Shining Path central region of Haunuco, Peru. The victims were gunned down by sniper fire coming from the thick forest as more than 200 workers were destroying coca plants. Since this attack, the Shining Path faction, based in the Upper Huallaga Valley of Peru and headed by Florindo Eleuterio Flores Hala, alias Comrade Artemio, has been operating in a survival mode, and has lost 9 of their top 10 leaders to Peruvian National Police (PNP)-led capture operations. Two of the eight leaders were killed by PNP personnel during the attempted captures. Those nine arrested/killed Shining Path (Upper Huallaga Valley faction) leaders include
History of the Communist Party USA of which that are still part of Communist Party politics today. In 2000, after the death of Gus Hall, Sam Webb became the chairman of the National Committee. Under his leadership, the party's top priority became supporting the Democratic Party in elections in order to defeat the "ultra right". Webb issued a thesis on how he saw the party's position in American politics and its role, rejecting Marxism–Leninism as "too rigid and formulaic" and putting forward the idea of "moving beyond Communist Parties" which was widely criticized both within the party and internationally as anti-communist and a move towards liquidation.