document: Shining Path rebels have formed a new front to push their insurgency into Lima and other coastal urban areas , President Alan Garcia said after two powerful car bombs exploded within blocks of the Government Palace . Garcia spoke Wednesday in an atmosphere of stepped up rebel attacks in Lima and a series of weekend raids around the capital that resulted in the seizure of five Shining Path safe houses and 31 arrests . The president , who leaves office July 28 , said the newly formed People 's Defense Revolutionary Movement , is the `` urban , metropolitan organ of the Shining Path . '' The Maoist-inspired Shining Path operates in at least half of Peru , especially in the mountains and jungle , but has had little success in expanding to coastal cities . At least 18,500 people have been killed in political violence related to the decade-old insurgency , which was launched in the Andean highlands . The Shining Path draws much of its support from indigenous peoples resentful of the economic and political dominance in the country of 22 million of descendants of European immigrants . The wave of violence comes four days before a presidential runoff that pits novelist Mario Vargas Llosa , a free-market activist , against centrist agricultural engineer Alberto Fujimori . The Shining Path has called on voters to boycott Sunday 's vote and threatened election day `` armed strikes '' in Andean cities . In one of the guerrilla safehouses raided in an upper-class Lima suburb , police found tons of Shining Path documents and propaganda . They also found personal possessions that apparently belonged to Shining Path leader Abimael Guzman . Garcia said he believed the raids proved that `` the chief of terrorism actively participates '' in Shining Path operations . Guzman went underground in 1979 and , over the years , there have been numerous rumors he was dead . The raids also proved that the new urban front has been formed , Garcia said : `` The people who were captured were essential to the new movement . '' Two people were injured in the car bombings near the Government Palace on Tuesday night and Wednesday and Garcia called the upsurge in urban violence a `` desperate response '' to the weekend raids . In other violence Wednesday in Lima , a city of 6 million , four rebels armed with machine guns took over a neighborhood electoral office . They forced the electoral workers outside and set fire to the office . Firefighters said the blaze destroyed most of the documents in the building , including identification for electoral workers . Guerrillas blew up at least three high-tension power pylons Tuesday night , blacking out parts of the capital and other coastal cities where most of Peru 's 22 million people live . In pre-dawn attacks Wednesday , guerrillas threw gasoline bombs at a city bus and at a stove factory owned by a senator-elect of Fujimori 's Change 90 party , according to police . Tuesday 's car bomb went off behind Lima 's Roman Catholic cathedral , which faces the main plaza where the Government Palace is located . Police said the cathedral was not damaged , but one passerby was wounded . Operating out of its stronghold in Ayacucho , the Shining Path has spread throughout Peru 's highlands since it launched its armed insurgency in May 1980 . The movement , which seeks to impose a peasant-worker state , also controls much of Peru 's jungle . Efforts to move into Lima 's sprawling shantytowns , however , have been countered by strong police crackdowns .
extractive_keyphrases: shining path rebels rebel attacks defense revolutionary movement presidential runoff coastal urban areas powerful car bombs lima president alan garcia political violence indigenous peoples shining path leader abimael guzman