Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

TÚPAC AMARU REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT • 673lowing the Cuban and Nicaraguan models. It was the main rival withinPeru of the Sendero Luminoso, from which it differed in rejecting thexenophobia and ideological isolationism of the latter group, stressinginstead fraternal unity with other Marxist regimes and national liberationmovements. The MRTA used terrorism primarily for armedpropaganda, both to delegiti mize the Peruvian regime and to force theU.S. diplomatic and commercial presence out of Peru.The MRTA was formed by a combination of leftist universitystudents, many of whom went into exile in Cuba and the SovietUnion when Peru was under military rule during the 1970s, as well asformer leftist military officers. The group therefore reflected a moreCastroite and internationalist perspective than did the Sendero Luminoso.The MRTA was aided by Cuba and the former Sandinista governmentof Nicaragua and was suspected of receiving aid from Libya.The MRTA also once had contacts with the Colombian M-19 groupand is believed to have collaborated with the Manuel Rodríguez PatrioticFront in Chile and with the reconstituted National LiberationArmy (Nestor Paz Zamora Commission), of Bolivia. The MRTAtook its name from an earlier national, anticolonial, and revolutionaryhero, the Inca pretender Túpac Amaru, who led Peru’s Indianpeasants in an abortive anticolonial revolt and who was executed bythe Spaniards in 1782. Although Túpac Amaru based his revolt onan appeal to Indian nativist resentment against Spaniard domination,there was little evidence that the MRTA made any systematic appealto Indian nativism as did its rival, Sendero Luminoso.Formed in the early 1980s by former military officers of theleft-wing dictatorship of Juan Velasco Alvarado (1968–1975) anda small Castroite guerrilla group, the Movement of the RevolutionaryLeft-Militant, the MRTA became active on 31 May 1982 witha bank robbery in Lima, although it did not claim responsibilityfor its actions until 1984. Of 51 confirmed MRTA terrorist actionsconducted from 1984–1991, 37 involved bombings, four involvedarmed attacks using automatic weapons or light artillery, threeinvolved car bombings, and seven involved takeovers of radiostations, news agency offices, or churches to force publication ofMRTA propaganda. At least nine of these attacks were directed atU.S. diplomatic property and persons, giving the MRTA the distinctionof making the most attacks on U.S. diplomatic facilities ofany group in Latin America. The MRTA distinguished itself from