From the "people's war" to amnesty. Movadef and the reappearance of the Shining Path: 1992-2012

Abstract

The article explores the links between the Amnesty and Fundamental Rights Movement (MOVADEF for its acronym in Spanish) and Peru’s Communist Party – Shining Path (PCP-SL for its acronym in Spanish) through an analysis of primary sources and interviews with the movement’s leaders. Specifically, it examines the changes introduced during the post conflict period to the so called «Gonzalo’s thought», the ideological and political principles both organizations obey. It is argued that during this period, plans and strategies were set in motion by PCP-SL seeking to achieve the release of its members and to defend its memory of the internal armed conflict. MOVADEF would be the vehicle through which these objectives established by «Gonzalo’s thought» would try to be attained through electoral participation. The article thus analyzes this process applying a process tracing methodology, with special attention to the decisions taken by Shining Path and the way these were transformed into actions.