{"id":1287,"date":"2023-02-21T22:30:38","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T22:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/?p=1287"},"modified":"2023-03-16T19:48:47","modified_gmt":"2023-03-16T19:48:47","slug":"solidarity-and-hope-in-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/iacs\/2023\/02\/21\/solidarity-and-hope-in-peru\/","title":{"rendered":"Solidarity and Hope in Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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Peru protest<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Solidarity and Hope in Peru<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n By<\/span>By Leo Guardado, Ph.D.<\/strong>\n \n February 21, 2023<\/span>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\u201cOur days bear the mark of the new presence of those who in fact were \u2018absent\u2019 in our society and in the church. \u2018Absent\u2019 means of little or no significance, and even more, without the possibility of expressing their own sufferings, their solidarity, their projects, their hopes<\/em>.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u2014 Gustavo Guti\u00e9rrez, A Theology of Liberation<\/em> (1988)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Peruvian theologian Gustavo Guti\u00e9rrez<\/a> <\/span>has repeatedly called the irruption of the poor a new presence, a far-reaching historical event and one which continues to mark the life of the Latin American church. Lest we sanitize the event, an eruption suggests actions that burst and break in, perhaps not unlike the ways that Christian communities speak of the breaking in of the presence of God in history \u2014 unannounced, unexpected, and for many, unwelcome. Irruptions have a way of unsettling the way things are and of reconfiguring life.<\/p>\n

The irruption of the poor to which Guti\u00e9rrez refers is that long and unfinished history of communities whose significance barely registers \u2014 if at all \u2014 on the ledger of humanity, but who with a stubborn desire for life resist economies, policies and a social world that was not created for them, but fundamentally against them. As I watch the news of what continues to transpire<\/a><\/span> in Peru, I keep thinking of the irruption of the poor, and of the ongoing challenge that it presents for Christian thought and action.<\/p>\n

I am in Peru with the support of the DePaul Fellowship from the Institute of Advanced Catholic Studies at USC<\/a> <\/span>to edit an unfinished manuscript of Guti\u00e9rrez, my former professor and mentor whom I visit every year. Throughout my visits I have watched the country move from one president to another, for a total of six presidents in the past five years. On this visit the intensity of the events marking the country have reached the capital of Lima, and partly because of that, they have reached the world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"
Leo Guardado, Ph.D. and Peruvian theologian Gustavo Guti\u00e9rrez are working together as part of an IACS fellowship.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Since early December 2022, communities across the country, but especially Quechua and Aymara communities, have expressed their grievances with protests against a government that they say does not represent them and their concerns. I reached out to an Aymara colleague in the Andean region of Puno in the south of the country where some of the protests began to ask about how she was doing, and she pithily summarized the heart of the conflict: \u201cLas comunidades estamos invisible<\/em>\u201d [our communities are invisible<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Then she added: \u201cEl cambio clim\u00e1tico tambi\u00e9n nos golpea muy fuerte, la helada se llev\u00f3 todo nuestro siembro<\/em>\u201d [Climate change is also hitting us very hard, the frost has taken all our crops<\/em>]<\/p>\n

The social, economic and political invisibility compounds the impacts of climate change on indigenous communities, whose livelihood is disappearing.<\/p>\n

Las comunidades estamos invisible<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The protests that began in the peripheries of the country expanded to the capital of Lima on January 19, bringing to the political center pressure for new national elections. Government forces have killed close to fifty protesters since December 2022, a number that suggests that some police and military officers shoot to kill in these confrontations. While protests continue on the streets of the capital, the police have also targeted the National University of San Marcos<\/a><\/span>, the oldest in the Americas founded in the mid-1500s, in what is a clear attempt to instill fear in university students who may want to support protesters.<\/p>\n

Religious leaders in Lima have organized at least two major vigils to commemorate the deaths, to denounce the violence, and to forge connections among people of faith who are attempting to respond to the present reality. Discussions are taking place among church leaders to discern how faith communities can respond in practical ways. For example, some faith communities are opening their worship spaces as shelters for those who have come from far away, though this is not done publicly. If the protests continue for weeks, will more religious congregations and diocesan churches open parishes so that those who have traveled from the peripheries of the country can take refuge at night? And are these communities willing to face the political consequences for doing so?<\/p>\n