Shining Path

Terrorism and Democracy: Two Documentaries Address the Peruvian Example

Of all the insurgent groups active in Latin America over the last half-century, none fitted the description of "terrorist" more aptly than Peru's Sendero Luminoso, or Shining Path. It began armed action in 1980, committed atrocities for more than a decade and was defeated under a president who was driven from office in 2000 for abuse of power.

So does Peru's war on terror offer any lessons to the United States?

"State of Fear: The Truth About Terrorism," directed by Ms. Yates, which opens Wednesday for a week, follows up on the work of Peru's Truth Commission, which concluded that more than 69,000 people were killed in terrorist or government-sponsored violence in Peru between 1980 and 2000. It also underlines how the war on terror was used to justify erosion of the country's democracy.

"The Fall of Fujimori," directed by Ms. Perry, which runs for two weeks starting Jan. 18, goes over some of the same ground, but much of it is based on interviews with Alberto Fujimori, Peru's president from 1990 to 2000, who is allowed to explain his strategy and claim credit for wiping out the Shining Path.

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In "The Fall of Fujimori," Mr. Fujimori points out that he was overwhelmingly re-elected for a second term in 1995. "What were Peruvians willing to do in the name of peace?" Ms. Perry wondered in a telephone interview from Los Angeles. "They allowed military tribunals, they allowed death squads, they knew this was going on." And, she added: "I'm perplexed that they're going after him on pre-1995 charges when his re-election was a landslide."

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Founded by Abimael Guzmán, a former philosophy professor, the Shining Path promised to reverse centuries of injustice suffered by Peru's Indian population.

Shining Path was founded in the late 1960s by former university philosophy professor Abimael Guzmán (also known as Presidente Gonzalo), whose teachings created the foundation for its militant Maoist doctrine. It was an offshoot of the Communist Party of Peru — Bandera Roja ("red flag"), which in turn split from the original Peruvian Communist Party in 1964.