Editing Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement

{{short description|1982-1997 Marxist–Leninist terrorist group in Peru}}
{{About|the Peruvian guerrilla group|the Uruguayan guerrilla group|Tupamaros|the indigenous revolution|Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Infobox militant organization
| name             = Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement<br />''Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru''
| logo             = 
| dates            = {{start date|1982}}–{{end date|1997}}
| leaders          = {{ubl|[[Víctor Polay]]{{POW}}|[[Néstor Cerpa Cartolini]]{{KIA}}}}
| motives          = To establish a [[socialist state]] in Peru
| area             = Peru
| ideology         = {{ubl|[[Communism]]|[[Marxism–Leninism]]|[[Guevarism]]|[[Foco|Foco theory]]|[[Left-wing nationalism]]|[[Revolutionary socialism]]|[[Indigenismo]]}}
| position         = [[Far-left politics|Far-left]]
| crimes           = 
| attacks          = [[Japanese embassy hostage crisis]]
| allies           = {{flag|Cuba}}<ref name="cia.gov">{{cite web| url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000393913.pdf | publisher=CIA | title=Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement: Growing thread to US interests in Peru}}</ref><br />{{flagicon image|Flag of the FARC-EP.svg}} [[Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia|FARC]]<br />{{flagicon image|Flag of ELN.svg}} [[National Liberation Army (Colombia)|ELN]]<br />{{flagicon image|FPMR Chile.SVG}} [[Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front|FPMR]]<br />{{Flagcountry|Libyan Arab Jamahiriya}}<ref name="cia.gov"/><br />{{flag|Soviet Union}}<ref name="cia.gov"/> (until 1991)
| opponents        = {{flag|Peru|name=Government of Peru}}
| battles          = [[Peruvian Internal Conflict]]
| status           = {{flagdeco|United States}} Delisted as a [[U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations|Foreign Terrorist Organization]] by the [[United States Department of State|US State Department]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=Foreign Terrorist Organizations|url=https://www.state.gov/foreign-terrorist-organizations/|access-date=4 July 2020|website=United States Department of State|language=en-US}}</ref>
| flag             = [[File:Flag of the MRTA.svg|border|125px]]
}}

The '''Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement''' ({{langx|es|Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru}}, abbreviated '''MRTA''') was a [[Peruvian]] [[Marxism-Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] guerrilla army which started in the early 1980s. Their self-declared goal was to demonstrate to [[leftist]] groups in Peru that sought change through the current government the viability of radical revolution.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Sharp Dressed Men: Peru's Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement|last=Gordon|first=McCormick|publisher=RAND Corporation|year=1993|location=Santa Monica, CA|pages=6–7}}</ref> The MRTA also aimed to provide an alternative to another militant group, the [[Shining Path]], which placed them in direct competition.<ref name=":0" /> The group was led by [[Víctor Polay|Víctor Polay Campos]] until he was sentenced to 32 years' imprisonment in 1992<ref>{{cite web |title=Corte Suprema incrementa condenas a Víctor Polay y a cúpula del MRTA |url=http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/ediciononline/HTML/2008-06-24/corte-suprema-incrementa-condenas-victor-polay-y-cupula-mrta.html |work=[[El Comercio (Perú)|El Comercio]] |language=es |date=24 June 2008 |access-date=4 August 2009}}</ref> and by [[Néstor Cerpa Cartolini]] ("Comrade Evaristo") until his death in 1997.

The MRTA took its name in homage to [[Túpac Amaru II]], an 18th-century rebel leader who was himself named after his claimed ancestor [[Túpac Amaru]], the last indigenous leader of the [[Inca Empire|Inca]] people. The MRTA was designated as a [[terrorism|terrorist]] organization by the [[Politics of Peru|Peruvian government]], the US Department of State, and the European Parliament<ref>{{cite web |author=US Department of State |title=U.S. Department of State Country Reports on Terrorism 2006 – Peru |url=http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4681088023.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111209122006/http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4681088023.html|archive-date=9 December 2011|url-status=dead|access-date=4 August 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=MRTA será incluido en la lista de terroristas|url=http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/impresa/notas/mrta-incluido-lista-terroristas/20090508/283759|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120406181205/http://www.elcomercio.com.pe/impresa/notas/mrta%2Dincluido%2Dlista%2Dterroristas/20090508/283759|work=[[El Comercio (Perú)|El Comercio]]|language=es|date=8 May 2009|archive-date=6 April 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=4 August 2009}}</ref> but was later removed from the [[United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations]] on 8 October 2001.

