Shining Path

Communist Party of Peru Partido Comunista del Perú
Chairperson	Abimael Guzmán (untill 1993)
Founded	1969
Split from	PCP – RF
Ideology	Communism Marxism–Leninism–Maoism Gonzalo Thought Anti-revisionism
International affiliation	Revolutionary Internationalist Movement International Communist League
Website
http://www.blythe.org/peru-pcp/ (archived)

The Shining Path (Spanish: Sendero Luminoso, SL), self-declared as the Communist Party of Peru (Spanish: Partido Comunista del Perú, PCP) is a Gonzaloist political party and terrorist organization^{[tendency-based slant]} which has waged a protracted war against the Peruvian government since 1980.

The SL has a fervent cult of personality surrounding its leader, Abimael Guzmán (a.k.a. Chairman Gonzalo), viewing him in a messianic role and formulating theories like Jefatura to enforce this personality cult. The SL officially upholds "Marxism–Leninism–Maoism, principally Maoism" and Gonzalo Thought, a dogmatic compilation of theories developed by Guzmán.^{[tendency-based slant]}

After Guzmán was captured by the government of anti-communist president Alberto Fujimori in 1992, the Shining Path deteriorated rapidly and splintered. In the 2020s, only a few fragments of the Shining Path remain, most notably the Militiarized Communist Party of Peru, which denounced Guzmán as a traitor and distanced themselves from the older SL's atrocities. Despite this, a faction remaining stalwart to Guzmán has continued to sign declarations with the International Communist League under the PCP name.

Further reading

• General Political Line of the Communist Party of Peru (1988), available on bannedthought.net

See also

• Gonzalo Thought