At first, I had absolutely no desire to go. Our history professor, Juan Carlos, told us that since we had already seen the Museo de Arquelogía, Antropología e Historia, the majority of the artifacts would be redundant; furthermore, the Museo de la Nación contains replicas of originals found in the Museo de Arquelogía. However, he and a few others told us that the sixth floor contains an amazing photography exhibit on terrorism in Peru. Since I love photography and wanted to see something different, I eventually changed my mind and got ready to go.
First, I headed out to lunch with Tomás, Rachel and Leslie. We walked a few blocks away from the school and found a pleasant looking place with a set menu for about 8 soles, I believe. The soup was... interesting, with some unappetizing parts of chicken mixed in; Rachel ordered the salad, which seemed a much smarter decision. I ordered fried fish with some sort of beet salad and rice... muy sabroso! The dessert was some sort of pineapple gelatin concoction, with a really odd, egglike consistency. We couldn't eat it but were pretty full from the rest of the meal anyway.
After lunch, I walked around a bit then caught a cab home. I was only there long enough to relax for a 20-30 minutes before taking another cab to the museum but wanted to drop off my backpack beforehand. Once I got to the Museo de la Nación, I was a little surprised to see only a few others there, since a lot of people had expressed interest in going earlier. Still, it was the start of our last weekend in Lima, so I guess I couldn't stay too surprised. Rachel, Kat, Tomás, Karlayne and I waited outside the museum for Monica and her mother to arrive before we went in.
We were in a somewhat small room that I thought was the entire exhibit, but we turned the corner and realized it was HUGE. We started off reading a timeline of significant historical events in the reign of terror from about 1980-2000 all over the country. I had almost no knowledge of what Peru had been through before going to the museum.
There are two main terrorist groups in Peru: the Maoist group Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path) and the Cuban-Inspired Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).
The Shining Path began in the late 1960s as a small communist revolutionary group led by Abimael Guzmán. Guzmán opposed Peru's prevailing political elites. His followers drew on Marxism and the example of Fidel Castro and became a significant and violent guerrilla army that regularly used terrorist tactics in their efforst to destabilize and overthrow the Peruvian government. The main goal of Shining Path has always been to overthrow the existing Peruvian government and political institutions and replace them with a communist revolutionary command.
MRTA was named for an eighteenth-century rebel leader who fought Spanish colonial control. The group, which is Marxist, was founded to rid Peru of all imperialist elements and supported many of the communist principles that led to the Cuban revolution. It took up arms in 1984 and operated mainly in rural areas. The MRTA's primary goal was to reform the Peruvian government and create a society in which ownership of property was shared and everyone enjoyed similar levels of prosperity. MRTA members decided the best way to fight the war was to attack the holdings of Peru's wealthy elite, but sought to cause the least amount of injuries possible by frequently warning of its attacks in advance. Experts say Tupac Amaru has been less violent, in general, than Shining Path. In December 1996, during the rule of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, fourteen MRTA members occupied the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, holding 72 hostages for over four months. Fujimori ordered armed forces to raid the residence in April 1997, rescuing all but one of the remaining hostages and killing all fourteen MRTA militants, including the remaining leaders of the terrorist organization. Shortly after this uprising, MRTA's powers and operations within Peru scaled back dramatically.
Today, terrorism has died down to the occasional car bomb in cities or small attacks in the jungle, but it was a severe problem nationwide that left tens of thousands of innocent people dead, injured, raped, displaced, orphaned, etc.
We were in a somewhat small room that I thought was the entire exhibit, but we turned the corner and realized it was HUGE. We started off reading a timeline of significant historical events in the reign of terror from about 1980-2000 all over the country. I had almost no knowledge of what Peru had been through before going to the museum.
There are two main terrorist groups in Peru: the Maoist group Sendero Luminoso (The Shining Path) and the Cuban-Inspired Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA).
