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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The echoes are still in the air. A huge debate about racism --that seems to have officially ended with an apology from the alleged offender-- is still generating all kind of reactions among local press, politicians and even bloggers.

Everything started when Correo newspaper printed photos -taken with a powerful zoom lenses- of the notes that the congresswoman Hilaria Supa had handwritten during a long congress session: the transcription, printed along with the photograph, revealed that her proficiency in Spanish was quite poor.

But the real spark that lit the prairie was the main article printed with the photo and the transcription, with the title “No One Writes For The Congresswoman.” This article complained about the alleged lack of education of Supa, because the congresswoman is a Quechua indian who never attended school and Spanish is in fact her second language.

“Politic parties should make sure about the credentials and education of their candidates, and not allowing anyone to be a candidate just like that,” said the above mentioned article, while questioning her alleged low production as a congresswoman.

Reactions came inmediately from everywhere. Basically, they were divided amongst the ones who claimed for inmediate legal actions against Correo newspaper, on charges of discrimination, racism and violation of privacy, and the ones who thought that the incident was harmless and that --since the Congress is a public place-- Correo was doing nothing but using its rights to freedom of information.

“There are millions of Peruvians like Supa and she represents those communities” said the former congressman Henry Pease, as the expressions of solidarity with her came one after another.

Eventually, the Congress approved an official statement condemning Correo's story and opening a door for probable upcoming legal actions.

But the debate was not confined to local media only. Local bloggers have produced about almost 200 posts on the topic (according to a quick Google query) during the last 2 days, and these reactions in the blogosphere have been everything but kind, since discrimination and racism are very touchy topics in Peru.

Supa, who is the first activist who denounced the forced sterilization of indian women in Peru, attends the congress sessions wearing her native Quechua attires and speaks in her native tongue during the congress sessions.

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