Briefly explain the history behind the Shining Path and its twenty-year terrorist campaign in Peru in 1980 . Why is the group's political orientation debated?

Question

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Answer 1

• A Maoist group, the Shining Path launched a campaign in rural Peru that began in 1980 and lasted for the following two decades.
• Peru's revolutionary past was grounded in anti-colonialism as the indigenous people sought to free themselves from European rule.
• Tupac Amaru led a revolt against Spain from 1581 to 1582.
• Scholars have debated the political orientation of the Shining Path almost from its inception.
• Led by a philosophy professor, Abimael Guzman, the group was deeply influenced by China and its Cultural Revolution.
• Guzman believed that the leftist politics of Peru's Communist Party were too tame, and he embraced the radical violence espoused by Maoist revolutionaries.
• In addition, the Maoist approach matched Peru's economic structure.
• Guzman moved to build a rural power base, and most scholars view the organization as a violent Maoist movement.
• Other scholars do not accept the view that the Shining Path was based in Maoism.
• Paul Navarro believes the entire Peruvian left was influenced by Mao, but the influence was rhetorical.
• Most Peruvian leftists were main stream Marxists.
• While they called for violent revolution, the starting point was decades away.
• Peru's Communists were not inherently violent.
• The Shining Path was a typical Marxist group as it embraced orthodoxy and its violence was caused by the internal contradictions of Marxism.