Terror, Violence and the Nation in "Peru in an Age of Terror"

The key words in these documents is terror and violence. Through the terror created by decentralized violence, people can be manipulated, and changes can take place. "The Massacre" by Mario Vargas Llosa reports on how the massacre of 8 journalists in 1983 were conceived through the fear that they were enemies. Terror makes people erratic. It distorts their judgement and makes it harder to trust others. El Diario's interview of Chairman Gonzalo in "The Interview of the Century" tells his conviction that violence is the only means one can achieve total revolution and complete change. He says, "With regard to violence we start from the principle established by Chairman Mao Tsetung: violence, that is the need for revolutionary violence, is a universal law with no exception. Revolutionary violence is what allows us to resolve fundamental contradictions by means of an army, through people's war" (240). His use of "people's war" poses the question, 'who is included in the word people?'. He strategically using the word people when speaking about revolution to imply that the revolution is for the betterment of the nation and the people within it. However, the first document (9.1) shows how the "people", typically assumed to be the peasant, general population are scared of the Senderistas (the party of which he supports). It is interesting to read this in light of Llosa's cautionary statement in the last paragraph of the excerpt in which she states, "The story of the eight journalists reveals how vulnerable democracy is in Latin America and how easily it dies under military or Marxist-Leninist dictatorship"(240). Additionally, Gonzalo's interview justifies upholding power through violent "terrorism".

Gonzalo goes on to say that "Lenin taught us that the times had changed, that the bomb had become a weapon of combat for our class, for the people, that we're talking about is no longer a conspiracy, an isolated individual act, but the actions of a Party, with a plan, with a system, with an army. So, where is the imputed terrorism? It's pure slander" (241). It is unclear to whom he is referring to as 'us' and to whom he is referring to as 'them'. However, it is clear that Gonzalo has been accused of being a terrorist and thus he argues in his defense that how can he be a terrorist when the bombs they use are not individual acts but are planned, systematic, and backed by armies, thus they are actions of the state. This distinction has been made by the United States in its relentless War on Terror. When an individual acts in an "anarchic" fashion by bombing people or a place it is terrorism. But, when a state does the same but through the army and backed by a party it is in the name of securing the nation and protecting its citizens. Another layer of hypocrisy has been added when the US, has accused Peru under his regime to be terrorists.

Does this added layer have to do with the fact that these actions were committed on internal soil (within the nation and not on other nations) or that they were a leftist government or perhaps it's something else?