Brief update on Brazilian truth commission report

Obviously there's been a lot of reporting on Brazil's truth commission, happily Colin from Americas North and South has saved me the job of doing a massive round-up by providing an excellent one here.

I would just add this post by Nina Schneider at Transitional Justice in Brazil on the report ceremony itself.

Also, the report itself can be accessed here (Portuguese).

Brazil releases truth commission report

Brazil's truth commission report is out.

Here are some of the stark facts:

- illegal arrests, torture, executions and disappearances were systematic during the dictatorship
- 377 perpetrators of human rights abuses identified, around 100 of whom are still alive.
- 434 deaths, probably more but findings limited by difficulty in gaining access to information.

As the Guardian notes,

“Under the military dictatorship, repression and the elimination of political opposition became the policy of the state, conceived and implemented based on decisions by the president of the republic and military ministers,” the report states. The commission “therefore totally rejects the explanation offered up until today that the serious violations of human rights constituted a few isolated acts or excesses resulting from the zeal of a few soldiers”.

The report points the finger at five ex-presidents as ultimately responsible for the atrocities.

Brazil has waited a long time for this information and it's good to see it out there and being reported on - and on International Human Rights Day. However, the report is not just an end in itself; now we need to see trials.

Brazil truth commission: Abuse 'rife' under military rule (BBC)
Brazil Truth Commission: Victims revisit torture cells (BBC)
Rousseff in tears as Brazilian report details junta’s killings and torture (Guardian)
Relatório final da Comissão da Verdade pede revogação parcial da Lei da Anistia e responsabiliza ex-presidentes (O Globo)

Guardian special report on transitional justice

I thought it was worth linking to this special report from the Guardian newspaper on how various countries, including Chile and Colombia, have dealt with their traumatic pasts. The article is necessarily an overview so it doesn't reveal much to someone who is already well-read about a particular country - but I'd be surprised if anyone was well-read about all those countries, and the transcontinental comparison is really interesting.

[Colombian] President Juan Manuel Santos, re-elected in June to a second term, denies impunity is on the table, but says demanding full punishment would derail peace. "If you ask a victim today he would lean towards having more justice," said Santos. "If you ask a future victim, he will lean more towards peace."

Special report: Truth, justice and reconciliation (Guardian)

Colombian victims to participate in peace talks

The Colombian government and the FARC have come to an agreement for victims of the country's violent conflict to contribute to peace talks, which are being held in Cuba. Guidelines were set for the next round of talks focusing on victims.

A delegation of victims is now set to travel to Cuba in the near future, although an exact date has not been set.

In addition, four victims' forums will be held in Colombia - three regional ones in Villavicencio, Barrancabermeja and Barranquilla and a natonal one based in Cali.

The BBC and some other English-language media are referring to this as "setting up a truth commission", but it must be noted that this is not the term used and the agreement is not supposed to replace a truth commission with a wider mandate which may be created at a later date.

In any case, hearing the voices of the victims is to be welcomed. Unfortunately, with elections looming next week, the progress of the peace talks is uncertain.

Colombia government and Farc rebels to set up truth commission (BBC)
Colombian peace talks turn toward victims (Reuters)
Víctimas del conflicto colombiano participarán en diálogos de paz en Cuba (Ultimas Noticias)
A vote for peace (The Economist)
Breaking News from Havana: Joint Declaration of Principles on Victims (Colombia Calls)

Brazil torturer murdered

Brazilian former army colonel Paulo Malhães has been murdered in his home near Rio de Janeiro.

He was reportedly killed by three men who broke in and suffocated him, as well as stealing computers and guns.

Malhães recently testified to the truth commission about his involvement in torture, about which he expressed no regrets. Commission president Wadih Damous called for the murder to be fully investigated, saying that it could have been an attempt to prevent Malhães revealing further information about the military regime.

