Insight: Shining Path Political Arm Revives as Peru’s Humala Disappoints
The political arm of Peru’s brutal Shining Path insurgency was largely dormant for two decades but it is now rebuilding, hoping it can take advantage of disappointment on the left over President Ollanta Humala’s swing to the right.
To recruit new members to the Maoist group, Movadef, as the political wing is known, is organizing in poor neighborhoods, holding rallies, performing theater, and forming clubs at universities.
According to more than a dozen people interviewed by Reuters, from former police detectives to former rebels, Movadef is pursuing a two-pronged strategy to broaden its base: pushing for the release of Shining Path’s founder, Abimael Guzman, 77, who was jailed for life in 1992, and radicalizing unions to undermine Humala’s free-market policies.
Though Movadef and its allies represent an isolated minority, the government is worried.