The Return of the Shining Path: Latin America's Downward Spiral
By Douglas Farah
The CNN report on the re-emergence of the Shining Path rebels (Sendero Luminoso) almost buries the most important element of the story. The terror unleashed by Sendero (massacres of civilians, the desire to carry out Pol Pot's dream of decapitating the urban and creating a utopian rural society, targeted assassinations, infrastructure destruction etc.) is financed by their access to drug money.
It is easy to forget that Sendero was among the most brutal and merciless the Western Hemisphere has ever seen. The arrest of the movement's mastermind, Abimael Guzman, sent it in a downward spiral. It almost disappeared. And now it is back.
The cocaine corruption and accompanying terror of Latin America knows no ideological stripe. It fuels the FARC in Colombia and the paramilitaries (see this latest indictment of the Colombian paramilitary leader to see the role cocaine plays in that movement).
There are several things of concern here, beyond the immediate danger Sendero poses in Peru. One is that is shows how badly beaten groups (such as the FARC) can survive and revive, given the right economic conditions (access to coke money) and political conditions (deep disillusionment with the government, government corruption etc). They don't simply disappear. My full blog is here.
