Unrest in Peru
As I stood next to the Cristo Blanco statue overlooking Cusco, Peru last week, I could hear workers on strike marching through the streets down below. I paused there and listened to the beating drums, the shrill whistles and the angry chants for about twenty minutes. I witnessed the parade. Yet even though I was relatively close to the action, the struggle seemed far away.
If you ask ten different Peruvians why the workers have gone on strike so often this year, you’ll get ten different answers. But the theme is always the same. It all boils down to a sense of local injustice. Tourists flock to Cusco every year to see Machu Picchu and the other archeological wonders surrounding the city. Many of these visitors stay in opulent hotels, sleep on fine linens and dine in pricy restaurants. However very little of the income generated by this tourism goes into the funding of public services.
Kids rule the streets of Cusco. They want to shine your shoes or sell you a postcard, anything to make a little extra money for the family. These children should be in school preparing for the future. Their parents should have access to basic health care. Grinding poverty shouldn’t be the norm in such a magnificent place.
In much of Latin America, a few people enjoy great wealth while everyone else struggles to survive. Peru is no exception. It’s difficult to determine how or when the income disparity gap will close in Peru. But the current structure is unsustainable.
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