Tarata bombing
Encyclopedia
The Tarata bombing was a terrorist attack in Lima
Lima
Lima is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín rivers, in the central part of the country, on a desert coast overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Together with the seaport of Callao, it forms a contiguous urban area known as the Lima...

, Peru
Peru
Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, on July 16, 1992, by the Shining Path
Shining Path
Shining Path is a Maoist guerrilla terrorist organization in Peru. The group never refers to itself as "Shining Path", and as several other Peruvian groups, prefers to be called the "Communist Party of Peru" or "PCP-SL" in short...

 guerrilla group. The blast was the deadliest Shining Path bombing during the Internal conflict in Peru
Internal conflict in Peru
It has been estimated that nearly 70,000 people died in the internal conflict in Peru that started in 1980 and, although still ongoing, had greatly wound down by 2000. The principal actors in the war were the Shining Path , the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement and the government of Peru.A great...

and was part of a larger bombing campaign in the city.

The explosions happened on Tarata Street, the business area of Miraflores
Miraflores District, Lima
Miraflores is a district of the Lima Province in Peru. Known for its shopping areas, gardens, flower-filled parks and beaches, it is one of the upscale districts that make up the city of Lima....

, an upscale district of the city. Two trucks, each packed with 1,000 kg of explosives, exploded on the street at 9:15 pm, killing 24 and wounding up to 200. The blast destroyed or damaged 183 homes, 400 businesses and 63 parked cars. The bombings were the beginning of a week-long Shining Path strike against the Peruvian government, a strike which caused 40 deaths and shut down much of the capital.

In the wake of the incident, galvanized by public outrage, President Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...

 intensified his crackdown on Peruvian insurgent groups.

Background

In 1992, Peru was in the midst of a civil war with several violent political insurgencies, the most radical and active of which called itself the Communist Party of Peru—Shining Path. That year, a coup led by President Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori
Alberto Fujimori Fujimori served as President of Peru from 28 July 1990 to 17 November 2000. A controversial figure, Fujimori has been credited with the creation of Fujimorism, uprooting terrorism in Peru and restoring its macroeconomic stability, though his methods have drawn charges of...

 on April 5, in which he dissolved Congress as part of a broader political crackdown, aggravated the domestic social conflict.

Earlier Shining Path attacks that year included the February 15 murder of María Elena Moyano
María Elena Moyano
María Elena Moyano Delgado was a Peruvian community organizer and activist of Afro-Peruvian descent who was assassinated by the maoist Shining Path insurgent movement...

, a community organizer in Villa El Salvador, who was shot at close range then blown up with dynamite. Also, on June 5 a car bomb exploded beside the Frecuencia Latina
Frecuencia Latina
Frecuencia Latina , better known as Channel 2, is a Peruvian television network. The network was founded on May 31, 1962 by the Cavero Family Group who turned the station into a network filled with musical programs and variety shows...

 television station near midnight, killing journalist Alejandro Perez.

The attack

The attack took place on Thursday July 16 and targeted the Credit Bank of Peru located on Avenida Larco
Avenida Larco
Avenida Larco is an avenue located in downtown Miraflores in Lima which is home to various stores and restaurants. It used to be the commercial heart of Lima during the 70s and 80s, but declined since then. Nevertheless, with the opening of the Larcomar mall in the last block of Larco, this area...

. During the day, Shining Path forces in Lima conducted attacks against police stations and smaller financial institutions in order to disperse the police and clear the way for the main attack. Near the planned time, there was a wavering in electric power followed by one of the blackouts common in the city at that time.

According to testimony of Shining Path militants interviewed by the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission
Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Peru)
The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established in 2001 after the fall of president Alberto Fujimori, to examine abuses committed during the 1980s and 1990s, when Peru was plagued by the worst political violence in the history of the republic...

, the twelfth Shining Path detachment in Lima, commanded by "Comrade Daniel" (later identified as Carlos Mora La Madrid in the Commission's records), was responsible for conducting the attack.

The original plan was to set off explosives in front of that bank at 9:20 pm, but a caretaker of the establishment did not allow them to park in the place agreed. They therefore decided to leave their vehicle at the next intersection (which was the Tarata street) and allow it to drift forward until it exploded. Once in the street, the driver slowed down and abandoned the truck.

The explosive payload was 400—500 kilograms of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil
ANFO
ANFO is a widely used bulk industrial explosive mixture. It consists of 94 percent porous prilled ammonium nitrate , that acts as the oxidizing agent and absorbent for the fuel — six percent Number 2 Fuel Oil...

 mixed with dynamite. The buildings most affected by their locations near the center of the blast were El Condado, San Pedro, Tarata, Central Residential and San Carlos. The shock wave extended for 300 meters. The explosion killed 25, wounded 155, and caused more than US$3 million in damage.

Impact

Response from around the world denounced the Shining Path and expressed solidarity with the Peruvian government and people in overcoming the situation.

According to specialists, it was the first time in the course of the civil war that "traditional" Lima society experienced the conflict. It was the first time that a terrorist act was carried out against a large-scale civilian target and the first direct attack on a city center.

The attack also led to self-examinations within the Shining Path, whose main leaders recognized the act as a "mistake" that should not have happened because it did not advance the group's main objective.

This attack was used as a justification for the La Cantuta massacre
La Cantuta massacre
The La Cantuta massacre, in which a university professor and nine students from Lima's La Cantuta University were abducted by a military death squad and "disappeared", took place in Peru on 18 July 1992 during the presidency of Alberto Fujimori...

 two days later on July 18, in which nine students and one teacher at the National University of Education Enrique Guzmán y Valle
National University of Education Enrique Guzmán y Valle
The National University of Education Enrique Guzmán y Valle , often called La Cantuta, is a university in the Lima area of Peru. The university specializes in education and administration....

, Shining Path suspects, were kidnapped and disappeared during the night by members of the Grupo Colina
Grupo Colina
Grupo Colina was a paramilitary anti-communist death squad created in Peru that was active from 1990 until 1994, during the administration of Alberto Fujimori...

death squad. All were accused of having perpetrated the Tarata bombing.
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