Saturday, 4 February 2012

Peru: National Anti-terrorism Day?

A multi-party group of Peruvian congress members has proposed naming 3 April "Día Nacional Contra el Terrorismo" (National Day against Terrorism). The day is significant because the Lucanamarca massacre happened on that date and it could help to draw attention to memory issues - as we saw recently, there's a need for this.

So far, so good. Now guess what? Congressman Kenji Fujimori has come out in opposition to the suggestion. The Fuerza 2011 politician, and completely coincidentally son of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, says:
"Los peruanos no debemos celebrar una fecha en que ocurrió un acto terrorismo."
"We Peruvians must not celebrate a date on which an act of terrorism occurred."
Sorry, is he being deliberately stupid? Does he somehow think that commemoration = endorsement? So when people mark September 11, for example, they are supporting Al Quaida? Well, or of course there is the tiny possibility that he doesn't want Peruvians remembering that time when his dad dissolved Congress and took complete control, or that time when the Grupo Colina massacred those people, or that time when the Fujimori government had those indigenous women forcibly sterilised or... no, no, surely not.

Fujimoristas en contra de la propuesta del Día Nacional contra el Terrorismo (La Republica)
Polémica por propuesta de crear Día Nacional Contra el Terrorismo (RPP)

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