Peruvians mark Guzman arrest anniversary
March in Lima coincides with 20 years of capture of Shining Path rebel group leader, whose campaign left 70,000 dead.
Around 200 people have marched through the Peruvian capital to mark the 20th anniversary of the capture of Abimael Guzman, founding leader of the Shining Path rebel group.
Many of the participants on Saturday carried white balloons and wore white T-shirts printed with “Terrorism never again” and “We want peace”, slogans they chanted as they marched through Lima’s Miraflores neighbourhood.
At least 25 people were killed and another 200 injured in a Shining Path bombing in the district in 1992, the first major attack in an upper class area of capital city.
Less than three months later, Guzman was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for leading the bloody Maoist guerrilla campaign for more than a decade.
Jorge Munoz Wells, Miraflores district mayor, said Saturday’s march was about sending a message of peace,
“A message that says never again to terrorism in Miraflores or in any part of Lima or in Peru,” he told the crowd.
The marchers released their white balloons as the event came to an end as they chanted “Long live Peace”.
Peru’s war with the guerrillas killed about 70,000 people between 1980 and 2000, according to the independent Truth and Reconciliation Commission.