Living in Peru : your everyday companion

Living in Peru
Vanessa Castro Chesterton

The resignation of Prime Minister Jorge del Castillo in the midst of the corruption scandal dubbed “Petrogate” left many wondering who would be called to take his place. There was talk of former Prime Minister and economist Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, being asked to step in as well as APRA legislator Luis Gonzales Posada. In the end it was Yehude Simon Munaro Regional Governor of Lambayeque who was asked to take over the position. Many went on to ask the question, who is Yehude Simon Munaro? Here are a few answers as to the identity of the new man in power.

Yehude Simon Munaro was born July 18th 1947. He is the son of a Jewish Palestinian immigrant father and an Italian mother. As a boy his family settled in Chiclayo where he was raised. He attended Manuel Pardo School and was accepted into Pedro Ruiz Gallo National University of Lambayeque were he studied Veterinary Medicine, he would later return to teach there. Though initially set on joining the church he later changed his mind and decided to follow medicine. Even though he had a scholarship to study in Spain strong family ties and the unwillingness of his father to see him go made him stay and study in Peru.  He married Nancy Valcárcel, a painter from Chiclayo and the two would go on to have four children together.

Besides being a veterinary physician, an appreciation for social interaction and the differences between social classes formed at a young age led him to become a professional sociologist. Having grown up hearing of the Cuban revolution and entering college at a time when the socialist movement was at its pinnacle, Simon Munaro was profoundly affected by the leftist view of the world. He had the advantage of not having any political mindset before he entered university a strange occurrence seeing as the APRA party is very influential in the north of Peru.

As an older man he admits that the way socialism was interpreted by the Peruvian Left in the seventies was too radical and did not quite fit the country’s reality at the time. Simon Munaro once said “One cannot talk of poverty if he has not felt poverty, cannot talk of class distinctions if they hold no deep personal meaning”.

The mid-eighties saw the founding of the political party “Izquierda Unida” (United Left) in order to bring together all other organizations with similar characteristics and beliefs in order to create a socialist front. This had never been attempted before and was a first in Peruvian political history. In 1983 Simon Munaro ran for Provincial Mayor of Chiclayo with the United Left but came in second. Two years later he is elected as Deputy for Lambayeque forming part of the Human Rights Commission and the Congress Justice Commission. He remained in this position until 1990.

In 1991 he founds the “Movimiento por una Patria Libre” (Movement for a Free Nation) which is accused of being a legal branch of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA). In 1992 after participating in different conferences in Europe he returns to Peru after receiving news of former President Fujimori’s constitutional break. Simon Munaro is offered asylum by different European Nations but decides to return anyway never imagining how far things would go. Seen as a possible threat by Fujimori he was arrested on June 11th 1992 together with other members of Movement for a Free Nation and charged with acts of subversion. 

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a trial that lasted no more than five minutes. He would remain in prison for almost nine years. It was then that he published “Hablar una vez más” (Speak Once More) (1995) a collection of poems written while incarcerated, “El Pasajero y otros cuentos” (The Passenger and other tales) (1998) a recompilation of testimonials given by fellow inmates and “El grito de la Agonía” (The Scream of Agony) (2000) an essay regarding imprisonment as seen through the eyes of an inmate. For his work he received awards from The Writers and Journalists Organization of Norway and the International Writers Association (PEN).  

It would not be until November 2000 with President Valentín Paniagua Corazao’s transitional government that he would be granted a pardon and cleared of all charges. In 2002 President Toledo issued a public apology as indemnity for his being wrongly imprisoned.

In 2002 Simon Munaro ran for Regional Governor of Lambayeque and beat the more popular APRA party. In 2006 he was reelected. He is the politician with the country’s highest approval rate and is known for this competence and honesty. 

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Simon was not a political prisioner. He support and was a member of the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement , also was the director of a news paper that support terrorism and thats why he went to prision. I feel ashemed that this individual was designed Primer Minister in order to calm down an scandal for corruption  After 9 years he was relesed thaks to the socialist minister Garcia Sayan and  dummy President Paniagua. He belong behinds bars .

  YOU should well be ashamed mr. gonzales....but of your bigotic views..
 look at the PROOFS that caused  mr. simon`s 8 year inprisionment ..its all hearsay .you probably think fujimori was a good president too...
you should experience what it feels to be "behind bars " for one month and probably you`d be more tolerant. furthermore i have a feeling this man is going to do a good job..or resign.

Juan Gonzalez, Ignoring the facts is easy but recognizing that this man has been in prison because of his political views seems hard for you to accept. Reality is often what we are made to believe and not what is real fact. How can a man be judged in a 5 minutes court appearance by a military court, explain that to me!

 

This was no justice, this was the elimination of political opponents just as we keep seeing it across the globe. So, your naivety on this issue does not help understanding the truth.

I HAVE NEVER KNOWN ABOUT THE PAST OF YEHUDE SIMON MUNARO. BUT I THINK THAT NEITHER MR GONZALEZ, NOR MR RISSO NOR SVEN ARE MISTAKEN. WE, THE CITIZENS OF PERU, WOULD LIKE TO BE INFORMED ABOUT THE PAST OF MR YEHUDE SIMON, BECAUSE, WE KNEW MORE OR LESS, ABOUT MR DEL CASTILLO, BUT JEHUDE IS UNKNOWN FOR MANY PERUVIANS AND HE HAS BEEN IN PRISON. FUJIMORI WAS A RIGHTIST AND WAS FIGHTING AGAINST TERRORISM, MR GARCIA SAYAN IS LEFTIST, AND HAS FREED A LOT OF TERRORISTS. SO, NON OF THE TWO IS "JUSTICE" IN PERSON. I AM A SIMPLE PERUVIAN, AND KNOWING THAT MR SIMON HAS BEEN IN JAIL....NEEDS TO BE INFORMED  TO THE WHOLE NATION.

