Editing Shining Path (section)

==== Fujimori government ====
[[File:Al Fujimori.jpg|thumb|215x215px|President [[Alberto Fujimori]], who led the violent government response towards guerrilla groups during his tenure]]

When President [[Alberto Fujimori]] took office in 1990, he responded to Shining Path with repressive force.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":8" /> His government issued a law in 1991 that gave the ''rondas'' a legal status, and from that time, they were officially called ''Comités de auto defensa'' ("Committees of Self-Defense").<ref>[http://www.congreso.gob.pe/ntley/Imagenes/DecretosLegislativos/00741.pdf Legislative Decree No. 741] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060219214358/http://www.congreso.gob.pe/ntley/Imagenes/DecretosLegislativos/00741.pdf |date=19 February 2006}}. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref> They were officially armed, usually with 12-gauge shotguns, and trained by the [[Peruvian Army]]. According to the government, there were approximately 7,226 ''comités de auto defensa'' as of 2005;<ref>Army of Peru (2005). [https://web.archive.org/web/20060216085857/http://www.ejercito.mil.pe/contribucion/dirace/estudios.htm Proyectos y Actividades que Realiza la Sub Dirección de Estudios Especiales."]. Retrieved 17 January 2008.</ref> almost 4,000{{citation needed|date=June 2013}} are located in the central region of Peru, the stronghold of the Shining Path.

The Peruvian government also cracked down on the Shining Path in other ways. Military personnel were dispatched to areas dominated by the Shining Path, especially [[Ayacucho Region|Ayacucho]], to fight the rebels. Ayacucho, [[Huancavelica Province|Huancavelica]], Apurímac and [[Huánuco Region|Huánuco]] were declared emergency zones, allowing for some constitutional rights to be suspended in those areas.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://apnews.com/84b38ad18c1ed38872889f0a739bdbe2|title=Government Declares State of Emergency with Curfew in Lima|work=AP News|date=7 February 1986|access-date=4 February 2023}}</ref>

Initial government efforts to fight the Shining Path were not very effective or promising. Military units engaged in many human rights violations, which caused the Shining Path to appear in the eyes of many as the lesser of two evils. They used excessive force, tortured individuals accused of being sympathizers and killed many innocent civilians. Government forces destroyed villages and killed ''campesinos'' suspected of supporting the Shining Path. They eventually lessened the pace at which the armed forces committed atrocities such as massacres. Additionally, the state began the widespread use of intelligence agencies in its fight against the Shining Path. However, atrocities were committed by the [[National Intelligence Service (Peru)|National Intelligence Service]] and the [[Army Intelligence Service]], notably the [[La Cantuta massacre]], the [[Santa massacre]] and the [[Barrios Altos massacre]], which were committed by [[Grupo Colina]].<ref name=":8" /><ref>La Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. 28 August 2003. "2.45. Las Ejecuciones Extrajudiciales en Barrios Altos (1991.)" [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.45.%20BARRIOS%20ALTOS.pdf Available online in Spanish]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref><ref>La Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. 28 August 2003. "2.19. La Universidad Nacional de educación Enrique Guzmán y Valle «La Cantuta»." [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20V/SECCION%20TERCERA-Los%20Escenarios%20de%20la%20violencia%20(continuacion)/2.%20HISTORIAS%20REPRESENTATIVAS%20DE%20LA%20VIOLENCIA/2.19%20LA%20CANTUTA.pdf Available online in Spanish]. Retrieved 13 January 2008.</ref>

In one of its last attacks in Lima, on 16 July 1992, the Shining Path [[Tarata bombing|detonated a powerful bomb]] on [[Calle Tarata|Tarata Street]] in the [[Miraflores District, Lima|Miraflores District]], full of civilian adults and children,<ref>"Ataque terrorista en Tarata." [https://web.archive.org/web/20041114012731/http://www.solblanco.8m.com/ataq_tarata.htm Archived online]. Retrieved 16 January 2008</ref> killing 25 people and injuring an additional 155.<ref>Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación. [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20VII/Casos%20Ilustrativos-UIE/2.60.%20TARATA.pdf Los Asesinatos y Lesiones Graves Producidos en el Atentado de Tarata (1992)]. p. 661. Retrieved 9 February 2008.</ref>