Peruvian Amnesia
by Maria Jose Fermi, translated by Jorge Vargas
Are we Peruvians masochistic? Don’t we remember the massive human rights violations that occurred during the presidency of the re-elected President Alan Garcia? In response to the rising acts of subversion that were occurring in Peru during his presidency at the hands of the terrorists, the government used several types of military repression. The military carried out vicious and illegal massacres that wound up taking the lives of hundreds of people, massacres such as the jail killings.
During the Garcia regime, which took place in the years between 1985 and 1990, terrorism spread rapidly in Peru, moving from the central Andean range into the rest of the nation. Thousands of had already died at the hands of the revolutionary group known as Shining Path, led by Abimael Guzman. Peruvian jails were packed with prisoners, most of them terrorists, who made it their objective to constantly cause problems in response to the awful living conditions in the prisons and the slow judicial process in Peru. That’s why, on June 18, 1986, a massive prison uprising took place, in which Shining Path members who were being held in the three largest penitentiaries of Lima, Peru’s capital: El Fronton, Lurigancho, and Santa Barbara. They took control of the prisons by taking the guards as hostages. Their demands to the government: all of the people being held for terrorism – approximately, 500 people – had to be freed. The government, using the Peruvian navy and the Republican Guard, led operations to regain control of those installations. That’s where the problem begins.
Once the law enforcement agencies had taken control of the situation, using bazookas, dynamite, and mortars – along with more traditional weaponry –, all of the terrorists who had survived the encounter were murdered, one by one, with shots to the head. The government tried to hide these illegal killings by saying that, in the case of the Lurigancho prison, every prisoner had died in the fighting. Meanwhile, in the Fronton prison, the remains of the killed were spread out throughout Lima so that their families could never be identified by their family members. As time passed, all of the cases that had been opened against President Alan Garcia and the other participants were cancelled, leaving those responsible without any punishment.
Now, is our new president, Mr. Alan Garcia, morally capable of governing Peru? How is it possible that someone accused of the violation of human rights and the killing of over 250 people be re-elected as president? Maybe the amnesia that is characteristic of most Peruvians can be held accountable, or else the perpetual masochism that we Peruvians have always liked living in. Mr. Garcia must assume his responsibilities, must face the consequences of his decisions. Even though 20 years have passed, one must be aware of one’s actions and answer for them, and that’s the least that can be expected of someone who’ll be the next person to hold the reigns of the nation: that he clear his conscience. Let’s not allow political impunity to prevail over the lives of those Peruvians who were assassinated; he and all of the others who were responsible must be sanctioned in order for that to never be repeated. There are still people who haven’t forgotten.
Note: The facts used in this article were extracted from the following source:
Pro-Human Rights Association:
http://www.aprodeh.org.pe/sem_verdad/memoria/index.htm
