As part of the 4th World March, last Thursday, September 10, members of World Without Wars and Without Violence (MsG) joined a vigil alongside the relatives of the victims of the La Cantuta case, who remembered their loved ones and demanded justice for the tragic disappearance of nine students and a professor from the Enrique Guzmán y Valle National University of Education, which occurred in 1992, in the midst of the decade of political violence (1980-2000), during the government of Alberto Fujimori.
The vigil took place at 5 in the afternoon in front of the Palace of Justice, right in the center of Metropolitan Lima, where the relatives of the victims of the Colina Group gathered, a paramilitary group that murdered and disappeared at least 49 people, including those in the Barrios Altos Massacre, La Cantuta, Santa Peasants, Pativilca massacre and the assassination of union leader Pedro Huilca, as well as Lucanamarca, where Shining Path murdered 69 peasants from the Ayacucho region.
Reparation and reconciliation are still pending
“Violence must be overcome from within the human being and there is no other way to do so. We find ourselves in a world that is completely out of control, Western civilization that conquered the world, that invented democracy, socialism, communism… everything is over and is contaminated, and that has made us lose our future; we have no image. The only thing left is to defend human rights, life, justice, ecology, and defend ourselves,” indicated Carlos Degregori, a member of World Without Wars and Without Violence (MsG), addressing the relatives and human rights defenders present at the event.
“In commemoration of the International Day of Nonviolence, which is October 2, we commemorate the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, for his struggle against the English Empire through nonviolence. Violence is not natural; this has been created by a philosophy that has ultimately denaturalized man and taken away his true, deeper meaning,” added Degregori.
The 4th World March is being held in more than 70 countries simultaneously and is carrying out various activities for peace and active nonviolence. In Peru, from September 21 to October 4, various activities will be held that will join others around the world.
“To reconcile and confront all forms of violence, we have to look within ourselves and recover those values with which we were born. You are cordially invited to join our activities with a warm Peace, Strength and Joy!” concluded the representative of World Without Wars and Without Violence.