Morte de Malhães pode ser queima de arquivo, diz Comissão da Verdade (uol.com.br)

Brazilian military rule torturer Paulo Malhaes found dead (BBC)
Former security agent who testified to CNV is murdered (Transitional Justice in Brazil)

Brazil: President's death an accident, says TC

The Brazilian truth commission has concluded that former president Juscelino Kubitschek was not murdered by the military regime, but died in a car accident. Kubitschek, who was an opposition leader at the time, died on 22 August 1976 following a car accident on a motorway between Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo. His driver was also killed.

Just as with other prominent deaths during the dictatorship-era in Latin America (Pablo Neruda, Joao Goulart, Salvador Allende...), there have been persistent rumours that the car crash may not have been all it appeared. In fact, a Sao Paulo truth commission declared that it had evidence that Kubitschek had been murdered. The national commission, however, disagrees. Its coordinator Pedro Dallari said it was "quite sure" it's version of events was accurate and that it had "not been convinced" of the version put forward by the Sao Paulo commission.

Brazil ex-president was 'not killed in political plot' (BBC)
Morte de Juscelino foi causada por acidente, diz Comissão da Verdade (O Globo)

Brazil: 50th anniversary of coup

Here is a round-up of some of the coverage of the 50th anniversary of the overthrow of Brazilian president Joao Goulart.

The BBC reports how current president Dilma Rousseff stressed the importance of remembering the coup, explaining "We owe this to those who died and disappeared, owe it to those who were tortured and persecuted, owe it to their families. We owe it to all Brazilians." It also provides a video on the "house of death" and how its sole survivor has been helping the truth commission to identify torturers. There are plans to turn the site into a memorial.

In addition, BBC Brasil's Pablo Uchoa recalls the story of his father, who was detained during the dictatorship. Inocencio was long reluctant to discuss his experiences but is now also helping the truth commission.

The day after the coup anniversary, Brazil's defence minister agreed to investigate military facilities where human rights abuses were believed to have been committed during the dictatorship, reports the New York Times.The news was revealed in a statement on the truth commission's website. It is a step forward against impunity, as also discussed by The Pan-American Post.

At the National Security Archive, Peter Kornbluh discusses attempts to achieve the declassification of U.S. documents on the covert operations that contributed to the Brazilian coup and argues that now is the time to use declassified U.S. historical records as a unique diplomatic tool.

Transitional Justice in Brazil provides a far fuller round-up than I have done...

Brazil: Truth commission uncovers traces of dictatorship archive

Folha reports that documents uncovered by the Brazilian truth commission reveal the existence of a previously unknown archive of the armed forces about the dictatorship period. An operation known as "Netuno" (Neptune) was dedicted to preserving documents on microfilm between 1972 and 1974. The archive, whose whereabouts are still unknown, is thought to run to at least 1.2 million pages. The military denies all knowledge of it.

Sorry, just reporting in Portuguese or German:
Marinha fez cópias de arquivos da ditadura (Folha de Sao Paulo)
Wahrheitskommission findet Spur zu Geheimarchiv (Blickpunkt Lateinamerika)

Peru: Detonante: El arte peruano después de la CVR

I am almost too late with this, so if you are in Lima, hurry along this weekend - the exhibition "Detonante: El arte peruano después de la CVR" is on at the Museo Metropolitano until Sunday, and it looks really good. 

The exhibition focuses on Peruvian art responding to the country's truth commission, and is curated by Victor Vich, who has done some very interesting memory work, and Karen Bernedo, whose work I personally wasn't familiar with, but I'll be rectifying that. 

Featured artists include Rudolph Castro, Claudia Coca, Mauricio Delgado, Victor Delfín, Edilberto Jiménez, Alfredo Márquez, Jorge Miyagui, Nelly Plaza, Santiago Quintanilla, Lici Ramírez, Teodoro Ramírez, Miguel Rubio, Josefa Talovara. 

From the images on Facebook, I can see what I take to be some of Jiménez's retablos, and some of the images from Delgado's project Un dia en la memoria.
See also - El arte peruano después de la CVR (La mula, image credit)

p.s. Entry is free!

