Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path http://www.solrojo.org/ ) is still fighting in the VRAE zone, heights of the Amazonian jungle in Perú, kind of Mao's Yenan for these Latino-American guerrilla.

1980-1992
Abimael Guzmán, comrade 'Gonzalo'
He led the armed struggle until he was arrested "and no longer leads the organization because he chaptered" according to Victor Quispe

1192-1999
Óscar Ramírez Durand, comrade 'Feliciano'
He continued the armed struggle and flouted Guzman's order to develop the 'peace agreement' with Fujimori.

1999-2008
Víctor Quispe Palomino, 'José',
he argues that the armed struggle continues and he is prepared to expand it throughout the country.

'José's brother Jorge Quispe Palomino, 'Raúl', 3rd in VRAE.

I know the shining path claims to be a maoist movement, but I have never really understood if they were an authentic, non-fascist revolutionary movement or a band of thugs, masquerading as a maoists.

Genuine Maoists.

seem dubious to me

To the OP: Isn't José also known as Artemio?

It's allways dubious: the FARC is dubious, but I assume there are equal parts of idealists, thugs and people who are simply drawn in by the first two.

They are different persons:
'José' is Víctor Quispe Palomino's nom de guerre.
"Artemio" (José Flores León's nom de guerre) is head of the Regional Committee of the Huallaga province.

The problem with this is that it assumes there is a difference between "genuine Maoism" and anti-working-class thuggery.

Anti-working class thugs relaxing.







genuine revolutionaries making revolution.

You know that just because the anti-working class thugs in question have guns and red flags doesn't mean they are making any kind of progressive revolution. To be honest I would rather see these gangsters sitting on their arse doing sweet fuck all than continue on their violent and ultimately anti-worker campaigns. Maybe that's just me, though. Perhaps to you it is perfectly reasonable to romanticise this violence as somehow bringing about revolution rather than just being thuggery with a lick of red paint I don't know.

.................................................. .

No words.. really.

Is there any evidence at all they've been active since 2008?

They say that they are.

Is it too much to ask for one link saying even that?

The OP certainly does not say that, all the websites associated (support bases in other countries too) seem to be down or haven't been updated since ridiculous times like 2004.

Certainly not! Here:

http://www.solrojo.org/SR32_acciones.htm

Well, that corroborates what I've been saying, the page title in English is "actions PCP 2008-2009". It ends in Nov 2008..

Actually it is till June 2009. Begins at November 2008.

Here's a bit activity.

"[In August] Three policemen and two civilians have been killed in an overnight raid on a special forces base in southern Peru, which the government has blamed on once-powerful Maoist guerrillas."
''In April, the remnants of the group killed 13 soldiers in an attack to an army base in the Ayacucho region. ''

http://www.revleft.com/vb/five-dead-....html?t=114414

Alright, that was pretty stupid of me.

Anyway.. .

According to various sources, they are only really active in San Miguel and Ayacucho provinces, it's written that they are too. But I have heard from other marxist-leninist leftists that they are now mostly defunct anyway, so I was under the impression they were from that too.

Trust your sources very carefully. There are ups and downs in the PPWs. During the downs there is a lot of propaganda against the Maoists and they say that Maoists are "defunct", "confined to the mountains murdering peasants etc etc.". A couple of years ago this type of propaganda was done against Filipino and Indian Maoists too(and still now). Then the former emerged with a PLA that exceeded the one in the 80s in numbers, and the latter conducted a series of uprisings in vast regions.