Week 11 - The Terror

This chapter was one of the mot interesting for me. This has to do with the fact that I'm very interested in Fujimori's government and history. I remember when my grandpa told me stories about the situation and all of the knowledge he had. My grandfather's childhood best-friend is Isaac Humala. Isaac is the father of the current president of Peru. He does not have a good relationship with his son mainly due to the varying political views. Isaac is close to being considered and extreme leftist and is in favour of communism. One of the most interesting stories my grandpa has told me, is about president Ollanta Humala and his rebellion against Fujimori.

This up-rising happened in 2000 near Tacna, Peru, and was against Fujimori on his last days of president. It was sparked by the return of former intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos to Peru. As a Lieutenant Colonel of the Peruvian Army, Ollanta and other 40 other Peruvian soldiers revolted against their senior army commander. Although many of these soldiers deserted the movement due to oppression of the army, Ollanta called on Peruvian "patriots" to join him in the rebellion. His brother, Antauro, and around 300 former soldiers answered his call but had little success. Humala managed to escape and hide but was later given a pardon by congress due to the fact that Fujimori did commit the accused crimes.

It was very interesting to learn about the history of the country where I was born. Little did I know that a lot of this happened while I was living in the country as a kid. It turns out that this was a major reason why my parents left the country. Even now when I go to visit you can tell that there are scars present in the community. Trust in the government is very minimal and there still seems to be a lot of corruption. Some people still support everything that Fujimori did and many believe that his actions were necessary in order to take the country back from terrorism, especially the Sendero Luminoso movement. It is also seen that the act of giving power and training to local guerrillas was necessary in order to defeat the communist group. In a big way this helped break down the social cues the communist group held in communities across the country, but it also led to the many deaths of innocent people. It is not known what Peru would look like today if all of these events did not take place but either way, there is no justice in some of the horrors that took place.

Video Project Research Assignment

"Victims of Alberto Fujimori's death squads unearthed in Peru" by Chrystelle Barbier

In this article Barbier talks about the horrors left behind by Fujimori's secret death squad. Colina Group was began by Fujimori to combat the Maoist Group, Sendero Luminoso, as well as opposing political figures, guerrilla groups, and trade unionists. Here Barbier tells the story of an activist from Santa, Peru. This activist, named Jesus Noriega, was the head of the "Campesinos Sin Tierra (Peasants without land). He was kidnapped along with other 8 local residents by the death squad at night in his own home. Sadly, they never returned home. Barbier interviews the activist's dad, Jose Noriega, and he explains how he demanded justice along with the families of the other victims but the police did little to help. The father also explains how after searching for a long 19 years, they had finally found the remains of their children in 2011. In 2010, the complaints that these families and other victims had lodged finally brought some justice. Members of the Group Colina were brought to trial and were sentenced to 15 to 25 years in prison. One of these member did admit that these activists were murdered the night they were kidnapped and buried near Santa. Although he explained about the details, the information was not sufficient to find all of the remains. This group had left deep scars in many communities across Peru that some mothers even believed (before some of the remains were found) that their children were being held captive somewhere in the jungle or even in another continent.

This is just one of many human rights crimes the group had commited under Fujimori's rule. Although the group was not known to exist until many years after these crimes, they played a key part in the terror that took place in the country between the 1990's and 2000's. This makes you think about the power that Fujimori held and the place where the members of this group were. Where they just following orders? Did they have a choice in the matter? Were they willing to commit such atrocities? These are a few questions that arise when thinking about the members and their situation. Regardless these crimes are unspeakable and deserve punishment.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/sep/06/peru-human-rights-fujimori

"1991: Barrios Altos Massacre" by Michael Baney

Here we see another act by the Group Colina. The information on this article was described in detail in an old declassified US government document.  The massacre, that took place in 1991 in the Barrios Altos neighborhood in Lima, was by far the most famous killings committed by the death squad. In this event, the squad had gathered information that there was a "pollada" (a fundraiser selling chicken and beer) occurring in an apartment building in Barrios Altos by militants from Sendero Luminoso. While the party/fundraiser was on its way, the death squad pulled up to the building where the supposed party was taking place. The squad entered the suspected apartment, lined up everyone in the party and began taking fire with sub-machine guns equipped with silencers. It was later proven that the guns were provided to the group by the army. Sadly, a young child was shot as he was running to his dead father by the leader of the group, Santiago Martin Rivas. As the squad fled the scene, they turned on their sirens while driving away to appear as they were the police. As it was later discovered, the executed civilians were not members of Sendero Luminoso and were just fundraising money to fix the pipes in their building. It was also discovered that there was actually a Sendero Luminoso meeting taking place in that same building but on the second floor! Not only did the squad kill innocent civilians but it tipped off members of Sendero Luminoso that the army was onto them!

