Home > Terrorism Reference > Abimael Guzman Biography

December 3, 1934

Mollendo, Peru

Philosophy professor and leader of the Shining Path

"As for terrorism, they claim we're terrorists. I would like to give the following answer so that everyone can think about it: has it or has it not been Yankee imperialism and particularly [U.S. President Ronald] Reagan who has branded all revolutionary movements as terrorists, yes or no?"

From 1980 to 1992, Abimael Guzman, a philosophy professor, terrorized Peru as head of the Shining Path, one of the world's most violent terrorist organizations. About thirty thousand people died in a long string of bombings and raids staged by the organization, which claimed to follow the philosophy of China's revolutionary communist leader Mao Zedong (also spelled Tse-tung; 1893–1976). Guzman was finally arrested in September 1992, after which the level of violence attributed to Shining Path dropped sharply,...