E/CN.4/1999/63/Add.2 page 5 15. After the visit, eight “legislative decrees” with procedural and penal provisions were enacted to combat ordinary crime and protect “national security”, along the same lines as the anti-terrorist legislation. Observations are made on these provisions as they could give rise to arbitrary detention. I. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND TO THE TERRORIST MOVEMENT IN PERU AND ACTIONS TAKEN TO COMBAT IT 16. Terrorism started in Peru on 17 May 1980 with attacks by a splinter group of the Peruvian Communist Party, founded by Carlos Mariátegui. The first action by the group was to destroy the voting materials for the presidential election then taking place in Chuschi. Invoking the “Shining Path which Mariátegui showed us ...”, the splinter group then launched a ruthless war against the State. Soon, the movement became known as the Shining Path, although the name was not accepted by its members. Shining Path is divided into cells and it operates mainly through recruitment under threat of death; a large number of persons are forced to join its ranks without being able to put up any resistance. 17. It is the public perception that the Shining Path declared a “total revolution”, employed violent means to achieve it, and in the process showed contempt for the right to life. Some contend that its genesis could be attributed to each successive Government's historical neglect of the peasant majority. The modus operandi of the Shining Path is the following: when it arrives in a village, it rounds up the population, demands assistance in the form of lodging and food, and kills groups of people to show how powerful it is. It is said that the victims are usually those who have been forced to provide food and lodging for members of the armed forces hunting the Shining Path. The civilian population is apparently caught between subversive and repressive violence. Among the victims are local authorities, mayors and persons with social standing; on occasion the Shining Path is said to have killed up to 80 unarmed civilians, including women and children. 18. Since the capture of its leader, Abismael Guzmán, in 1992, Shining Path has been split between those who, following Guzmán's example, call for peace and those who continue to commit barbarous acts to achieve the demands of marginalized populations, who themselves reject Shining Path's methods. 19. The Marxist Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) started its operations in 1984 and is definitely Shining Path's rival; there is no contact or solidarity between them and they are constantly disputing areas of influence. 1 The rivalry between them is so great that they have to be separated from each other in prisons. Their cruelty and fighting methods are nevertheless similar. 20. These groups have caused about 30,000 deaths since 1980, including those killed by the armed forces, as well as the exile and displacement of many persons. 21. The State decided to defend society by using military and legal means. The military approach resulted in the deaths of countless non-combatants and in many respects in no way differed from the practices of the subversive