Peru: 10th anniversary round-up

Image taken from Arte por la memoria's post on an exhibition marking the tenth anniversary of the report in Plaza San Martin, Lima. 

Here's some more on the situation in Peru, ten years after the final report of the truth and reconciliation commission.


On progress made in justice issues: The Peruvian ombudsman (defensoría del pueblo) has called for greater efforts to identfy the thousands of disappeared from the conflict. Eduardo Vega wants a special unit to be set up for this "humanitarian task". The number of disappeared is usually given as between 10,000 and 15,000.

Ombudsman Calls for Agency to Indentify Disappeared during Terrorism Years (Peruvian Times)
Piden crear entidad que busque a desaparecidos durante lucha contra terrorismo (Andina)

The former leader of the truth commission, Salomon Lerner, also acknowledges that the progress made in achieving the report's recommendations has been "insufficient". 
 
CVR: a diez años del informe, la deuda del Estado y la sociedad sigue (La Republica)
Peru Truth Commission: Recommendations for Reconciliation Not Being Implemented (Peruvian Times)




Eleanor Griffis reflects on the CVR and responses to it for the Peruvian Times:


The Truth and Reconciliation Report: Ten Years On (Peruvian Times)

At least some signs of progress are being made: over 200 bodies have been discovered at an area known as "Oreja del Perro" in Ayacucho, and exhumations start next week.

Hallan restos de más de 200 víctimas de la violencia en zona de 'Oreja de Perro' (La Republica)

On Sendero Luminoso: For the AP, Frank Bajak analyzes the continuing presence of the Shining Path despite the State's recent killing of several high-ranking members, while the Christian Science Monitor looks at the rise of Movadef, the political movement inspired by SL ideology. 

Analysts: Shining Path bruised, far from defeated (AP)
Is Peru's history of terrorism coming back to haunt it? (Christian Science Monitor)

Peru: 10th anniversary of the CVR report

28 August 2013 is the tenth anniversary of the presentation of the final report of Peru's truth and reconciliation commission (CVR).

As a reminder, general conclusions of the report may be found in English here, and the entire report can be downloaded in Spanish here.

In Lima, the anniversary has been marked at the memorial El ojo que llora in Jesús María, an event attended by the former head of the CVR, Salomón Lerner Febres. Lima mayor Susana Villarán spoke of the need to ensure that the country never faces such horror again and to ensure that the victims receive adequate reparation.

Victims' relatives called for a national plan for the location of disappeared persons.

As far as the media is concerned, El Comercio criticised the slow pace of reparations. La Republica also picks up on remarks about the lack of progress made in implementing the report's recommendations. Correo, meanwhile, seeks to cast doubt on the commission's achievements and believes that it should have talked to ultraconservative cardinal Cipriani.

Colombia: Report finds 220,000 dead

The Colombian Centro Nacional de Memoria Histórica (national centre of historic memory) has produced a report called "Basta Ya: Informe General de Memoria y Conflicto" detailing the country's internal conflict.

The report finds that 220,000 Colombians have died as a result of the conflict, over 80% of them non-combatants. That's a truly staggering number.

“Only in a Colombia without fear and with truth can we begin to turn the page,” said president Juan Manuel Santos at the presentation of the report.

You can download the entire report (in Spanish), here.

I was also interested to note that the CNMH is apparently also going to be involved the setting up of a memory museum, likely to be in the north of Bogotá.


Colombian conflict has killed 220,000 in 55 years, commission finds (Guardian)
Report Says 220,000 Have Died in Colombia Conflict (IPS)
Historical Memory Center Launches Final Report (Colombia Calls)

Brazil: Former president to be exhumed

The remains of João Goulart, who was president of Brazil from 1961 to 1964 when he was ousted in a coup, are to be exhumed.

"Jango" died in Argentina in 1976, officially of heart problems, but there is a suggestion he could have been poisoned. He was apparently under surveillance in exile and his relatives have long called for more investigation into his death.

