Analysis of the Peruvian State's Security Strategy Against Shining Path's Expansion Strategy Between 1986 and 1992
Since 1980, Peru entered one of its bloodiest eras: Sendero Luminoso, an armed group of Marxist-Maoist-Leninist extraction led by Abimael Guzmán Reynoso, engaged in an all-out war against Peru's Armed Forces with the aim of seizing power. This case study shows how the State's response was inadequate to the challenge posed by Sendero, while also laying out the reasons why the population was the decisive factor in halting Sendero's advance through the creation of self-defense groups known as Comités de Defensa.