Introduction, The Arduous Task of Recomposing the Future in Postconflict Peru

:::::: Introduction ::::::

The Arduous Task of Recomposing the Future in Postconflict Peru

by Kristi M. Wilson

In 2000, President Alberto Fujimori fled Peru in the wake of a corruption scandal and faxed in his resignation. Shortly thereafter, in 2001, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission was created to investigate the atrocities committed between 1980 and 2000, a period of extreme political violence and human rights violations in Peru that included sexual violence against women, torture, disappearances, massacres, and extrajudicial executions. This violence, referred to as the “internal armed conflict,” included the actions of the Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and the Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac Amaru (Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement) and state-sponsored and indiscriminate military actions against their suspected supporters in rural and indigenous areas especially. The years of the internal armed conflict were also characterized by authoritarian governance and high levels of corruption. This issue focuses on the postconflict period from Fujimori’s resignation to the present, challenging popular notions of Peru as an exemplar of postconflict reconstruction based on the presence of free and fair elections, separation of powers, a robust economy, and a powerful free press. A brief overview of recent political history will help to situate the period in its historical context.1

CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave

SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave
SaveSave