Perú apologizes for racism, discrimination
By Karen Juanita Carrillo

In Perú, the administration of President Alan García Pérez has published an apology and a request for Afro Perúvians to accept a “historical pardon” from the government, for years of discrimination and second class citizenship.

Published in the Saturday, November 28, 2009 edition of the official government newspaper, El Perúano, the legal notice states that the government wanted to express a “pardon to the Afro Perúvian community for the history of abuses, exclusions and acts of discrimination that have been committed against them.”

The statement also noted that the “offenses” – or acts of discrimination – against Afro Perúvians may have begun in the 16th century but have remained unrelenting “to the present time”, continuing to present “a barrier to the social, economic, labor and educational development” of Perú’s Blacks.

“This is historic, because this validates the struggles we made during the 1980s to gain recognition,” Dr. Jorge Ramirez Reyna, the executive director of the Lima, Perú-based Asociación Negra de Defensa y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos (ASONEDH/Black Association for the Defense and Promotion of Human Rights), said in an exclusive interview.

“Traditionally, there have been no laws to protect us from discrimination and this should help create a path for that.”

In his 2006 book, Racismo, Derechos Humanos e Inclusion Social:  Afrodescendientes en el Perú (Racism, Human Rights and Social Inclusion:  Afrodescendants in Perú), Dr. Ramirez Reyna writes about the pervasiveness of racism in Perú and the long struggles made by community activists to defeat it.  

Reyna notes that in a 1994 poll conducted by the market research firm Imasen S.A., some 77.5 percent of Perúvians said they believed racism did not exist in their country; 22.5 percent believed racism did exist and one percent did not respond one way or the other.  

“It’s paradoxical that neither those who suffer from discrimination nor those who practice it is willing to accept their role as discriminated against or as a discriminator,” Reyna commented:  “In relation to the first one [the person who suffers discrimination], if you reveal this fact to him you would have to make him accept his condition as someone who is marginalized, different, and not integrated into the larger society. The second one [the person who discriminates], with few exceptions, knows fully well that what he is doing is socially and morally wrong.”

The majority of Perúvians of African descent came to the country in the 16th century; they were enslaved under the Spanish crown.  African slavery was abolished on December 3, 1854, but Afro Perúvians have faced years of struggle trying to incorporate themselves as equal citizens in their nation. Perú’s successive governments have never before admitted that their citizens of African descent – who are an estimated 8 to 10 percent of Perú’s population – have been victims of racism.

The Perúvian government’s “historical pardon” was issued on behalf of the President Alan García Pérez and the director of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and Social Development, Nidia Vilchez.  President García has not customarily supported efforts to aid the Afro Perúvian community.  “This could all just be something they plan to use politically, to gain support in the community,” Dr. Ramirez Reyna noted.  “If anything, I expect that this will help create a better atmosphere of cooperation between the government and Afro Perúvians,” he added.

This December 7th President García’s administration is planning to hold a ceremonial acknowledgement of its admission of guilt and make a formal request for Afro Perúvian forgiveness.