Indigenous Twentieth Century Movements: Peru’s Sendero Luminoso, Mexico’s EZLN, and Brazil’s MST

The group hoped to return Peru to its pre-Pizarro Inca roots, and its emergence in the poor, indigenous southwest state of Ayacucho had a dramatic influence on Peruvian politics, economics, and society during the 1980s and 1990s. Revolutionary groups in Peru, Mexico, and Brazil organized during the 1980s and 1990s: they challenged their respective states and fought on behalf of the poor and marginalized, much like many of their predecessors. Mexico’s EZLN emerged on the world scene on January 1, 1994—the same day that the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect—and Brazil’s MST continues to challenge the Brazilian state in defense of poor people’s rights to land and work in rural Brazil. The fact that all three movements exist in one form or another points to fundamental structural problems that are nearly impossible to redress via the polite rhetoric of modern, liberal governments in Latin America.