Murders at SAIS San José

In 1981, during the first wave of PCP-Sendero Luminoso violence in the province of Santiago de Chuco, members of the main Shining Path Shining Path forces carried out selective assassinations as part of their strategy to destroy the agrarian cooperatives. In SAIS San José, the Shining Path killed the administrator and another person, as well as Mayor Miguel Miñano. These murders were part of the PCP-SL's strategy to liquidate the Agricultural Societies of Social Interest (SAIS) and Agrarian Production Cooperatives that had been created during the Agrarian Reform. The destruction of these associative enterprises was used by the PCP-SL as a central argument to gain support among peasants who had been excluded from the benefits of the Agrarian Reform.