His remains will be transferred to the headquarters of the federal police in Brasilia where an examination will be carried out "probably by the end of the year," said an official at the National Truth Commission.

Goulart joins several other prominent figures in Latin America who have been exhumed in recent years, including Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda.

Brazil to exhume ex-president Goulart (France24)

Brazil decides exhumation of ex-president Goulart, believed to have been poisoned by the military regime (Mercopress)
Restos mortais do ex-presidente João Goulart serão exumados (Exame)

Argentina/Iran round-up

There have been plenty of developments on the agreement between Argentina and Iran over the AMIA bombing, but unfortunately I was too snowed under with work to blog on it again. Here are some articles on the subject (since if I just tweet them they'll disappear soon enough).

Argentina Strikes Deal with Iran to Probe AMIA Bombing Suspects (IPS, 22/02)
Argentina passes deal with Iran to probe Amia bombing (BBC, 28/02)

Quorum fight in Argentina's Congress (Blogging by Boz, 28/02)

Argentine Congress Approves Iran Bombing Probe (NY Times, 28/02)
Jewish organization pledges to take Argentina/Iran accord to the Supreme Court (Mercopress)
Argentina’s Deal with Iran Could Carry Political Price (IPS, 01/03)

Brazil textbooks omit info on dictatorship

Textbooks used to teach history in Brazil's military schools omit essential information for the understanding of some episodes of the military dictatorship (1964-1985), reports Folha in a story that will astonish, I imagine, precisely no one, but is still important. 

In recounting the "revolution of 1964", a volume from the Marechal Trompowsky collection says that the coup was organised by "moderate and law-abiding groups."

The book says that Congress declared the presidency vacant before electing Gen. Castello Branco president shortly after the coup, but omits the fact that ousted President João Goulart was still in the country.

Another book, "500 Years of History of Brazil," says the Araguaia Guerrilla (1972-1975) ended after its leaders fled, without reference to the deaths and disappearance of the guerrillas carried out by the army.

There are 12 military schools in the country. They offer places from the 6th grade of elementary school to the 3rd year of high school and currently have 14,000 students enrolled, many of them children of military personnel.

The coordinator of the national truth commission, Cláudio Fonteles, said that the books may be subject to recommendations of the TC, set up to investigate violations of human rights which occurred especially during the dictatorship.

"This is an issue which it would be suitable to make recommendations about," he said. "We must respect the autonomy [of the military schools], but they cannot completely escape the curriculum adopted in other public and private schools."

For Carlos Fico, history professor at Rio university UFRJ , the government should promote a general reform of the military curricula. "We do not know how the schools for officers work," he says. "It is not a military issue. It concerns the safety of society."

The National History Association (ANH) intends to ask the ministry of education and the ministry of defence to assess the books used in military schools.

In a statement, the education ministry said it cannot interfere in the curriculum of military schools. For its part, the defence ministry said that it only oversees the educational content of institutions aimed at training officers and members of the armed forces.

Gen. José Carlos dos Santos, responsible for the Marechal Trompowsky collection of publications and head of the army education board (DEPA), declined to comment on the issue and suggested that any questions be directed to the staff of the army.

In a statement, the army said it took three years of research to produce the collection and said that it is updated annually by the authors, but declined to discuss specific issues.

Omissões marcam livros usados em escolas militares (Folha de S.Paulo)

Argentina and Iran to investigate AMIA bombing

This is a significant move in Argentina: the government has reached an agreement with Iran to set up a truth commission to investigate the 1994 AMIA bombing. The commission will be made up of five independent judges, none of whom will be from either Argentina or Iran. Iran will now permit prosecutors to interrogate suspects in Tehran.

Amia bombing: Argentina and Iran agree truth commission (BBC)
Deal Reached for Inquiry on Bombing in Argentina (New York Times)
Argentina/Iran ‘Truth Commission’ to resolve 1994 bombing of Jewish centre in Buenos Aires (Mercopress)

Israel has condemned the decision. An Israeli spokesman said the move was tantamount to "inviting a murderer to investigate his own killings".