Yehunde Simon is a fighter, a people's fighter; with a clear vision of the social-economic-political problems no only in Peru but the entire latin america region. People like Yehunde Simon deserve the right to represent a nation for whom they have dedicated their lives suffering the ignominy of serving prison for his political views and for social justice. Latin america is changing, is changing for better. We need to build a subcontinent economically strong and socially fair. Hasta la victoria siempre!!!!

well, it seems that in peru we can't forget the shady past of our political lineage. I have to be honest and say that i know nothing about this man, in fact, the article is nothing more than a puffy mini-biography with a few brushes of romanticism, (the same romanticism used in the past to disguised terrorists with the mask of guerrilleros or revolucionarios, but that is niehter here nor there, enough to say, the article is simplistic) that really doesn't say much about the new prime minister. however, and it is because of this, i feel the man needs at least the benefit of the doubt. I don't like comunism or socialism, i find them obtuse and retarded, however, in a civilized society, a man must proved himself with his acts,not necessarily with his words or points of view. Let's see what happens, traditional polititians in peru are nothing more than dinosaurs these days, maybe this veterinarian from the north will bring something new. But let's be clear about something, there are no "people's fighters" any more, these ain't the seventies, and certainly, any succesful polititian must get his hands dirty here and there. It is a fact of life, so, let be hopeful, realistic and, like someone else said already, let's try and stay informed.

Hi Alex, a well leveled comment but I would disagree with you on the point that people fighter are not needed anymore. I believe they are needed more than ever before, however, without the guns but rather with intellect and commitment to the large majority of people struggling through live. You surely know that only a small percentage of people in Peru can actually live without having to worry what they will eat the next day. So in order to keep the screws tight on the so called dinosaurs of politics one has to have politicians which do NOT put their comfortable life above the people they are supposed to represent. One does not have to be a socialist in order to do that but a social conscience is required in order to tackle injustice and spread the wealth more evenly.

god knows i´m no communist, or socialist,or even leftie,but i agree with sven once more..not to do so would be to believe we live in a perfect place,and ,sadly that is far from true..so amen to your comment sven ,i think you´ve hit it right on the nail.

This article seems biased towards a preferential side of Peru's actual political agenda as ran by APRA. What is an obvious truth is that there are extremities on both against and pro Apra. Whilst some will come out with their own biased pseudo studies that in the 1980's terrorism has never existed and the then currency "Inti" was flourishing by a fake influx which ultimately inflated the economy.

What next, Guzman, leader of the shining path was never the leader of a terrorist group? The decrease of the crime/terrorist had decreased throughout the 90's. Have liberals forgotten that everything is bribed around latin america? And it appears the claimed accussations against Fujimori is most likely a political vendetta. Sure, facts are biased as it can get. Even the official news that lurk about the RSS feeds have been regulated by Peru's current archetype.

Articles in the past did suggest Yehude Simons been a co-author of a few missions. But then again, any biased view will dismiss it as an anti-sentiment remark.

President Valentín Paniagua's authoritive wasn't qualitative and a lot of evidence was hidden (as always) and the pardons we easily executed.  Has Peru always lived an "Age of honesty"?  The zealot views of all political sides are disturbing.

Sven, you idealist approach of seeking a "truth" isn't as clear as Juan either.

Roberto Castro, what political tie are you? This is the internet after all and there is no persecution.

Everyone's perception of idealism will always differ due to each groups particular needs w/out respecting those differentiating views. Presidents receiving bribes, allowing deaths be allowed according to negotiations, inflations, sudden closure of drama that disabled immediate action, terrorists died and some complain despite found that murderers were found to have killed some small village in Peru.  Everyone's innocent, right?

A very academic profile... to say the least.

I welcomed the news of Mr. Simon's appointment as Peru's Prime Minister, lived in Peru while he was incarcerated and most informed and educated people did agree his incarceration was a political vendeta against all leftists, glad the chino regime is over and now qualified people of all backgrounds are given the opportunity to serve Peru, I have nothing but admiration for Mr. Simon, he's given all for his country short of dying.  That being said, I hope we do not go back to the old socialist models that APRA and IU were supporting back in the day, last thing we need would be a Humala-Chavez ultra leftist Peru, we have plenty with Bolivia and Venezuela...

Mr Thomas M, my political tie as you call it, its, has been and it will be a social-revolutionary latinoamerican ideology. I've been a political fighter like many who are ready to stand against represion, right wing-chatolic-aberration in trying to mantian a dominant upper political class in disregard of the lives and misery of the majority of our population. explotation and political domination from north american imperialism and the sionism international has NOT room in our suffered lands. our people are ready to fight again for our freedom,  a classless and harmonious society, with fair justice for everyone and the equal share of wealth and natural resources.
Mr Thomas Im writing this email from a corner of the world, away from my motherland, victim of political persecution and dreaming with the day to return to my much loved latin american and get rid of the bigots, uniformed criminals and cia agents.... to say the least
have a good day 

Hi Thomas,

I believe it is better to have ideals and believe in the better and good of human kind and even this sounds somewhat religious, I am not a religious person at all but rather someone who believes that people with bigger and greater ideas need to replace the dinosaurs in politics, as these are the chaps who prevent progress in a big way. Moreover, let me just add that the things you write sound a bit like from a person who has given up on what is good and merely look at society and justice as a theoretical topic.

 

Surely, to many people this is just seen as very ignorant, forgetting how people’s reality is in truth, ignoring that we are talking about human beings who look for a better and more importantly just life.

 

Injustice is what drives people mostly at the barricades. Try to look at that and then come back and start arguing about what ideals are good for.

 

Sincerely

 

Sven Kaven