At the height of its strength, the movement had several hundred active members.<ref name="nps" /> Its stated goals were to establish a [[socialist state]] and rid the country of all [[Imperialism|imperialist]] elements.<ref name=":0" /><ref name="nps">{{cite web |title=Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) |url=http://www.nps.edu/library/Research/SubjectGuides/SpecialTopics/TerroristProfile/Prior/TupacAmaruRevolutionaryMovement.html |work=Patterns of Global Terrorism, 2000 |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |date=April 2001 |access-date=3 April 2009}}</ref>

== Ideology ==
The ideology of the MRTA is informed by both Peruvian nationalism and [[Marxism-Leninism]]. The MRTA takes its name from [[Sapa Inca]] [[Túpac Amaru|Tupac Amaru]], the last Inca emperor who led a failed rebellion against the Spanish colonial government and was executed in 1572.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Twentieth-Century Latin American Revolutions|last=Becker|first=Marc|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2017|isbn=9781442265875|location=Lanham, Maryland|pages=7–8}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/incaaccountofcon0000yupa |title=An Inca account of the Conquest of Peru |author=Titu Cusi Yupanqui |date=2005|publisher=University Press of Colorado|translator=Bauer, Ralph|isbn=978-1-4571-1077-1|location=Boulder, Colorado|oclc=607730293|url-access=registration}}</ref>  One of his descendants, Jose Gabriel Concorcanqui, took the name [[Túpac Amaru II|Tupac Amaru II]] and led another [[Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II|popular revolt]] against the Spanish (1780–1782). The MRTA considered itself the vanguard of ideas that already had popular support among oppressed groups, much like the indigenous leader.<ref name=":0" /> In their official statements, the MRTA drew a connection to the anti-colonial struggle against the Spanish to the twentieth century, arguing that Peru was still a subordinate economy to the west especially the United States.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book|title=Globalization and the Challenges of a New Century: A Reader|publisher=Indiana University Press|year=2000|isbn=978-0-253-02818-1|editor=O'Meara, Patrick |editor2=D. Mehlinger, Howard |editor3=Krain, Matthew |pages=282–286}}</ref> Despite the inspiration from the past strugggles of [[Indigenous peoples of Peru]], MRTA was not founded by Indigenous leaders, it was not an ethnically focused Indigenous organization, and it was not primarily focused on [[Indigenous rights]].

The MRTA argues that [[globalization]] is the mechanism of [[Neocolonialism|neo-colonialism]], even that there is no real difference.<ref name=":3" /> The MRTA sees the [[International Monetary Fund|IMF]] and [[World Bank]] as important instruments of [[Neocolonialism|neo-colonialism]], and argues that the policies enforced by these organizations on Peru have caused unemployment and stalled development. In their first radio transmission, the MRTA said, "the war which we begin today is a continuation of the open and clandestine war we Peruvians have waged against foreign and internal oppressors (for centuries)."<ref name=":0" /> Drawing upon the works of [[José Carlos Mariátegui|Jose Carlos Mariategui]]'s ''[[Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality]]'', the MRTA combines an appreciation for Peru's indigenous history with the works of [[Karl Marx]]. Peruvian Marxists differ from traditional Marxists in a few ways. Notably, the Peruvian Marxist tradition holds that non-industrial workers could become politically conscious and begin a popular uprising, a notion dismissed by European Marxists in Mariategui's time.<ref name=":1" /> Peruvian Marxists are less concerned with achieving the key precursors of traditional Marxist revolutions, and instead focus on the daily experiences of Peruvians.<ref name=":2" /> Revolution, they argue, is the only way to improve the conditions of the Peruvian people.

Peruvian Marxists also valorize Indigenous societies for their communal organization, which is seen as a precursor to socialism.<ref name=":1" /> Effectively, Peruvian Marxists equate the establishment of a socialist state in Peru with a return of an Indigenous state, which is considered more just and representative of Peruvian peoples and interests.

