Ayacucho, Yawar Destiny. Notes of Nostalgia (1980-2004)

Peru called elections for the first time in twelve years in 1980. Sendero Luminoso was one of the few leftist groups that did not take part and instead chose to initiate an armed struggle in the northern provinces of the department of Ayacucho. On May 17, 1980, on the eve of the presidential elections, Sendero Luminoso burned the ballot boxes and voting ballots in the Ayacucho town of Chuschi. This was the first act of war carried out by Sendero Luminoso. However, the perpetrators were quickly captured, new electoral materials were brought to Chuschi, the elections were held without major incident, and the event received very little attention in the Peruvian press. Throughout the years of the 1980s, Sendero Luminoso grew both in the territory it controlled and in the number of militants who formed part of the organization, principally in the central highlands. This book recounts these and other events as well as the consequences of the acts committed by Sendero Luminoso between 1980 and 2004. (Excerpt from the foreword).