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Prana Journal

Rural Development in the Crossfire

The Role of Grassroots Support Organizations in Situations of Political Violence in Peru

By Michael L. Smith

Ronderos of Cerro de Pasco, 1990
Victor Ch. Vargas, TAFOS

Table of Contents

Introduction

Methodology

Acknowledgments

Section 1

Grassroots Support Organizations in Peru

The Democratic Opening

The Dusk of Populism

Rural Development as a Military Target

Summing Up Three Decades

Section 2

The Warring Factions

Communist Party of Peru or Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path)

Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA)

Other Armed Groups

State of Emergency

Rodrigo Franco Democratic Command and Other Paramilitary Groups

Criminal delinquency and Narcotrafficking

Section 3

Two Case Studies

Ayacucho: Allpachaka
Emptying the Countryside

The social setting

The attacks

Aftermath

Puno: Instituto de Educación Rural Waqrani
"Rising from the Ashes"

Sendero's beachhead in the Sur-Andino

The IER Waqrani

The Attack

The Aftermath

Conclusions

Section 4

The Axis of War

Regional and local experiences

Government and political party relations

Program financing through profit-making schemes

Meeting the new challenges

Section 5

Conclusions

References

Postdata

This study was originally prepared in 1990 when the armed conflict in Peru was worsening and pulling the country deeper into the maelstorm of violence and instiutional breakdown. It was published as a monograph by the IDRC in 1991 and as a small book in Spanish by the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos. Both are now out of print so I am making them available on the Internet.

More material about Sendero can be found in the issues of Sendero File that came out in 1992 under the auspices of the Federation of American Scientists in Washington, DC, USA. They track the high watermark of Sendero's influence and the capture of its leader Abimael Guzman. You may also want to see my news reporting for the period. A look at the broader implications of the Peruvian crisis can be found in an essay that I wrote in 1985.

The three years that I spent study political violence in Peru were the most intellectually challenging period of my life. I traveled throughout the country and spent weeks in remote communities guided by local leaders. I also had the freedom to spend long hours stewing over my experiences, my interview notes, reading the literature and playing my ideas off people who were far more knowledgeable about Peru than I was. Even today, I find that that experience still leaves much material to be tapped. I am searching for the right venue to bring it together.