Peruvian Congress President Is Criticized for Racist Statements

On Saturday, the president of Peru's Congress Maria del Carmen Alva sparked a controversy by giving a speech in which she mentioned that Congress works for everyone, including "whites and Indians."

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"Our phrase is: a Congress for all, all without exception, at the national level, Lima and regions united, Whites and Indians united, the poor and the rich united. We do not have a divisive discourse of class struggle," Alva said during a visit to the northern region of Piura.

The statements of the right-wing politician, who is one of the most notorious opponents of President Pedro Castillo, were immediately rejected. Outlet La Republica, for example, published that Alva issued "a classist speech" that included "questionable comments." 

The Ombudsman's Office rejected any expression that could generate discrimination by alluding to racial aspects of people. "Public officials and citizens must avoid any adjectives or stereotypes that have historically been used to discriminate. A discourse of unity must seek the integration of Peruvian men and women because of their condition as human beings, in a multiethnic, and multicultural country," it said.

Leftist legislator Ruth Luque stressed that after 200 years of being a republic, the declarations of the president of Congress "demonstrate that she continues to see the country as a colony, where people are categorized as whites and Indians. That has never united us."

In this regard, the historian Jose Ragas recalled that the category 'Indian' was repealed twice by the Peruvian State due to its racist connotations. The first time occurred in 1821 when the independence hero Jose de San Martin replaced the term "Indian" with "Peruvian". Later, in 1969, General Juan Velasco Alvarado changed the category "Indian" with "peasant."

In response to the criticism, Alva said that her words were taken "out of context by those who try to generate a divisive discourse among Peruvians, as the ruling party and its allies do."