Jiron Tarata is a narrow street in the heart of Miraflores, the business district of the Peruvian capital, Lima. Restaurants and shops alternate with the shaded entrances of residential buildings. Today, this is a pedestrian walkway. But on 16 July 1992, when it was a road open to traffic, a car bomb caused massive devastation. "It was a Thursday, at 9:05 in the evening," says Gregorio Ramiro, who still works as a porter in one of the buildings. "The first explosion was to attract attention," he says. Mr Ramiro, like many others on the street, went to the windows to see what had caused the loud noise. Standing there, no-one escaped what came next. "The second blast was the horrible one. That's what caused the carnage."
Twenty-five people died and dozens more were injured. The blast was so powerful that it threw Mr Ramiro back several metres. He still has visible scars on his face and arms from the sharp glass that cut and pierced his skin. Everything - windows, doors, furniture - was blown off. Only the skeleton of the buildings was left standing. One resident still gets teary when she remembers what happened. "There were people crying and moaning," says Maria Teresa Passarelli. "This was worse than an earthquake, because a quake is a natural phenomenon. "This was something that came from the evil of human beings."
Feared fighters
The bombing was the deadliest by the Shining Path guerrilla movement, at the height of its attempt to overthrow the government. Two months later, its founder and leader, Abimael Guzman, was arrested. And with his capture, the strength and influence of the Maoist organisation was severely weakened. Today, only a few pockets of resistance remain. A leader of Shining Path remnants, known as Comrade Artemio, was captured in mid-February. Many Peruvians accept that the guerrilla group no longer poses a serious threat to the government unlike before when its fighters tried to install a Communist state.
But while the movement is still listed by the US and the European Union as a terrorist organisation, experts suggest its goals have changed over the years. "[The capture of Artemio] was not a blow to terrorism," says Jaime Antezana, an expert on the subject. "It wasn't the final thrust against the terrorist subversion. This was a blow to drug-trafficking." Fernando Rospigliosi, another leading analyst and a former interior minister, agrees. "After Abimael Guzman fell, the groups that remained converted more and more to drug-trafficking. "They kept their political discourse, but that's an excuse for what they really are. "These are people who live off drug-trafficking."
BBC News - Peru's Shining Path rebels: Old enemy, new threat
