Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path or SL)

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the leftist Maoist Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path or SL) seeks to topple the existing Peruvian government at any expense and to then impose their own communist regime. The author points out that, at their worst, in the 1980s and 1990s, this group, along with the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, is said to be responsible for over 30,000 deaths as well as bombings, kidnapping, bank robberies and various brutal attacks The paper relates that the underlying frustration, which many of the impoverished Peruvians have felt for years, has resulted in a successful rate for gaining members because many of the unemployed and the alienated youth see them as a beacon for meaningful change.

From the Paper:

"Because of the fact that many of the leaders of this group are now imprisoned and also there is a firm, no-nonsense Peruvian government in place which is actively seeking to bring these terrorists to justice, the one-year outlook for this group does not appear to be in their favor. While their membership is unknown, it is believed to be around 400 to 500 armed militants, which is a relatively low number compared to other world-wide terrorist groups. Although not the threat that it was, the group does remain in being, and could exploit further unrest or governmental weakness in Peru to continue its renewal."

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