According to Broadleft.org [1] (http://www.broadleft.org/pe.htm), the oldest communist party in Peru is the Partido Comunista Peruano Unidad [2] (http://pcp.miarroba.com), founded in 1928, which is located at Plaza Ramón Castilla N. 67 Lima with Phone +51 1 3306106 and email: unidad@ec-red.com, and is led by Renán Raffo Muñoz.

There is another party that also considers itself the communist party of Peru: Partido Comunista del Peru Patria Roja [3] (http://www.patriaroja.org.pe), founded in 1970, with email: pcdelp@patriaroja.org.pe, and physical address at Jr. Miró Quesada 360 - Cercado de Lima, Peru, and is now headed by Alberto Moreno. It descends from the mainstream fraction of PCP-Bandera Roja, which, in turn, originated as a Maoist fraction within the Partido Comunista Peruano.

Both PCP-Bandera Roja and PCP-Unidad are named after their traditional press organs; the name "PCP-Unidad" is an informal designation - the official name of the PCP-Unidad is simply "Partido Comunista Peruano". There was a fraction called PCP-Mayoria around 1980: its members considered that PCP-Unidad had taken a Eurocommunist turn - they preferred a more hard-line Soviet stance themselves.

There are a few more groups that also consider themselves the communist party of Peru, with the Shining Path being the best known. This group, widely regarded as terrorist, is an offshoot of PCP-Bandera Roja, having splintered from it in the early 1970s. The Shining Path considers PCP-Patria Roja and PCP-Unidad to be revisionist; it has assassinated several of their militants and elected officials.