State and Guerrillas in Peru in the 1980s

The Belaúnde government was incapable of understanding the objective basis on which the insurgents operate: the conditions of exploitation and domination of the popular masses. Nor did it have the wisdom to understand that they, in their own way, sought to channel the popular overflow to which the state had given no effective response since the 1960s. Viewing things from on high, the architect thought otherwise: that the subversion had no internal roots and was the fruit of a conspiracy of international narco-terrorism. Moreover, he established no connection between his economic policy and the anti-subversive strategy implemented by the military. The result: he worsened the material conditions on which the subversion develops. This fact, on the other hand, led many analysts to consider that the insurgency was explained solely by the economic crisis and to overlook its continuity in terms of popular insurgency, as well as the ideological and political foundation of those who took up arms. (Excerpt from introduction).