In 1980 the Sendero Luminoso insurgency led by Abimael Guzman Reynoso initiated its armed struggle in the Andes of the Peruvian rural areas. From 1980 to 1999 the Sendero Luminoso generated chaos and violence in the country utilizing different procedures and tactics. Abimael Guzman was captured in 1992 and Sendero Luminoso's influence began to decrease. After 1999 the Sendero Luminoso withdrew to remote areas and Comrade Victor Quispe Palomino took the lead with new tactics, techniques, and procedures and providing security to the drug cartels. The Peruvian Army trained to conventional warfare in the 80's began its counterinsurgency operations with some mistakes learning counterinsurgency tactics in response to the advance of insurgents attacks. In 2001 the interim government of Agustin Paniagua deactivated the Peruvian National Intelligence System, and moved the counterinsurgency military bases to the cities concluding that the Sendero Luminoso was close to defeat. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the counterinsurgency doctrinal changes that the Peruvian Army learned from the Sendero Luminoso insurgency from 2001 to 2013.

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