Product Description
In the 1980s, Maoist guerrillas were taking aim at advocates of change that were trying to lift marginalized populations out of poverty in the Peruvian Andes. This book examines the complex factors that led to this confrontation and the military response that the Lima government unleashed in 1983. The armed conflict dominated Peruvian politics for the next decade and shaped society for years to come.
Caught in the middle of the political violence were rural grassroots communities and non-governmental organizations that were providing development services to relieve the extreme poverty in Peru's Andes mountains.
After providing background information and describing the main political and military forces, the book examines two case studies of development promotion centers that were attacked by the Shining Path (also known as Sendero Luminoso) guerrillas:the Allpachaka agricultural station associated with the local university in Ayacucho in 1982 and the IER Waqrani rural development program associated with the Catholic Church in Puno in 1989. These incidents are thoroughly documented for the first time.
The author made frequent field trips to interview local leaders, government authorities and other observers to acquire a unique perspective on political conflict at the bleeding edge of development in the Third World. It underscores the social tensions that can be stirred up by "progress."
This study was originally published in 1991 in Canada and then in 1992 in Peru.
Caught in the middle of the political violence were rural grassroots communities and non-governmental organizations that were providing development services to relieve the extreme poverty in Peru's Andes mountains.
After providing background information and describing the main political and military forces, the book examines two case studies of development promotion centers that were attacked by the Shining Path (also known as Sendero Luminoso) guerrillas:the Allpachaka agricultural station associated with the local university in Ayacucho in 1982 and the IER Waqrani rural development program associated with the Catholic Church in Puno in 1989. These incidents are thoroughly documented for the first time.
The author made frequent field trips to interview local leaders, government authorities and other observers to acquire a unique perspective on political conflict at the bleeding edge of development in the Third World. It underscores the social tensions that can be stirred up by "progress."
This study was originally published in 1991 in Canada and then in 1992 in Peru.
From the Author
This book was actually a tangential outcome from my years working as a journalist in Peru and researcher on political violence in Peru in the 1980s and early 1990s. In visiting provincial Peru to cover the Shining Path, I found that events on the ground did not match up with how they were being reported in Lima. But I also found that some of the most informed observations came from leaders of the grassroots support organizations (GSOs) that were working with local communities and saw the dynamics of violence up close. They were also frequent targets of Shining Path guerrillas, the Peruvian security forces or other interests. As the fighting intensified and shred across Peru, I realized that I had the raw material to write about GSOs and how the local setting swept them into the conflict. Although I had no direct experience in rural development, project management, GSO funding or an academic discipline, I felt that I brought a trained eye, a vision of what was happening in the whole country, and no preconceied concepts. When outside consultants are brought in to study a situtation, such as the one that existed in Peru, they have no historical perspective or sensitivity to local nuances.
Once I sat down at my computer, the text practically wrote itself. I was spurred on by the urgency of worsening conditions in Peru. I shared the findings with many leaders in the GSO community, providing positive feedback. I eventually asked several GSO leaders read the manuscript, which enriched the final text. The manuscript ended up becoming a narrative of Peru's armed conflict told from the perspective of GSOs.
This analysis is not just relevant to Peru in the 1980s. GSOs operate all over the world, frequently in places where political and social violence, non-conventional war and low-intensity conflicts are part of the local landscape. Although they frequently see themselves as "above the storm," they can contribute to intensifying the dispute for resources.
The International Development Research Centre (IRDC) of Canada though its Latin American and Caribbean regional office provided funding for research and writing. The original IDRC monograph has been out of print for years so I am making it available through Amazon as a Kindle book. There is a Spanish version, Entre Dos Fuegos. ONG, Desarrollo Rural y Violencia Política, brought out by the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos in Lima in 1992. It is currently out of print.
Once I sat down at my computer, the text practically wrote itself. I was spurred on by the urgency of worsening conditions in Peru. I shared the findings with many leaders in the GSO community, providing positive feedback. I eventually asked several GSO leaders read the manuscript, which enriched the final text. The manuscript ended up becoming a narrative of Peru's armed conflict told from the perspective of GSOs.
This analysis is not just relevant to Peru in the 1980s. GSOs operate all over the world, frequently in places where political and social violence, non-conventional war and low-intensity conflicts are part of the local landscape. Although they frequently see themselves as "above the storm," they can contribute to intensifying the dispute for resources.
The International Development Research Centre (IRDC) of Canada though its Latin American and Caribbean regional office provided funding for research and writing. The original IDRC monograph has been out of print for years so I am making it available through Amazon as a Kindle book. There is a Spanish version, Entre Dos Fuegos. ONG, Desarrollo Rural y Violencia Política, brought out by the Instituto de Estudios Peruanos in Lima in 1992. It is currently out of print.
