We Are Disappointed!

When I say "we" I mean my wife and myself but sure there are a lot of people like us who today feel this way: disappointed. As I was on the phone talking with my aunt who also lives in California, somehow we ended up talking about President Obama and the latest news about sending more troops to fight a war we don't fully understand, a war we still think we should have never been involved with. Sure, there is a problem in the area with terrorism and the instability of that region will affect the entire world, but then we ask: why does America have to go there and fight it while other countries are not sending as many troops? Also, why does America have to sacrifice its young soldiers while there is still so much to do here at home? Last but not least, why do Americans have to pay the huge budget of this war?

In case you don't remember what our current president said about the war just press play on the previous video for a summary of his speeches through the years. In case you have time and the patience to hear his long address on foreign policy - when he still was a senator - regarding Iraq and Afghanistan just follow this link provided by The New York Times (the video was originally created by MSNBC), it is a little bit over 36 minutes. Nice speech but today they are just words that the wind - and who knows what hidden interests and politics - is taking away from President Obama's current approach to the war.

The previous video is a good summary of today's speech, but as always the complete video of President Obama outlining his strategy on Afghanistan and Pakistan can be seen on the following link thanks to the White House web page.

Dissappointedly.

So that itself be not repeated

Many people around the world doesn't know what really happened in Peru between 1980 and 2000, my home country was bleeding and most of us - the ones who lived in the coast - were not fully aware of the killing and suffering of our fellow Peruvians in the regions controlled either by the government forces (police and/or army) or the terrorist groups (Sendero Luminoso and MRTA). I grew up partially blind because the news were not covering all the horror during that time until it reached us, close, very close.

While I was a boy/teenager it was normal to be home before 10PM every night due to the emergency measures taken by the government, it was normal not to have electricity because a bomb destroyed the power lines somewhere in the mountains, it was normal to hear news of killed policemen or soldiers, it was normal to see buildings destroyed. But, even thought all this was apparently normal to me, the murders and rapes and tortures of people being done in those regions were apparently normal to my fellow Peruvians who had no one to protect them but themselves.

During more than two decades, yes! two decades, more than 20 years! the governments in turn did not do enough to fix this problem. I won't raise my hand or use my finger to point out who was responsible for all this suffering and who should be punished, society will do someday, but the least I can do is to share what others have done to remember forever what really happened... so that itself be not repeated!

I warned you, most of the images are really graphic, this was a WAR and so they reflect that...

MUSEO DE LA MEMORIA Yuyanapaq - by Jorge
"Yuyanapaq. Para recordar" - by Comisión de la Verdad y Reconciliación
MUSEO DE LA MEMORIA "Yuyanapaq" - by Erick
El Museo de la Memoria "Para que no se repita" - by ANFASEP
Yuyarisum - by Red Cientifica Peruana

Thank you all of you who are helping us not to forget.

Remembering.