Terrorist alert in Lima

On my way home from school yesterday I came across a really interesting scene.  After getting on my usual bus, knowing the route like the back of my hand now, the usually reliable little micro took a strange detour.  Yikes! I almost immediately started to panic.  A very kind woman beside me, seeing my probably obvious confusion, explained that the usual route was closed and that 'something serious' was going on!  Ominous words indeed!


Sure enough, as we made our way through the city I noticed a lot of police presence - they were everywhere and all heavily armed.  There was also a police helicopter circling over the city and police snipers on rooftops. So, being a little curious by now, I turned to the lady and asked what was happening.
Apparently an infamous terrorist nicknamed "comrade Artemio", the last leader of the Peruvian terrorist group 'The Shining Path' (el sendero luminoso) was being transferred from a police hospital to a high security prison.  The route his entourage was to take was lined with anti-terrorism police officers while people shouted "Murderer, murderer!"  I watched all this from the relative safety of the bus.


The Shining Path is a guerrilla insurgent organisation in Peru.  It began in the city of Arequipa in the south of the country.  Over the years it has been responsible for the deaths of more than 70,000 Peruvians many of whom were poor rural people from the sierra or the jungle who opposed their ideals.  The torture, kidnap and murder that marked the tyrannical rule of the Shining Path spanned two decades.  The remnants have fought on in a few remote jungle regions of the Peruvian amazon dominated by the cocaine trade.  The group is now involved in much drug related violence and illegal drug smuggling.


With the capture of the last remaining leader of the group hopefully these awful reminders of Peru's dark and disturbing past will finally be put to rest and this country can look forward to a bright and safe future.


P.s. No photos today, I knew better than to start pointing a camera at anti-terrorism police!