ABIMAEL GUZMÁN, PRISONER

On September 24, 1992, Abimael Guzmán Reinoso, "Presidente Gonzalo" to Shining Path members, was publicly presented to the national and international press at the headquarters of the National Directorate against Terrorism, DINCOTE. Guzmán appeared defiant and urged his followers to "continue the armed struggle." The self-styled Partido Comunista del Perú-Sendero Luminoso (PCP-SL) achieved its internal cohesion through the so-called "Gonzalo thought," which reflected the cult of personality surrounding Guzmán, the organization's founder and absolute leader. As the ideologue of Sendero Luminoso, he bore the primary individual responsibility for the grave actions carried out by his organization through PCP-SL proclamations calling to "pay the blood quota" (1982) and "induce genocide" (1985), and also announcing that "the triumph of the revolution will cost one million dead" (1988). These genocidal ideas were combined with racist conceptions and notions of superiority over indigenous peoples.