Amaru guerrillas were killed by the Shining Path than by the Peruvian police officers.

References

A History of Modern Latin America: 1800 to the Present written by Teresa A. Meade

Brooke, James. “For Revolutionary Group, an All-Out Offensive Turns Into Disastrous Defeat.” The New York Times. The New York Times, April 23, 1997. https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/23/world/for-revolutionary-group-an-all-out-offensive-turns-into-disastrous-defeat.html.

Gregory, Kathryn. “Shining Path, Tupac Amaru (Peru, Leftists).” Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, 2009. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/shining-path-tupac-amaru-peru-leftists.

Pike, John. “Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).” Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA), May 21, 2003. https://fas.org/irp/world/para/tupac_amaru.htm.

———. “Military.” Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). Accessed May 7, 2020. https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/tupac_amaru.htm.

“Peru's Shining Path Defeated, Rebel Leader Admits.” BBC News. BBC, December 7, 2011. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-16066029.

Soo Choi, Yoon. “The Peruvian Hostage Crisis: Brief Review of MRTA.” Taylor & Francis, June 1, 2011. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01924036.1997.9678584.

Service, New York Times News. “CRISIS' VIOLENT END DECIMATES REBEL GROUP; MOST OF TUPAC AMARU ARE DEAD OR IN JAIL.” baltimoresun.com, October 22, 2018. https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1997-04-23-7901010473-story.html.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Shining Path.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., April 5, 2019. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Shining-Path.

Written by Escrito por InSight Crime -, Written by Escrito por, InSight Crime, and -. “Shining Path.” InSight Crime, September 25, 2019. https://www.insightcrime.org/peru-organized-crime-news/shining-path-profile/.