Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) is a Maoist guerrilla group reportedly founded in 1970, which made public its existence through acts of sabotage in 1980, when democratic elections were held in Peru for the first time in 17 years. [ Europa Year Book 1988: Peru, (London: Europa Publications, 1988), p. 2136; Human Rights in Peru, p. 1; Latin American Political Movements, (London: Longman, 1986), pp. 231-232.] It is based on radical Maoist ideas and is engaged in what the group calls a "people's war" from the countryside to the cities. [ Dissident and Revolutionary Movements, (London: Longman, 1988), p. 291; Latin American Political Movements, (London: Longman, 1986), p. 233.] Leaders of the organization have publicly vowed to "overthrow the government and to eliminate the bourgeoisie and persons who do not accept political re-education". [ Andean Group Report, (London, Latin American Newsletters), 23 June 1988, p. 2; "Senderista", in The New Internationalist, July 1989, p. 10.]

The group's original centre of operations was the province of Ayacucho, in the south-central Andes, where Abimael Guzman Reynoso a.k.a. "Gonzalo", leading figure and ideologist whose whereabouts are unknown, worked as a teacher in the local university. Osman Morote Barrionuevo a.k.a. "Remigio", is reportedly the director of operations; he was captured last year
and is now in prison. [ Tolerating Abuses: Violations of Human Rights in Peru, (Washington: Americas Watch, October 1988), pp. 33-34.]

In the rural areas, most actions consist of ambushes, raids on towns and acts of sabotage, while in urban areas, it is mostly bombings and selective killings. Americas Watch indicates that most of Sendero's victims are democratically elected officials, union and community leaders and policemen who are killed after they surrender. [ Tolerating Abuses, p. 20.] Sendero is also reported to have eliminated numerous development workers, as the group opposes all development programs in the regions where it operates. [ Ibid.] Last year, killings of development workers included, for the first time, foreigners: two young French technicians and a United States engineer, killed in mountain villages where they worked. [ "Le Pérou se Décompose", in Le Monde Diplomatique, January 1989, p. 13.]

Since it began its activities, Sendero Luminoso has been held responsible for the death of more than three thousand local officials, many of them mayors of rural villages, as well as damages amounting to more than US$10 billion; Sendero has not made any efforts to negotiate peace, and the leadership has publicly defended the practice of murdering those viewed as Sendero's political or class enemies. [Tolerating Abuses, p.15.]

Suffering setbacks in the area of Ayacucho, Sendero is now reported to have concentrated its operations in the Upper Huallaga valley, the cocaine-producing area of the high jungle, cooperating with drug-trafficking organizations; this cooperation, according to Sendero Luminoso, is due to the group's defense of coca-growers' income, but it is reported the Sendero receives weapons and a percentage of the traffickers' income, allegedly in exchange for keeping security forces out of the area. [ Latin American Weekly Report, (London, Latin American Newsletters), 2 March 1989, p. 4; "Drugs, guerrillas a potent combination in Peru", in The Toronto Star, 22 January 1989, p. H4; "With the Shining Path", in Newsweek, 24 April 1989, pp. 44-45, 49.]

Since 1987, Sendero reportedly increased its attacks on prominent individuals, including foreign bankers, Peruvian businessmen and non-government figures. [ "Sendero Luminoso guerrilla activity", Keesing's Record of World Events, (London: Longman, 1988), Vol. 34 No. 2, p. 35704.] An attempted attack against a meeting of businessmen on the outskirts of Lima was foiled by the police in November 1988, who captured three terrorists armed with automatic guns and explosives, while four others fled. [ Latin America Daily Report, 20 December 1988, p. 9.]

