moral, not absolute certainty, that the means are not evil is all that is required of we weak minded humans.
Because Peru is a very young country demographic-wise, who believe that everything their teachers taught them (Fujimori was a corrupt fascist, while APRA is always good). This is why Alan Garcia, the Dennis Kucinich of Peruvian politics (who bankrupted his country the way Dennis the Menace bankrupted Cleveland) was brought back to power.
I’m always amazed at how liberals/socialist like to re-write history, or turn a blind eye towards communist guerrilla-terrorist movements. I know that in Guatemala, it wasn’t until the army went all out in the early 80’s that the guerrillas were not brought to their knees. Many in Guatemala are still angry about the so called peace agreements, which were a capitulation.
In Peru, Fujimori took the war to them like never before. Kinda like what they are doing in Colombia under Uribe. You cannot negotiate or play nice with guerrillas.
This is actually a rather weak defense of Fujimori. He deserves better.
Yes, Sendero was the Khmer Rouge of Peru. Yes, they were guilty of mass atrocities that boggle the mind. And yes, Peru was falling to them. Entire areas of the country were no-go areas, and Sendero was finally reaching into the capital toward the end.
And none of the politicians knew what to do about it.
Fujimori stood up, and took them on, and beat them at a time when most people assumed that a maoist insurgency like this was unbeatable. In fact, keeping in mind that most politicians in Latin America are men of the left, they find it tough even to explain why the maoists are wrong.
At the time Fujimori took power, even with the country on the edge of collapse, the politicians were unable to agree on a plan of action for the defeat of the insurgents; I don’t believe they believed they could be beaten.
Fujimori thought otherwise, and he beat them.
Now that the country is safe, the very politicians who had earlier led the country to the edge of the abyss have returned to power, and they have put Fujimori in jail for human rights abuses during the war against Sendero. They are right; the army fought a very dirty campaign with no holds barred. But they had their chance against Sendero and failed. They are only safe in their beds now because Fujimori has made them so.
He is a flawed man who changed the constitution so he could remain in power a third term, and for that deserved to be driven from power. But he is also the man who saved Peru, and the people who now sit in judgement of him should have to admit that he did what they themselves could not do and didn’t do.
So which is Obama? Marxist, Leninist, or Maoist?