The Shining Path began in the late 1960s as a small communist revolutionary group led by Abimael Guzmán. Guzmán opposed Peru's prevailing political elites. His followers drew on Marxism and the example of Fidel Castro and became a significant and violent guerrilla army that regularly used terrorist tactics in their efforst to destabilize and overthrow the Peruvian government. The main goal of Shining Path has always been to overthrow the existing Peruvian government and political institutions and replace them with a communist revolutionary command.
MRTA was named for an eighteenth-century rebel leader who fought Spanish colonial control. The group, which is Marxist, was founded to rid Peru of all imperialist elements and supported many of the communist principles that led to the Cuban revolution. It took up arms in 1984 and operated mainly in rural areas. The MRTA's primary goal was to reform the Peruvian government and create a society in which ownership of property was shared and everyone enjoyed similar levels of prosperity. MRTA members decided the best way to fight the war was to attack the holdings of Peru's wealthy elite, but sought to cause the least amount of injuries possible by frequently warning of its attacks in advance. Experts say Tupac Amaru has been less violent, in general, than Shining Path. In December 1996, during the rule of Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori, fourteen MRTA members occupied the Japanese Ambassador's residence in Lima, holding 72 hostages for over four months. Fujimori ordered armed forces to raid the residence in April 1997, rescuing all but one of the remaining hostages and killing all fourteen MRTA militants, including the remaining leaders of the terrorist organization. Shortly after this uprising, MRTA's powers and operations within Peru scaled back dramatically.
Today, terrorism has died down to the occasional car bomb in cities or small attacks in the jungle, but it was a severe problem nationwide that left tens of thousands of innocent people dead, injured, raped, displaced, orphaned, etc.
The pictures told the story in such a powerful way; some of them had so much emotion that I almost cried just by looking at them. I'll share a handful with their respective captions, when necessary. I'm making them bigger than usual since they're an integral part of this blog.
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| Shining Path inmates perform a tribute to their leader, Abimeal Guzman, in one of the pavilions of the Miguel Castro Castro penitentiary in Lima. July 30, 1991 |
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| Children also factor into the victims of terrorism. The subversives forced minors to take part in armed actions, without caring whether they lived or died. The children that survived the assassination of their families or the destruction of their communities suffered unbearable emotional pain and were left abandoned. Many were adopted or taken into orphanages, usually under the care of the Catholic church. The older brothers and sisters had to abandon their normal lives and assume the role of parents. |
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| After a year and eight months unjustly in the Miguel Castro Castro Prison, Gregorio Alpaza (45), after being found innocent, is released to his family. |
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| Dead dogs appeared in some corners of downtown Lima hanging from streetlamps that read, "Teng Siao Ping, son of a bitch." |
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| A woman, accused of being a member of Shining Path, with her son in a Cuzco prison. The child was a product of a rape perpetrated by law enforcement officials. |
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| A woman who lost her son to terrorism holds his last note to her. After the exhibit, we sat in a room with glass windows overlooking the city and reflected on what we had just seen. It was a lot to take in, but a very powerful, informative exhibit.  There was a fiesta at El Sol that night, and while I needed something to lift me up, I was exhausted and wanted to rest at home for a bit. I went back and was unable to take a nap, but at least lied down a little and felt refreshed afterwards. I also Skyped with my parents and showed off my souvenirs. I was told the party started at 7pm and would only last 1/2 hour or so; I also thought only a few people would go. Around 7:30 or so after I got out of bed, I debated going but assumed it would almost be over by the time I got there.However, I missed the memo that everyone but me and Kim, who was sick, went and drank pisco sours and danced til 10pm. Just as well, I supposed, because I had bought some sangria for the "dry" weekend and needed to get rid of it. Renzo and I hung out with a few of his friends at the house later that evening then headed out to a party. I was exhausted the whole time and didn't want to stay long at all, but we left early for Peruvian time and I was asleep in my bed by 3am (Renzo left the party for a little while around 2am to pick up his sister and take her home from a small gathering with some of her friends; she's 15 and said her party ended early, too. Oh, Peruvian culture... I don't know how people do this every weekend). |
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