PCP-SL controls Tocache
By the first months of 1987 the PCP-SL controlled Tocache with hundreds of combatants concentrated in the town, establishing a Committee of Popular Justice in the Club Obrero. The control lasted until July 1987 when a police operation called "Relámpago" (Lightning) retook the town.
By the first months of 1987 there were already hundreds of PCP-SL fighters concentrated in Tocache and the party controlled the town. Small groups armed only with wooden batons walked through three-block sectors, reporting any situation they could not resolve to the Club Obrero where armed PCP-SL elements had established a "Popular Justice Committee". This control was achieved after the PCP-SL obtained authorization in 1986 to place three or four of its cadres in each of the drug traffickers' firms. On July 15, 1987, paratroopers from specialized police units took the town of Tocache in a large operation called "Relámpago" (Lightning), although the PCP-SL and the drug traffickers withdrew from the urban area before the arrival of the first troops.