Amia bombing: Israel condemns Argentina-Iran probe (BBC)
Israel Rebukes Argentina for Deal With Iran to Investigate ’94 Attack (New York Times)

Argentine foreign minister Héctor Timerman has met with members of Jewish organizations and families of victims to discuss the plans.

Timerman meets with DAIA, AMIA and relatives of victims, rejects criticism (Buenos Aires Herald)

The Economist suggests that Argentina has "burnt bridges" with Israel over the agreement, which it sees as a further step in Christina Fernandez's "increasingly combative" foreign policy. Meanwhile, Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post says that the move is "disturbing" and predicts a "Mickey Mouse commission". La Nación also expresses scepticism in its editorial.

Here's Monday's cover of Pagina/12:

A dar respuestas ante la Justicia argentina (Pagina/12)


So that's a fair amount of criticism of the commission before it has even been formed. I agree with Boz that it's rash to prejudge. It would also be unwise to get one's hopes up too soon, but essentially, I think that barring all possibility of talking to Iran about anything gets you nowhere. We'll see how this develops.

Brazil: Truth commission round-up

This week it was reported that Brazil's Truth Commission will look into the role of the church in the dictatorship.

"The activities of the clergy who opposed the dictatorship as well as the actions of religious groups that backed the regime will be analyzed," said commission member Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who will head the investigation.

Seems like a no-brainer to me, although I'm sure there are those who would disagree.

Brazil's Truth Commission to investigate church (AP)
Churches Under Truth Commission Investigation (Transitional Justice in Brazil)

Meanwhile, the TC is coming in for criticism from various quarters.

Writing for the Christian Science Monitor, WOLA's Joe Bateman argues that while Brazil may be approaching a "tipping point" of accountability, it is too early to say it has left impunity behind.

Brazil’s Truth Commission Under Fire from Military and Torture Victims (The World)
Brazil laying down the law (Christian Science Monitor)
In the News... (Transition Justice in Brazil)

Brazil: Truth commission only to investigate military crimes

News that the Brazilian truth commission will focus only on military crimes from the dictatorship-era, and not guerrilla crimes, has sparked a lively debate this week. I have little to add to Colin Snider's argument in Americas North and South. For more, see in particular:

Thoughts on Brazil’s Truth Commission and the Investigation of State Crimes Only (Americas North and South)
More Thoughts on False Equivalency and Brazil’s Truth Commission (Americas North and South)
Brazil Truth Commission (Two Weeks Notice)
Brazil probes crimes of the military junta (Central American Politics)

Peru: CVR's Salomón Lerner interviewed by Caretas

Caretas magazine has run an interview with the former president of Peru's truth commission, Salomón Lerner Febres. It's looooong, but it seemed to me worth translating, so here we go - I've put some care into this but as I say, it is very extensive, so please excuse any errors. It also assumes a lot of background knowledge which the magazine's Peruvian readers can be expected to have; if anything is particularly unclear, feel free to ask in the comments and I'll do my best to explain.

Here is the original:

Lerner Febres Contraataca (Caretas)

The former president of the truth commission (CVR) responds to the new offensive against the final report published nine years ago.

The death of Comrade "William" sparked a new offensive against the Final Report of the CVR, which has just celebrated its ninth anniversary. In the end, the critics were wrong, but the barrage was accompanied by successive headlines in the newspaper “El Comercio” and reached a high point on the Sunday front page, which claims that the former commissioners had acknowledged "errors" .

Salomón Lerner Febres, former president of the CVR and rector emeritus of the Catholic University (PUCP), defended the document as "a solid starting point for reflection. What a nerve some people have to say that we spoke as the ultimate authority and we said that it is the truth that cannot be moved!".

Surrounded by Ayacuchan retablos in his office, he talks in his usual leisurely tone, but with almost unprecedented frankness.

