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Publication Type honors thesis
School or College College of Humanities
Department History
Thesis Supervisor Rebecca Horn
Honors Advisor/Mentor Anand A. Yang
Creator Maxfield, Eric Glen
Title Sendero luminoso and the accuracy of the narco-guerrilla theory
Date 1994-06
Year graduated 1994
Description This paper explores the validity of the term "narco-terrorist," coined to imply a relationship between Colombian cocaine traffickers, coca growers and communist terrorists in the Upper Huallaga Valley, an inaccessible jungle region of Northern Peru and the major coca-producing region of the world. Many Peruvian and US policy makers have asserted that the Shining Path, a Maoist guerrilla organization dedicated to the overthrow of the Peruvian state, has allied itself politically and militarily with the cocaine industry. This paper investigates the extent to which the Shining Path participates in coca-growing and cocaine producing activities by first presenting the historical background of the region, initial migration to the area and the subsequent expansion of the cocaine industry. Further, this paper describes the origin and ideology of the Shining Path insurgency, its emergence in the Upper Huallaga Valley, and its motivations to participate in aspects of cocaine production. This project then outlines responses to illicit coca production and leftist terrorism by the governments of Peru and the United States, and the implications for the narcoterrorist thesis. Adherence to this theory of "alliance" has led to the implementation of policies that are counterproductive in terms of US and Peruvian interests, ultimately promoting coca cultivation for the cocaine industry and encouraging indigenous coca farmers to affiliate with the Shining Path guerrilla movement.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Sendero Luminoso (Guerrilla group); Drug traffic -- Peru
Language eng
Rights Management (c) Eric Glen Maxfield
Format Medium application/pdf
ARK ark:/87278/s6jh7s0t
Setname ir_htca
ID 1352124
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6jh7s0t

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Title Page 8
Setname ir_htca
ID 1352132
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6jh7s0t/1352132