In order to achieve their vision, the MRTA declared the necessity of forgoing legal reform in favor of violent revolution.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":2" /> Accordingly, the MRTA aimed to escalate preexisting conflicts and create new ones to demonstrate the feasibility of revolution to a critical mass of Peruvians. Conflict would further deteriorate conditions in Peru, hopefully leading to a transition from a pre-revolutionary state to revolutionary state.<ref name=":2" /> The MRTA believed that political organization would be important to a successful revolution, but criticized preexisting leftist groups as naive for believing in a peaceful reform movement. The MRTA believes that "reformism" in general has stalled the progress towards global socialist revolution by preventing the rise of [[class consciousness]].<ref name=":3" />

The MRTA simultaneously preached Peruvian nationalism while arguing they were part of a larger Latin American effort to remove North American interference on the continent.<ref name=":0" /> The prominence of Peru's Indigenous past in the MRTA's rhetoric meant they never aspired to fully merge with a global movement, only that they wished to aid like-minded allies.

==History==
===Origins===
The MRTA formed between 1980 and 1982 with  merging of the [[Revolutionary Socialist Party (Marxist–Leninist)]] (PSR-ML) and the militant faction of the [[Revolutionary Left Movement (Peru)|Revolutionary Left Movement]], ''MIR El Militante'' (MIR-EM).<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Capitalism, Class and Revolution in Peru, 1980–2016|last=Lust|first=Jan|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan, Cham|year=2019|isbn=978-3-319-91403-9|location=Lima, Peru|pages=176–183}}</ref> The former gathered several ex-members of the [[Peruvian armed forces]] that participated in the [[leftist]] government of [[Juan Velasco Alvarado]] (1968–1975), and the latter represented a subdivision of the Revolutionary Left Movement, a [[Fidel Castro|Castro]]ist guerrilla faction which was defeated in 1965.
The MRTA attempted to ally with other leftist organizations following the first democratic elections in Peru after a military government period (1968–1980). in the Period of 1982–1984, the MRTA continued to organize its military and political structures internally.<ref name=":2" />

The MRTA maintained an alliance with MIR until 1987.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6aaae27.html|title=Peru: Information on the "Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Amaru" (MRTA)|date=1 March 1989|website=Refworld|access-date=30 October 2019}}</ref>

===Operations===
[[File:Guerrilleros del MRTA.png|thumb|Self-published photo of MRTA guerrillas training]]
[[File:Terrorismo_MRTA.png|thumb|Areas where the MRTA was active]]
The first action by the MRTA occurred on 31 May 1982, when five of its members, including [[Víctor Polay|Victor Polay Campos]] and Jorge Talledo Feria (members of the Central Committee) robbed a bank in La Victoria, Lima. During the hold up, Talledo was killed by friendly fire.

On the midnight of 28 September 1984, members of the MRTA fired on the [[Embassy of the United States, Lima|United States Embassy]], causing damage but no casualties.<ref name=":4" /> The MRTA members were disguised as police, and fled after receiving returning fire from Peruvian guards.<ref name=":5">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1984/09/29/world/around-the-world-us-embassy-in-peru-sprayed-with-gunfire.html|title=AROUND THE WORLD; U.S. Embassy in Peru Sprayed With Gunfire|last=Ap|date=29 September 1984|work=The New York Times|access-date=6 November 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> The MRTA claimed responsibility for the attack in a message sent to the United States embassy.<ref name=":5" /> The group was also linked to further attacks to the Embassy premises in late 1985, April 1986 (protesting US' [[Operation Eldorado Canyon]]) and in February 1990, as well as to a series of attacks to [[United States Information Agency|USIS]] Binational Centers.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.csmonitor.com/1986/0129/zemb.html|title=The isolation of American diplomacy. US embassies under siege by terrorism|journal=Christian Science Monitor|date=29 January 1986}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://elpais.com/diario/1989/10/27/internacional/625446007_850215.html|title=Los maoístas de Sendero Luminoso atacan la Embajada china en Lima|newspaper=El País|date=26 October 1989|last1=Murillo|first1=Ana}}</ref><ref>lum.cultura.pe/cdi/sites/default/files/documento/pdf/656.pdf</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mJ3UnubMOsQC&q=us+embassy+lima+1986+mrta&pg=PA21|title = Patterns of Global Terrorism|year = 1990}}</ref>

