Protests Sparked in Lima After Far-Right Mayor Closes The Museum of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion

By Katriona Hannah

The Place of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion opened in 2015 and was intended to be a space for reconciliation, dialogue and commemoration of the thousands of victims killed in the violent conflict during the 1980s and 1990s. Since its opening, the museum used to receive approximately 60,000 visitors each year. However, last week it was closed on the order of Lima’s current far-right ultra-conservative mayor. 

Women protesting agains the closure of LUM. Image: The Collector

The official reason for the closure was that the museum had failed to meet the municipal safety norms. However, many human rights activists are concerned that this move is just another example of the rising denial of the mass killings committed in the bloodiest conflict in Peru’s modern history. It was a prolonged war between the authorities and the communist terrorist group “Shining Path” which sought to overthrow the government through violence and guerrilla warfare tactics. The current mayor, Rafael López Aliaga, who is also the founder of the far-right National Renovation party and a member of a conservative catholic group “Opus Dei”, has been widely voicing his opposition to the museum's existence for years since its opening. He claims that the Museum of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion (widely known by the Spanish acronym LUM) provides a false narrative of the tragic events of the violent period in which almost seventy thousand people were murdered. He went as far as to say that the museum was an “offence to the nation” and that it was time for the government to take control of the historical narrative regarding the events which happened between the 80s to 2000s. The mayor and his supporters are spreading misinformation, manipulating the public and refuting the murders committed by both the “Shining Path” and the military. The museum is located in Lima’s municipality of Miraflores, whose current district mayor - Carlos Fernando Canales Anchorena, is a supporter of Aliaga’s “National Renovation” party.

 The news of LUM’s closure came out on the same day that Amnesty International was scheduled to present its investigation on the severe police brutality against protestors. During the week of the museum’s closure, the mayor hosted a meeting which was organised by the think tank of the Spanish far-right political party “Vox” which claims to defend democracy in Latin America and praises Peru’s current government for preventing a supposed “destabilising plan” allegedly created by the Left. 

The government’s closure of a space in which the memory of the country’s tragic historical events could be recorded and preserved and in which citizens and tourists alike could educate themselves and reflect on past mistakes is a terrifying sign of a denial of the past and an attempt to rewrite history. The European Union in Peru has published a tweet saying that “Historical memory is a fundamental value of all democracies”. Peru’s minister of culture has stated that her ministry is currently working with the Miraflores’ municipality in order to reopen the museum. 

Bibliography

Collyns, Dan. “Mayor closes museums of memories in battle over story of Peru’s violent past”. The Guardian. 07.04.2023 https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/07/peru-mayor-closes-museum-of-memories-army-shining-path

Davic, Angela. “The Lima Mayor Closes Museum of Memories, Causing Protests”. The Collector. 08.04.2023. https://www.thecollector.com/the-lima-mayor-closes-museum-of-memories-causing-protests/

Solomon, Tessa. “Far-Right Mayor of Lima Closes Museum Dedicated to Tolerance and Memories, Triggering Protests”. 07.04.2023. https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/lima-mayor-closes-museum-of-tolerance-and-memories-1234663443/

UE en Perú (@UEenPeru), “La memoria histórica es un valor fundamental de toda democracia El @LUMoficial es un espacio donde se preserva la memoria del período de violencia (1980-2000) que convoca a la ciudadanía a informarse y reflexionar sobre lo sufrido en el Perú, para que no se repita jamás. 1/3,” Twitter, 30.03.2023, 11:31 p.m., https://twitter.com/UEenPeru/status/1641568749508788224