Today marks the 20th anniversary of the Chavin de Huantar military operation that rescued 72 hostages held captive for 126 days by terrorist Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).
Pictures above captured some of the most dramatic moments of such a successful mission.
The first explosion occurred at 15:23 hrs, on 22nd April 1997. This heralded the start of military operations at the Japanese ambassador's residence in the Lima district of San Isidro.
One of the rescued hostages was then Peru's Foreign Affairs Minister Francisco Tudela.
The whole process took almost 20 minutes: A total of 71 people (alive) were released in that action. Nonetheless, the raid also claimed the lives of then Supreme Court Justice Carlos Giusti Acuña, commandos Juan Valer Sandoval and Raul Jimenez, as well as all 14 MRTA members.
Once released, hostages got in a large vehicle and left the place. Among them was Vice-Admiral Luis Giampietri, who later served as Vice-President of Peru in 2006 and wrote a book about this hostage experience in 2011.
After 20 years, the brave commandos were named Heroes of Democracy under a law passed by Congress and signed by President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski.
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Published: 4/22/2017