sunday, may 15, 2005
Tarata
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Almost precisely halfway down the brick-paved street is a little-noticed memorial. A harsh steel obelisk with a jagged lightening-like design. It stands in sharp contrast to the casual walking area where young children ride their bikes, tourists amble by and restaurant proprietors invite you in to try their food.
This is Tarata.
On July 16, 1992 a car bomb exploded at this site killing 25 people and injuring hundreds more. It was the single most bloody day in the most bloody of conflicts.
The 20-year conflict initiated by the Marxist Shining Path group in 1980 is a wound never very far beneath the surface in Peru. Almost 70,000 people perished in the insurgency.
The vast majority were poor residents of small mountain villages that didn't even speak Spanish - their tongue is the old Inca language of Quechua. The names of places where massacres occurred ring with its strange sound.
Shining Path's leader Abimael Guzman and his cadres said very little publicly so there was nothing but uncertainty about who was behind these terrible tales of slaughter and bloodshed that would trickle from the combat zones. There were bombings of powerlines that led from the mountains so the giant metropolis was regularly plunged into darkness.
Guzman's genius - or insanity - was finding a way to find a way to allow the horror and fear of his rebellion to saturate the entire country. He wasn't interested in staying in the protection of the countryside, his goal was always to place Lima under siege and force the collapse of the government.
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The leaders of the Shining Path knew they were presented with an opportunity since "the transition to democracy would make a strong response exceedingly improbable." They were counting on using the disorder to wipe every form of government away so they could take over and form a country based on their political principles.
At first the urban residents ignored the strange reports and the unnerving sight of slain dogs hanging from powerlines with Maoist slogans scrawled on their bodies. But the populace and the government slowly began to be pulled into a dark vortex of panic as the situation began to escalate and the stories of atrocities grew ever worse.
The group infiltrated the poor sprawling cities that surround Lima bringing stories of intimidation, assassination and violence to the doorstep of the heart of Peru. Daily life was full of anxiety and fear, an unknowing dread that today the worst could happen. And, at Tarata, it did.
There are a heck of a lot of books out there about Peru's infamous Shining Path rebellion. Looking to learn the basics was a daunting task given the sheer number of options available.
I got lucky when I stumbled onto Michael Smith's excellent website, Peruvian Graffiti, that has a very good section that recommends some of the best books out there. (Smith worked as a journalist in Peru during the period and his opinion carries more than a little weight).
I made it through several excellent studies that covered the spectrum of the conflict but I was losing the heart of the thing. What was the fear of living in those uncertain times like? How did a sane society grapple with the anxiety and horror of this unfeeling and ubiquitous monstrosity?
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Gorriti covered the conflict for the Peruvian newsmagazine Caretas. He was able to look deeper than the daily headlines of atrocities, uncertainty and government spin on a situation clearly veering out of control. This book was originally published in 1990 as an account of the "first phase" of the conflict. The other volumes were never completed as Gorriti was forced to flee Peru due to his coverage of the authoritarian Fujimori government.
Goritti covers the period from the start of the conflict to the point where the Peruvian national police - who initially were the ones charged with bringing the uprising under control - were replaced by the military in 1981.
It is a unique look at the situation as it emerged. The sheer uncertainty of what is happening and how to handle it is the sense I got most from this book.
Too often the scholarly approach to the conflict gives an unintended sense of omnipotence - as it the unthinkable was somehow understandable. Something no one felt as the war was beginning to be waged.
That war reached a crescendo with Tarata. Guzman called for the final attack on the country's power structure and a wave of car bombs pummelled the capitol. Between January and July of 1992 more than thirty bombs were detonated claiming more than 50 lives.
The fear and anxiety that gripped the city did not begin to ebb until Peruvian police were able to capture Guzman in a safe house on Sept. 12.
Today the tourists amble through Tarata unaware of the history and Peruvians do not go out of their way to mention it to them. But it is important to all of us that the memory of the horror that arrived here thirteen years ago is not forgotten.
more: Books | Human rights | Observations | Peru | Stories & Writing
| comment posted by: Carla on september 23, 2009 @ 5:08 am |
I'm Peruvian and a victim of the Tarata bombing, you have a very good account of it here. I'm currently writing a post for my blog (in Spanish) with the intention of reminding my fellow Peruvians of the horror of those years and informing the new generations of it, so we don't let it rule our country and our lives again. I will be linking to your article here, and would like your permission to use your photo of the street on my post (I'd take one myself but yours is very good). Let me know. |
| comment posted by: Rachel on january 3, 2010 @ 5:10 am |
I stumbled upon the infamous Tarata just the other day while wandering through Miraflores. It is important to remember episodes like this in history so they are not repeated and we keep the memory of those that perished alive so their sacrifice was not in vain. |
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