Sendero Luminoso in the New Millennium: Comrades, Cocaine and Counter‐Insurgency on the Peruvian Frontier

During the 1980s and until the mid‐1990s , Peru experienced one of the bloodiest conflicts in contemporary Latin America , initiated by the armed insurrection launched by the Partido Comunista del Perú – Sendero Luminoso ( Shining Path ). Most guerrilla activity , armed confrontations and civilian fatalities occurred in Andean rural districts . The intensity of violence declined following the detention of PCP‐SL General Secretary Abimael Guzmán and other leading cadres in 1992–3 , which resulted in the dismantling of a substantial component of the organization ' s military apparatus and support networks . This paper examines how surviving PCP‐SL militants attempted to regroup and respond strategically and tactically to such a devastating setback , focusing on its dealings with the civilian population , particularly coca‐producing smallholders . Counter‐insurgency measures pursued by the Peruvian state are also analysed . The paper concludes with an assessment of the current disposition of guerrilla – rural population – state relations in the main areas of conflict .