In the 1960s and 1970s, Guzmán was a professor of philosophy active in anti-democratic far-left politics and 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-1970s to become the leader of the Shining Path, which began the so-called "The Peruvian People's War" or the "Armed Struggle" on 17 May 1980, by burning ballot boxes during the 1980 elections. | In the 1960s and 1970s, Guzmán was a professor of philosophy active in anti-democratic far-left politics and 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-1970s to become the leader of the Shining Path, which began the so-called "The Peruvian People's War" or the "Armed Struggle" on 17 May 1980, by burning ballot boxes during the 1980 elections. |