Vanessa Quiroga was only 5 years old when a car bomb exploded on Tarata Street, in Lima's Miraflores district. Thirty-three years after the terrorist attack, Quiroga admits that, despite having become a professional woman, she still remembers with great pain how it marked her life forever.
Vanessa was one of the victims of the terrorist attack on Tarata Street, carried out on July 16, 1992, by Shining Path, which left 25 people dead and hundreds injured.
That little girl lost one of her legs after the explosion of a car carrying 500 kilos of dynamite and ANFO, orchestrated by the group led by Abimael Guzman.
"I was in Tarata, my mom was a street vendor. People screamed 'car bomb' and we ran. We saw Tarata burning. I pulled on my mom's skirt and told her: 'My leg itches' (...) and then I fainted," Vanessa told Andina News Agency.
On the night of July 16, the shockwave reached and seriously damaged all kinds of buildings and vehicles within a 400-meter radius. In the blink of an eye, the heart of Miraflores was practically turned into a war zone.
A mother's strength
After the explosion, her mother, Gladys Carbajal, found her daughter's leg among the rubble and, clinging to hope, wrapped it in her blouse.
A young firefighter, Katerine Pezarezzi, offered to help, thinking the mother was the one injured.
"My mom told her: 'I am fine. I have my daughter's leg and I want to take it to the hospital,'" Vanessa recounted, recalling that heartbreaking moment.
Despite efforts, only one of her legs could be saved. From that moment on, her life changed completely. Poverty, disability, and school bullying became part of her everyday life.
Overcoming adversity
"Overnight, I wasn't just poor, but extremely poor," Quiroga recalled.
Her brother was reported missing, and psychological help never came. However, her mother became her emotional refuge.
"My mom was the psychologist. She taught me to be strong. She would tell me to laugh with them," the survivor said, referring to the bullying she suffered at school because of her condition.
Currently, Quiroga holds a degree in Economic Engineering, has a master's degree in university teaching, works at the Citizen Participation Office of Congress, and is the mother of two daughters.
Vanessa said she thanks her mother every day for teaching her to resist.
"Seeing my daughters, I understand why she wanted me to be strong. You only understand your parents when you become one," she pointed out.
33 years since the tragedy
Today marks another anniversary of the attack in Miraflores, and Vanessa insists: "Forgetting small things can happen, but when it comes to human life, it's unforgivable. Abimael (Guzman) was the most ruthless genocidal figure in Peru."
For her, Peru still has an unfinished task: not to forget what happened, out of respect for the victims and to defend the peace achieved at such a painful cost.
She once again walks the streets of Tarata, where she worked with her mother as a street vendor after the attack, showing that resilience is also a form of justice.
(END) ETA/CVC/JMP/MVB
Published: 7/16/2025