<!--On 31 May 1989, a group of six guerrillas shot dead eight [[Transvestism|transvestites]] and [[Homosexuality|homosexuals]] in a bar in the city of [[Tarapoto]]. The weekly "Cambio", official organ of the MRTA, claimed responsibility, accusing the police of protecting "these social ills, which were used to corrupt youth." This was reported by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in its final report (28 August 2003). The date has been considered by the Peruvian LGBT movement as a historical landmark.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.globalgayz.com/south-america/peru/gay-peru-news-and-reports-2011/#article2 |title=Gay Peru News & Reports 2011 |publisher=Archive.globalgayz.com |access-date=20 April 2013}}</ref>--> 
Peru's counterterrorist program diminished the group's ability to carry out guerrilla attacks, and the MRTA suffered from infighting as well as violent clashes with [[Maoist]] rival Shining Path, the imprisonment or deaths of senior leaders, and loss of leftist support. The MRTA's attempt to expand in to rural areas put them in conflict with the Shining Path, where they failed to compete with the more radical group.<ref name=":0" /> Shining Path's strength in the countryside forced the MRTA to largely remain in their urban and middle-class base.<ref name=":0" />

On 6 July 1992, MRTA fighters staged a raid on the town of Jaen, Peru, a jungle town located in the northern department of Cajamarca. Two policemen including, Eladio Garcia Tello, responded to the calls for help. After an intense shootout, the guerrillas were driven out of the town. Eladio Garcia Tello perished, after a bullet to the chest.

MRTA's last major action resulted in the 1997 [[Japanese embassy hostage crisis]]. In December 1996, 14 MRTA members occupied the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, holding 72 hostages for more than four months. Under orders from then-President [[Alberto Fujimori]], armed forces stormed the residence in April 1997, rescuing all but one of the remaining hostages and killing all 14 MRTA militants. Fujimori was publicly acclaimed for the decisive action, but the affair was later tainted by subsequent revelations that at least three, and perhaps as many as eight, of the MRTistas were summarily executed after they surrendered. The Japanese embassy hostage crisis marked the end of MRTA as any threat to the Peruvian state and effectively dissolved the group.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/19/world/the-rebels-and-the-cause-12-years-of-peru-s-turmoil.html|title=The Rebels and the Cause: 12 Years of Peru's Turmoil|last=Brooke|first=James|date=19 December 1996|website=The New York Times|access-date=30 October 2019}}</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name=":0" />

In 2001, several MRTA members remained imprisoned in [[Bolivia]].<ref name="nps" />

===Trials and convictions===
In September 2003, four Chilean defendants, including [[Jaime Castillo Petruzzi]], were retried and convicted of membership in the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and participation in an attack on the [[Peruvian North American Cultural Institute]] and a kidnapping-murder in 1993.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.larepublica.pe/03-09-2003/tras-nuevo-juicio-los-4-chilenos-del-mrta-continuaran-en-la-carcel |title=Tras nuevo juicio – los 4 chilenos del MRTA continuarán en la cárcel |publisher=LaRepublica.pe |date=7 April 2013 |access-date=20 April 2013}}</ref>

On 22 March 2006, [[Víctor Polay]], the guerrilla leader of the MRTA, was found guilty by a Peruvian court on nearly 30 crimes committed during the late 1980s and early 1990s.<ref>[[BBC News]].  "Peru Guerrilla Leader Convicted." 22 March 2006.  [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4832034.stm Available online].  Accessed 3 February 2007.</ref>

In a case that attracted international attention, [[Lori Berenson]], a former [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology|MIT]] student and [[United States|U.S.]] [[Socialism|socialist]] activist living in Lima, was arrested on 30 November 1995, by the  police and accused of collaborating with the MRTA. She was subsequently sentenced by a military court to life imprisonment (later reduced to 20 years by a civilian court).

===Truth and Reconciliation Commission===
Peru's [[Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)|Truth and Reconciliation Commission]] determined that the group was responsible for 1.5% of the deaths investigated. In its final findings published in 2003, the Commission observed:

:Unlike Shining Path, and like other armed Latin American organizations with which it maintained ties, the MRTA claimed responsibility for its actions, its members used uniforms or other identifiers to differentiate themselves from the civilian population, it abstained from attacking the unarmed population and at some points showed signs of being open to peace negotiations. Nevertheless, MRTA also engaged in criminal acts; it resorted to assassinations, such as in the case of General Enrique López Albújar,<ref>{{Cite news |title=Resurge una guerrilla en el ocaso |url=http://www.elpais.es/p/d/temas/peru/pe19123.htm |date=1996-12-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970125044952/http://www.elpais.es/p/d/temas/peru/pe19123.htm |archive-date=1997-01-25 |work=[[El País]]}}</ref> the taking of hostages and the systematic practice of kidnapping, all crimes that violate not only personal liberty but the international humanitarian law that the MRTA claimed to respect.<ref name=":6">La Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación.  ''Final Report.''  "General Conclusions." [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ingles/ifinal/conclusiones.php Available online].  Accessed 3 February 2007.</ref>

