Page 180 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

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156———Guzmán, Abimael (Abimael Guzmán Reynoso) (1934– )

ideology have inspired thousands of rebels in Latin 1967, Guzmán visited China several times and saw
America and elsewhere, and his bearded image has the Cultural Revolution unfold. Seeing Mao’s theories
become a contemporary icon. put into practice radicalized Guzmán, and he returned
to Peru convinced that a rapid, violent revolution was
Further Reading necessary to destroy Peru’s existing government and
culture and institute a peasant dictatorship.
Anderson, Jon Lee. Che Guevara: A Revolutionary Life.
New York: Grove, 1997. Under Guzmán’s leadership, by the mid-1970s the
Castañeda, Jorge G. Compañero: The Life and Death of Communist Party of Peru had begun to transform itself
Che Guevara. Trans. by Marina Castañeda. New York: into a guerrilla army—the Sendero Luminoso (Shining
Knopf, 1997. Path), a name taken from a quotation by Peruvian
Guevara, Ernesto Ché. Guerrilla Warfare. Trans. J. P. Morray. Marxist Jose Carlos Mariatigua. Early adherents from
New York: Monthly Review Press, 1961. San Cristobal became Guzmán’s top commanders and
Sinclair, Andrew. Che Guevara. Stroud, Gloucestershire, closest advisers, with his wife, Augusta, assuming a
UK: Sutton, 1998. leading role. Guzmán ran the organization with an iron
hand; new recruits were required to sign a loyalty oath
not to Shining Path but to Comrade Gonzalo, the nom
GUZMÁN, ABIMAEL (ABIMAEL de guerre Guzmán had chosen for himself. As the orga-
GUZMÁN REYNOSO) (1934– ) nization’s power increased, Guzmán’s revolutionary
fervor would begin to assume legendary proportions:
followers regarded him as the “Fourth Sword” of
Abimael Guzmán Reynoso is founder and was Communist thought, after Marx, Lenin, and Mao. His
leader of the Shining Path (Sendero Luminoso) terror- ability to inspire complete devotion in his followers,
ist organization of Peru. especially in his officers—college-educated, middle-
The illegitimate son of a wealthy Peruvian busi- class intellectuals—was crucial to Shining Path’s
nessman, Guzmán was born in December 1934 in success.
Arequipa, Peru. He excelled as a student but showed Shining Path began military operations in
little interest in politics until his late teens, when he Ayacucho in 1980, rapidly winning peasant support.
began associating with leftist intellectuals. He became Guzmán’s tight-knit, hierarchical organization easily
the protégée of the painter Carlos de la Riva, an ardent resisted infiltration by the military. Guzmán regarded
admirer of Joseph Stalin; Guzmán joined the Peruvian anyone with the slightest connection to the state as a
Communist Party in the late 1950s. potential target, and Shining Path did not hesitate to
In 1962, Guzmán was appointed to the post of pro- torture and kill anyone it perceived as an enemy,
fessor of philosophy at San Cristobal del Huamanga including civilians. By the late 1980s, in part because
University in Ayacucho, a remote, desperately poor of lucrative connections to the drug trade, Shining
province inhabited mostly by Peruvian Indians. There, Path controlled the majority of Peru’s countryside.
Guzmán began to hold weekly political discussions In 1988, Guzmán decided to focus on Peru’s urban
with students and colleagues; Guzmán was a passion- coast, particularly the capital, Lima. For four years,
ate speaker, and his tirades against the injustices of Shining Path made steady gains as its bombing cam-
Peruvian society and the need for Indian peasants to paigns and assassinations immobilized the capital, and
rebel found a receptive audience. Many students were the country was brought close to anarchy. In 1992,
of Indian heritage and often the first in their families Peru’s president suspended the constitution and declared
to obtain an education. By the late 1960s, the discus- a state of emergency, effectively placing the country
sion group had become a political faction calling itself under martial law. In September 1992, Guzmán and
the Communist Party of Peru. 14 other top Shining Path commanders were captured.
Guzmán studied the theories of Mao Tse-tung, The dictatorial control Guzmán exerted over
which held that a successful communist revolution did Shining Path proved to be the movement’s Achilles’
not require an industrialized, urban proletariat; an heel. With no clear second-in-command to take over
agrarian, preindustrial society could be transformed leadership, the organization rapidly disintegrated. In
into a modern Communist society by making the 1993, Guzmán helped negotiate a peace agreement
peasantry politically conscious. Between 1965 and with the government that provided amnesty for former