Abimael Guzmán
Peruvian Maoist terrorist leader (1934–2021)
Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reinoso (Latin American Spanish: [maˈnwel ruˈβ̞en aβ̞imaˈel ɣ̞uzˈman rejˈnoso]; 3 December 1934 − 11 September 2021), also known by his nom de guerre Chairman Gonzalo (Spanish: Presidente Gonzalo; [pɾesiˌð̞ente ɣ̞onˈsalo]), was a Peruvian Maoist revolutionary and guerrilla leader. He founded the organization Communist Party of Peru – Shining Path (PCP-SL) in 1969 and led a rebellion against the Peruvian government until his capture by authorities on 12 September 1992. He was then sentenced to life imprisonment for terrorism and treason.
Guzmán joined the Communist Party when he was about 20 years old. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was a professor of philosophy active in far-left politics strongly influenced by Marxism, Leninism, and Maoism. He developed an ideology of armed struggle stressing the empowerment of the Indigenous people. He went underground in the mid-1960s to become the leader of the Shining Path, which began "The People's War" or the "Armed Struggle" on 17 May 1980.
Early life
Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reinoso was born on 3 December 1934 in Mollendo, a port town in the province of Islay, in the region of Arequipa, about 1,000 km (620 mi) south of Lima. He was the illegitimate son of an accountant who had ten children with five women. Guzmán's mother, Berenice Reinoso, died when he was five.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 17, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q321322. VIAF identifies the subject as 19665423. The Library of Congress control number is n86062132. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1934, 2021, 1969 and 1992.
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This entry incorporates text from “Abimael Guzmán” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.