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission goes on to note one of the MRTA's goals was to legitimize politically motivated violence in Peru. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission both condemns this justification of violence, and argues it contributed to the ability of other organizations to inflict greater violence then they might have otherwise. Further, the existence of groups like MRTA, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission argues, legitimized the authoritarian, 
militaristic, and repressive policies of the government of [[Alberto Fujimori]].<ref name=":6" />

==People's Democratic Front==
[[File:Frente Democrático del Pueblo.png|thumb|right|Logo used by the FDP.]]
The '''People's Democratic Front''' ({{langx|es|Frente Democrático del Pueblo}}, '''FDP''') is a [[far-left]] political organisation formed by former members of the group, as well as sympathisers. It is headed by {{ill|Luis Gordon Iglesias|es}} (convicted of terrorism in 1991 and sentenced to 20 years), Bernardo Roque (coordinator of ''Revista Túpac Amaru''), and Gabriel Vásquez. Its members follow [[Marxism–Leninism]], also showing admiration for [[Che Guevara]]'s ideology and [[Túpac Amaru]]'s figure.

The FDP has claimed responsibility for the actions and figures of the MRTA. On December 17, 2016, the FDP, together with the ''Chilean Guevarist Left'' collective, paid tribute to the terrorists who died during [[Operation Chavín de Huántar]]. On April 24, 2017, the FDP paid tribute to Néstor Cerpa Cartolini. During the [[2021 Peruvian general election|2021 presidential elections]], the FDP announced its support for [[Pedro Castillo]]'s candidacy.

==Notable people==
<!---♦♦♦ Only add a person to this list if they already have their own article on the English Wikipedia ♦♦♦---> 
<!---♦♦♦ Please keep the list in alphabetical order by LAST NAME ♦♦♦--->
*[[Peter Cárdenas Schulte]] (born 1955), Peruvian terrorist and former convict, co-founder and the second-in-command of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pañella |first=Ramón |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PspAQAAMAAJ&q=schulte+MRTA |title=Crónicas para un redescubrimiento |date=1993 |publisher=Alba Editorial |isbn=978-84-88730-54-1 |language=es}}</ref>

== See also ==
*[[Revolutionary Left Movement (Peru)|Revolutionary Left Movement]]
*[[List of military units named after people]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*{{in lang|es}} [http://www.cverdad.org.pe/ifinal/pdf/TOMO%20II/CAPITULO%201%20-%20Los%20actores%20armados%20del%20conflicto/1.4.%20El%20MRTA.pdf El Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru. Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación]
* {{in lang|es}} [https://web.archive.org/web/20051225082915/http://www.voz-rebelde.de/texto/somos.htm "''Voz Rebelde''": a publication by the group]
*[http://www.nadir.org/nadir/initiativ/mrta/ MRTA (NOTE: last updated in 2005)]
*[http://www.cedema.org/index.php?ver=verlista&grupo=117&nombrepais=Peru&nombregrupo=Movimiento%20Revolucionario%20Tupac%20Amaru%20(MRTA) Communiqués by the MRTA (Spanish)]
*[http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?page=1&casualties_type=&casualties_max=&perpetrator=621&count=100&charttype=line&chart=overtime&ob=GTDID&od=desc&expanded=yes#results-table Attacks attributed to the MRTA on the START database]
*[https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000393913.pdf CIA report (with reactions) on the MRTA (1991)]

{{Internal conflict in Peru}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement}}
[[Category:1982 establishments in Peru]]
[[Category:1997 disestablishments in Peru]]
[[Category:Anti-imperialist organizations]]
[[Category:Communism in Peru]]
[[Category:Defunct communist militant groups]]
[[Category:Far-left politics in Peru]]
[[Category:Guerrilla movements in Latin America]]
[[Category:Internal conflict in Peru]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 1997]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1982]]
[[Category:Organizations formerly designated as terrorist by the United States]]
[[Category:Rebel groups in Peru]]
[[Category:Terrorism in Peru]]
[[Category:Anti-American sentiment in South America]]