Please find attached documents that describe the origins and formation of Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru (MRTA).

The attached documents that provide information on the MRTA are the Latin American Weekly Report article of 2 March 1989 "MRTA: A Group Riven by Dissent," a profile of the group from issue No. 3 of 1992 of TVI Report, and the latter pages of Peru: Time of Fear.

Please note that all of the above sources indicate that the MRTA was formed in the early 1980s, and thus could not have established relationships with unions before 1970 nor been the source of Sendero Luminoso, whose first armed actions are reported by the attachments as having taken place in May 1980. However, one of the attached documents states that the MRTA merged with "remnants of an earlier radical group known as the Movement of the Revolutionary Left (MIR)" (TVI Report 1992, 3). Another source states that the MRTA

came into being as a result of the merger of the Partido Socialista Revolucionario and the MIR-El MIlitante -the latter a splinter of the old MIR, in turn a splinter of the now ruling party known as Apra Rebelde (Latin American Weekly Report 2 Mar. 1989, 4).

Nevertheless, information on links between the above-mentioned splinter groups and trade unions before 1970 could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

Please refer to the attachments for information on the origins of Sendero Luminoso, including details on the garnering of support by Abimael Guzman, the movement's founder, when he worked as a teacher in the Andean city of Ayacucho in the 1960s and 1970s. Please note that the markings found in the attached copies of excerpts from Sendero Luminoso and the Threat of Narcoterrorism were found in the original text available to the DIRB.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Latin American Weekly Report [London, UK]. 2 March 1989. "MRTA: A Group Riven by Dissent."

TVI Report [Beverly Hills, Calif.]. 1992. Vol. 10, No. 3. Carl Yeager. "Profile: Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement."

Attachments

Americas Watch. 1992. Peru Under Fire: Human Rights Since the Return to Democracy. New York: Human Rights Watch Books, pp. 4-5.

Criminal Justice [Chicago, Ill.]. October-November 1992. Vol. 5, No. 5. Ian Geldard. "Terrorism: The Killing Fields of Peru," p. 12.

Latin American Weekly Report [London, UK]. 2 March 1989. "MRTA: A Group Riven by Dissent," pp. 4-5.

NACLA Report on the Americas [Washington, D.C.]. December 1990-January 1991. Vol. 24, No. 4. Carlos Ivan Degregori. "A Dwarf Star," pp. 10-16.

The New York Times Magazine. 24 May 1992. Simon Strong. "Where the Shining Path Leads," pp. 14-16.

Peru: A Country Study. 1993. Edited by Rex A. Hudson. Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress Federal Research Division, pp. 305-10.

Poole, Deborah and Gerardo Rénique. 1992. Peru: Time of Fear. London, UK: Latin American Bureau, pp. 30-56, 182-85.

Tarazona-Sevillano, Gabriela and John B. Reuter. 1991. Sendero Luminoso and the Threat of Narcoterrorism. New York: Praeger, pp. 1-9.

TVI Report [Beverly Hills, Calif.]. 1992. Vol. 10, No. 3. Carl Yeager. "Profile: Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement," pp. 3-5.