-[Former commissioner] Sofia Macher said on Canal N that it was a mistake for the Commission not to invite members of the armed forces to the public hearings. What do you think?
-Sofia Macher should think more before she speaks. We did not call on the actors of war to testify, but on those who were victims. And they included relatives of police and military who suffered. There was even a police officer who had ended up blind. So what she says is not true. Annex 5 of the Report is the ratio of fatalities of the Armed Forces. The fact that among the former commissioners there is also a lack of memory is alarming.

- Did they walk into a trap?
-Yes. Enrique Bernales should not have given statements to El Comercio that, given the circumstances, were going to be distorted. I was called by phone and refused to talk to them because they are reporting in such a biased way. That very day, without knowing whether it was true, they ran the headline that we had been wrong in the case of "William". That morning I was called by Peru.21, which is the same group, I gave them a 15 minute interview, and the next day the only thing that appears is in a photo caption that reads "curious statement from Lerner saying that the terrorism had been brainwashed”. And yesterday El Comercio was casting doubt because I don’t make a statement. It's really despicable what they have done. It smells bad.

- Why do you think the articles in El Comercio coincided with the fujimorista attempt to revise the CVR?
- It's not a newspaper. It’s the El Comercio group. It's a deliberate issue and the million-dollar question is why that is. You know what's funny? That in this country, where committees are formed each week and committee reports last as long as the mood of the people, we have marked the ninth year since the presentation of the report, 11 years since the Commission began work, and are still talking about it. That is something for the psychoanalysts. The main people keeping awareness on the report are those trying to discredit it because they do not have a clear conscience, they have skeletons in their closets. It's there, like a pebble in the shoe. I think it will eventually become clear that history will take a negative view of people who wanted to become part of the country’s history in a positive light.

Three years ago you pointed out in an article in CARETAS that Hugo Guerra, former editor of El Comercio, had acknowledged to the CVR the errors of the paper in its editorial line over issues like the anti-terrorism legislation with which Fujimori justified the self-coup .
-Right. But in a recent column, he has shown himself to be absolutely opposed to the CVR that he once praised. I think that besides the personal stories, there are corporate designs and in some media, certain issues cannot be addressed or are addressed in some way in which the journalist is just a simple worker who can be fired. I wonder why there were changes at Perú.21 affecting the orientation and direction.


- Why did Augusto Alvarez have an agenda which was favourable to human rights?
-And that was something that a newspaper like El Comercio could not be allowed. On the other hand, there are personal stories. I understood that Hugo Guerra was a political adviser to admiral Luis Giampietri, and being a very polite and friendly person, he cannot fail to express an attitude of not understanding that an institution reaches the highest levels of excellence when it recognizes its mistakes and purges its bad elements.

-Former commissioner Luis Arias Graziani also criticized the commission this week.
-He demonstrates very poor memory.

- But did he not sign the report with reservations?
-What the general did not endorse was that there had been systematic violations by the armed forces, and he also objected to reparations. Otherwise, we worked shoulder to shoulder. What he does not remember is the letter he sent to me on 27 August 2003, in which he recognizes that the CVR fulfilled "its mission seriously and with commendable dedication." Now there is no mention of the recognition which we gave to the armed forces because they defended us, of the homage which we paid to the heroes.

- Does the criticism really hide the responsibility of fujimorismo?
- I think so. And the APRA regime is like its little brother. I think [Alan] García does not like the Yuyanapaq exhibition in which he appears looking at the corpses in Los Molinos. We recall that he opposed the Place of Memory, which eventually succeeded thanks to Mario Vargas Llosa, and hopefully it will turn out well. But, when they attack the CVR, the fujimoristas do not realize that the argument of the report itself convicted Abimael Guzmán, because he did not kill anyone with his own hands.

- What do you think of the persistence of Sendero Luminoso via movements like Movadef?
-They don’t educate, they don’t inform, they don’t debate. They insult. That's the worst that can happen. They deny the past in such a blunt way that it opens up a niche for the followers of Sendero to position themselves as the victimized, the persecuted.