These facts came into light after efforts by brave congressmen and woman. It started by information sent to the Secretary of State by the US embassy in Lima. This information showed that the Peruvian Government was doing little to investigate the murders and lied about whether or not the guns were equipped with silences in an attempt to obscure the real facts. Later, the Peruvian Congress created a committee to investigate the crimes which threatened Fujimori's government. This led to Fujimori illegally reconstructing government on April 5, 1992. This reconstruction led to the suspension of congress, permanent disband of the Senate, and the riddance of a majority of the judges in the country. Fujimori was supported by the country as he explained that he was getting rid of all the corruption in the system.

Due to international pressure the investigation of the killings reopened, but then Fujimori passed a law that gave amnesty to anyone who had violated human rights "in defense of the fatherland". On top of this, Fujimori stripped the power of judicial review in cases of amnesty laws. This gave him full power and allowed anyone to commit murder as long as it was declared to have been commited for patriotic reasons. However, this all changed in 2000, when Fujimori's government collapsed due to scandals. The amnesty was thrown out in 2001 and both Fujimori and Group Colina members were later tried and sentenced to jail. 

This shows the amount of power Fujimori possessed in his 10 year reign. Was his government really a democracy or was it a dictatorship? 

http://www.executedtoday.com/2010/11/03/1991-barrios-altos-massacre-peru-alberto-fujimori/

Week 8 - Signs of Crisis in a Gilded Age

This chapter helped me see that this economic boom in Latin America didn't really help many Latin Americans and was only exploited by the rich. This brought many revolutions, chaos, and blood during the boom and after the boom started to slow down. Much land was illegally taken from their owners by Porfirio Diaz's government and used to help build the infrastructure in Mexico and bring "modernization" to the state. This is one of the reasons why the Mexican revolution began and brought out figures like Emiliano Zapata, who inspired the Zapatismo movement. Zapata's slogan "Tierra y Libertad", which means Land and Liberty, is still widely used by the Zapatistas in their socialist views of regaining lands taken away by the Mexican government and achieve a greater democracy and social and economic benefits for the indigenous people. This reminds me of all the conflicts and issues that are present in North America with the indigenous people and North American governments. Although, these governments do try to give benefits to the groups that have been affected by colonization, they are still far away from resolving the issues revolving land. There is merit to the ideology that the land belongs to the first nations of North America but it is far from ideal to give these lands back. It will greatly affect the economy and will bring many issues! Who do we specifically give the land to? Who do we take land from? Should land owners who had nothing to do with colonization lose their property where in most cases was bought or gained in other ways? These are the same problems that would arise in Mexico or Latin America in general.

It was also interesting to read and learn in detail about Argentine's immigrant population growth, which was fueled by the 'modernity' race, and how it affected society and the revolutions within the country. It surprised me to find that many Argentine natives did to see immigrants in a good light. Even though this was due to a cleansing of ethnicity, these European immigrants were seen as alien who "spoke foreign tongues, ate alien food, did not celebrate the national traditions or owe any loyalty to Argentina". These immigrants did not have the right to vote but they largely formed the labour force in Buenos Aires. After World War One brought high commodity prices and lower wages, these middle class labourers went on strike and caused a great unrest in Buenos Aires. Many died and the strikes created strong right-winged groups which helped create a conservative movement in the country which put equality and human rights aside for capitalism and a hierarchical society.

Week 7: The Export Boom as Modernity

"Order equals progress" played a major role in shaping the economies of Latin America. Elites and political leaders believed that it was essential to create order within each republic in order to move forward as a country. Sadly, this brought many hardships and to an extreme, it started genocides!

From Dawson's video we learnt that the "Mano dura" (Iron Fist) policies, which were used by policing forces in Mexico, went to extremes to establish order. "Shoot first and ask questions never" was their motto which created the slang "la fuga", which described being shot while running away. They punished anyone who opposed or threatened the order within society and they went as far as killing caudillos, opposing political party leaders, and anyone who stood in the way of achieving a controlled society. I found very interesting that even to this day, the "Mano Dura" policies are used against drug gangs by Central American governments. However, these policies are very controversial. Some say that these extreme policies cause more violence than the alternatives and don't bring a solution. This is because these policies aim at eliminating the leaders within these groups and a gang without a leader causes insecurity and an internal struggle for control. This is why it creates more violence and often does not destroy the group or its activities in the long run.

It was interesting to learn that the boom of Latin America was largely due to the rising economies of North America and Europe. These growing economies were in great need of raw materials and resources and Latin America was rich with these. In turn, these "first world economies" were bringing new technologies and investment into the Americas. This not only helped the region become more modern but it also helped increase productivity and agricultural goods could be more aggressively cultivated. This was largely in part of the railroad systems that were emerging all throughout the republics. The railroads helped to make the world "smaller" and reachable!

