PERUVIAN RADICALISM AND THE SENDERO-LUMINOSO

The Shining Path is generally regarded as a Maoist-inspired, bloodthir sty insurgency, which has brought Peru to its knees. This paper shows that many aspects of Sendero ideology ar autochthonous to Peruvian rad icalism: violent revolution by Peru's indigenous population was first advocated by Gonzalez Prada in the 1900s. The cry for social justice f or Peru's Indians was later taken up by Mariategui and Haya de la Torr e in the 1920s and 1930s. After the Cuban Revolution, the Peruvian And es witnessed the emergence of Guevara-like, guerrilla focos, which wer e ineffective. Thus, Sendero's successes owe little to ideology and mu ch to the incompetence of its opponents who still view the threat of t he Shining Path in military terms.