-The fact is that we have not been able to defeat them as a society.
-The fact is that we did not want to remember. Some people say "we don’t look back", we are growing, we are on the up. This is fujimorismo and all those who believe in a certain political orientation, ways of thinking about government and society: authoritarianism, a strong hand, pragmatism, the value of money, the ends justify the means, the economy has priority, and the big gap between rich and poor doesn’t matter.

-Now there’s a lot of talk about inclusion, the final report is actually a history of exclusion.
-When he was a candidate, president Humala endorsed the report of the CVR. I would remind him that his former vice president Omar Chehade signed a document pledging reparations for victims of terrorism.

-That budget has not been spent.
-Before leaving office, Alan García issued a decree which set very complicated conditions to register victims. These conditions were not changed by the then-minister of justice, who is now prime minister, who knew very well how the CVR worked and who (when interviewed last February in El Comercio) said it gave political status to Sendero Luminoso. [Juan] Jiménez has a poor memory. But each has their own fears and ambitions.

- What do you think of the recent judgment of the Colina Group?
-I think it's a very unreasonable judgment and inconsistent with what has been the position of the judiciary. (Javier) Villa Stein cannot, with some blood on his face, say that there are no crimes against humanity when they kill people because they are suspected terrorists. It is an admission of state terrorism. The prestige won by the Peruvian justice system with Fujimori's sentence has been diminished. More with the debacle of the Interamerican Court. The political contacts and friends of Villa Stein have influenced a biased judgment.

- And what about the government's change of strategy in the Chavín de Huantar case, abandoning the thesis of the “vultures”?
-They're comparing apples and oranges. I think there is ample evidence pointing to action which was different to the commands. A minister like Aurelio Loret de Mola said so, and there are also several testimonies.

-There has been speculation that the cardinal's anger with the authorities of the Catholic university has to do with the CVR.
-If there is a sector that is not in favour of the PUCP it is because they consider it "caviar". The CVR, for those who do not want to look in the mirror, is also "socialist" and progressive. There's a man out there, who does not do honour to the craft of journalism, who has come to say I'm “the king of the caviar”.

- Aldo Mariátegui of the newspaper “Correo”?
-Yes, of whom I do not say I have not had the pleasure, but that happily I do not know him. That man has been criticizing me since the time of the Commission. “Salomón Lerner is even thicker than fat Macher”. It does not surprise me that somehow my role as rector here has been linked to my work in the CVR in which I had to, with pain, point out those institutions and individuals who did not live up to what was expected of them. We said that the Catholic Church did well in parts of the southern Andean country but it was not the same in Ayacucho. There are sins of commission and omission. When you can do something and save lives and do not, you share part of the responsibility. I guess that can influence the stubbornness and malice which is going on behind the university. Sometimes hate can blind us or you want to control an institution to take not only assets but, above all, the prestige and history which is not theirs so that they can celebrate the centenary in five years. Let’s hope not.

Peru round-up

And so it goes on:

“...battles over memory are not won by punishment and bullets, but by arguments, offering specific testimonies, communicating the pain of the widows and orphans, transmitting the impotence of the wounded and the women who were raped, and above all, ensuring that the victims obtain justice.”

The Peruvian Times summarises coverage of the proposed law against negacionismo in English
Executive Sends Bill To Congress To Create Prison Terms For Downplaying Terrorism

The Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas draws attention to the confiscation of a magazine alleged to support Sendero Luminoso
Peruvian authorities confiscate copies of magazine accused of supporting armed group Shining Path

IPS discusses the slow pace of identification of victims of the conflict
Peru Identifies Civil War Victims – at Snail’s Pace

Finally, Silvio Rendon discusses flaws in the TRC's methodology for counting the number of victims and argues that the true number was far lower than estimated. His detailed analysis can be read in Spanish on his blog, here, or downloaded in full in English from here. (Incidentally, the number of victims in a situation like this is often contentious and difficult to determine, as I discussed with reference to Argentina some time ago, here.