Wealth and modernity made urban planners want to change their cities from "colonial backwaters" to the most modern, industrialized metropolises in the world. At the same time, elites wanted to bring more "white" to their countries to help modernity thrive. This led to genocides in certain areas around Latin America to clean their societies from the "bad" ethnicities. In regions where genocide was not an option, the twin strategy was to change, transform, and cure these ethnicities. This would be done by bringing education, better hygiene, and to try and control/train/civilize/contain these people. This occurred when scientific racism was at its highest.

Week 6 - Citizenship and Rights in the New Republics

It was interesting to learn about how societies, culture, and views transformed in the new republics in Latin America. I had always thought that equality and freedom rights would have followed quickly after independence. In the contrary, I came to see that the Caste system still played a major role in society. It was also surprising to learn that European theorists used unproven forms of science to support their racism! Theorists used sciences like eugenics, phrenology, and craniometry to undermine the "lesser" races and to promote whiteness as a scientific virtue. Eugenics was used to convince people that "improving" the gene pool of society was essential to advance as a race and civilization. Both phrenology and craniometry played hand-in-hand in determining that the shape and size of one's skull or brain determined one's ability. It was thought that the brain was completely compartmentalized and that each different part of the brain had one function. Thus, if you used one ability the most, that part of the brain would grow and vice versa. This helped determine that African descents and the Irish were inferior to other races with properly shaped and sized skulls.

This made me think about modern day Latin America and how racism is still largely present in society. I was in Peru last Christmas and I was surprised to find more racism there than in North America. It is very troubling to see that racism is so deeply rooted in the ideology of society. You can totally feel the presence of the idea that one is more sophisticated or "privileged" the "whiter" one is. It is also very evident that anything European is popular and everyone strives to be "whiter".

It was also surprising to learn that many indigenous people did not support independence and supported crown rule. This was due to certain rights they were granted just as long as they were loyal to the crown. The reading definitely made it clear how hard it was to determine what citizenship was and how one would go on to integrate it into society after the liberation of the republics. Differences in language, education, and cultures played a major role in limiting these abilities and the path for equality in these new countries. The text showed me that slavery became one of the most controversial topics in the Americas and that it played a major role in the formation of these new societies and most interestingly affecting each republic in different ways.

Week Three - The Colonial Experience

I found the videos and readings for this week very interesting, specially the reading on Catalina de Erauso. I find her story and character very fascinating! From the very beginning you get a sense that she doesn't feel like she belongs. I don't believe she would have just left due to the altercation she had with one of the sisters she mentioned. I feel that this pushed her over the edge and left due to a variety of reasons. She even goes on later about how she needs to get as far away as possible from that place! Nevertheless, it must have taken a lot of bravery to run way and try to survive by yourself at such a young age , specially being a girl.

The reading also made me wonder what it must have been like for a Transgender in that time. Did she know who she was? Did she want to become a man because of all the opportunities it presented or did she always feel like she wasn't a woman? She was also able to disguise herself very well. Did she have the characteristics of a man? Back at that time there was no make-up or plastic surgery to transform your gender. All she mentioned was that she cut her hair and voila! She managed to trick everyone in her life that she was a man. She even managed to kill of dozens of men and win back her flag from an army of indians. (I hope this was not exaggerated and biased since she was the one describing it!

Another thing that also fascinated me was the fact that she crossed paths with her brother. Not only had she never met him but they happened to find each other completely on the other side of the world! Throughout her memoir, it always showed that she found herself in trouble and altercations with people. The tone that she presents it in makes it seem like she was the victim and was always the target but I feel like it has to do with who she was as a person. I could be wrong; maybe people picked on her because of the way she looked and even sounded (Girly).

Week 2 Meeting of two worlds

My impression, before reading these two pieces, of Columbus was very good and I admired his feats. Now I see that he was cruel and ignoble in his dealing with the native people of the "New World". Throughout the Journal he speaks of ways to trick the Natives in order to be welcomed in the Future in order to gain from their fortunes.

One of the things that stood out from his Journal is how he could not properly describe the beauty of this world that he found and he tries to explain that he never will be able to explain it with words and that it can only be understood if seen by eye. Also, the fact that he kept on lying to his crew at the beginning of his journal was a bit bizarre. Was he trying to trick them to think that they haven't traveled far? This might make sense in the view that it will stop his crew from giving up and reaching a conclusion that they will never reach their destination of Asia. 

Throughout the Journal you can also sense the tone of superiority Columbus felt he had over these Native people. He seemed to think they were weak and pushovers compared to a Spaniard. He also seemed to be quite confident that converting everyone into Christianity was a simple task and that the Native People did not have a good. He also was confident that the native people saw him and his men as descendants from heaven. For one, the communication between the two parties were limited to hand gestures and I think that this was more of misinterpretation of his liking.

The second reading noted the cruelty of conquistadors and Christianity. All this greed led to the murder of many innocent Indians in order to gain from their fortunes! I might say that 1842 was the brought the beginning of Latin America but it also brought the destruction of all religions and cultures in these regions.