Many state and private projects for peasants and communities have been terminated because several professionals and technicians in charge of these projects have been murdered, and others have left because of death threats by Sendero. [Latin America Daily Report, 20 December 1988, p. 9.] Sendero has reportedly undertaken actions throughout Peru, [Latin America Daily Report, (Washington, D.C.: Foreign Broadcast Information Service), various issues.] and extended its activities to Bolivia, [ Caretas (Peruvian weekly newsmagazine), 12 December 1988, pp. 28-29.] where it has reportedly associated with Colombian and Bolivian guerrilla groups. [ 1986 and 1987 International Yearbooks on International Communist Affairs: Bolivia, (Stanford: Hoover Institution Press, 1986 and 1987).] A co-operative farm in the department of Junin (central Peru), the Socially-owned (co-operative) Agro-Industrial Society (SAIS) Tupac Amaru, has also suffered many Sendero-initiated attacks; the most devastating one, in December 1988, resulted in the death of site engineers, destruction of milk processing facilities and the burning of live cattle of adapted imported breeds. [ "Sierra de Fuego", in Caretas, 19 December 1988, pp. 32-34, 80.] In January 1989, the bodies of a Marxist anthropologist and a community leader were found by a road, after they had been openly abducted by a Sendero unit following a raid on a nearby milk-processing plant. The anthropologist, who had been organizing Andean communities, had denounced Sendero's attempts to dominate the communities and its use of Huancayo University as a recruiting ground. [ "Lid Comunal", Caretas, 23 January 1989, pp. 32-36.]

Sendero is also held responsible for numerous infiltrations into unions and during demonstrations, having killed miners' union leaders who had settled disputes with management, while threatening teachers and education workers who refused to continue prolonged strikes. [ Americas Watch, Human Rights, p. 32; "Violence Accelerates and Extends", Andean Newsletter, January 16, 1989, p.5; "Terrorists exploit labour unrest", Andean Group Report, December 12, 1988, pp. 1-3; Keesing's, p. 35704.] Sendero often imposes "armed strikes" which include attacks on businesses and transport as well as threats even before the date for which the strike is ordered, as a warning. [Andean Newsletter, August 1989, p. 6.]

Violent attacks attributed to Sendero increased in 1989, accounting for the death of 38 members of the police during the first twelve days, while continuing attacks on energy supply lines for the capital and other regions, mining centers and food suppliers. [ "Violence accelerates and extends", in Andean Newsletter, January 1989, p. 5.]

Recent examples of assassinations attributed to Sendero include a priest in Jauja in mid-1989, and two civilians in the coastal city of Huacho on June 27 who were accused by the Maoist group of "robbing the people". [ "Exaggerated death count", in Andean Newsletter, July 1989, p.6.] On June 3, a bomb placed by Sendero under a bus carrying soldiers of the Presidential Guard in downtown Lima killed six persons and injured 14. [ "Sendero takes the offensive", in Andean Newsletter, June 1989, p. 6.] In May, a British backpacker was killed by Senderistas in a town square of Huaraz, as well as a United Left municipal candidate in Puno and the head of the sanitation department and an APRA militant in Ayacucho, while Peru's leading environmental journalist, Barbara D'Achille, and a development engineer were abducted by a Sendero column in Huancavelica and killed afterwards by stoning and firearms. [ Ibid.]

Throughout 1989, Sendero has continued to claim or be attributed responsibility for the killing of numerous mayors of different political parties, particularly of small Andean towns, as well as local authorities. [ Andean Newsletter, January-August 1989 issues; The Lima Times, June-August issues; Caretas, January-August issues.] In June, a record count of 470 people died because of political violence in Peru, mostly due to Sendero and counter-insurgency actions, bringing the total for 1988's first semester to 820 politically-motivated deaths. [Andean Newsletter, July 1989, p. 5.]

In July 1989, the Peruvian armed forces launched an offensive against Sendero in the Upper Huallaga valley, the largest cocaine-producing area of the country which had been under Sendero's control. Reports indicate about 500 members of Sendero may have been killed in battles in the area during that month, in some 39 confrontations. However, the pro-Sendero weekly El Diario reported that the organization had attacked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency headquarters in the valley and destroyed three helicopters, claiming DEA personnel were killed in the attack.

A spokesperson for the international division of the corporate headquarters of Purina in St. Louis, Missouri confirms that a company named Purina Peru S.A. exists in Peru. According to this source, the company is a subsidiary of the American company and in fact, is exactly the same type of operation as Ralston-Purina Canada. An agricultural feed manufacturer, Purina Peru S.A. has a general office in Lima and chow plants in Lima and Chiclayo.