The day to day police presence could be better… but I guess for now I’ll just count on my mutts to chase of any “delinquentes” Ruff!

Even though the police don’t do much, at least their increased presence would make denizens feel more secure.

We walked on foot to Puerto No. 2, where we were stopped by guards, who wouldn’t let us any closer until we obtained passes. There were hundreds of police and sharpshooters everywhere.

I would be pleased if they could employ all these officers as traffic cops in the city. Lima could use regulation in that area.

I had a doctor’s appointment in Monterrico and we went the San Borja Norte route that we normally take. We came up to a check point and the only credential we showed was my husband’s DNI and my appt. card. TWO police officers let us through, but little did they know that the ramp to Av. El Derby was blocked.

We commented how easy it was to get into the area and how easy it would have been for any terrorist to infiltrate the security zones.

I personally don’t believe the man arrested for the grenades had any plans to attack APEC leaders or locations. It looks like a story that the police invented to “demonstrate” how effective their security measures were.

It would be nice however to see the same number of police and serenazgo on Lima’s street corners every day and not just for special events like APEC.

That said, I’m glad that you’re providing an alternate view of what may have happened (or may not have happened).

People do so many crazy things in Peru (and the U.S.), however, that I wouldn’t put it past anyone to stuff a bunch of grenades in his backpack.

I’m a skeptic like you, but the notion of a potential bomber being cooked up by Intelligence wasn’t what struck me as odd. The thing that stuck out at me was the precision of the number “36.”

I don’t have any analysis to add to that observation, btw. Maybe someone else has ideas.

Yes, fear is powerful. You know what’s like living in the US where the authorities are always screaming “Code Orange!”

I don’t believe this is true.

It happened before, the first time Bush visited Lima. Rumors say the car bomb that exploded was a conspiracy of Peruvian Intelligence and its US counterpart.

That “attack” gave Peruvian authorities an excuse to prevent any kind of civil protests then – and now they are ready to do it again.

Fear is a powerful thing.

I hope that the police are effectively able to stop this Shining Path stuff in its tracks. It was hell on Cusco in the ’80s and ’90s. I just told El Fotografo that I do not want to visit Ayacucho, no matter how much PromPeru keeps telling people that it’s a lovely place. The poor people there are on the front lines.

I think it’s gone too far to pardon Fujimori. There’s going to be a verdict next month, I think, so by Christmas I believe the trial will be over. I believe that Fujimori should pay from his role in the crimes, with a judgement that also weighes in the good he did for Peru (economic, capturing the Shining Path leader). I leave it to the lawyers/judges to decide what that might be.

You mention Peru not going down the path of Colombia — I’m thinking of Guatemala, which provides another example of what happens when leaders are allowed to get away with murder. I love Guatemala deeply (I wrote a guidebook to the country in ’96) but that country is a dangerous place to visit to this day because not one leader or military official was ever held accountable for the thousands of random killings that took place during the civil war.

What that means is that if you visit Guatemala and you happen to get caught up in a violent scene, there’s no justice system to rescue you or to hold anyone accountable if you are killed. Ditto for innocent citizens. It’s still that way today, sadly.

I once almost got caught in the middle of a shootout between guerilla forces and the military (our van broke down in northern Guatemala), and our driver was quietly freaking out because 20 yards behind us, soldiers were felling 40-foot-high trees to create a roadblock where they would begin fighting once the sun set. If we didn’t get out of there fast, we would have been in the middle of it. (Guys were starting to fell trees in front of us as well.) It was so apparent to me then that my life was worth jacksh*t to the soldiers. It was a tense 20 minutes before our driver managed to fix the engine and we set off, before the shooting began.

How to deal with terrorism like the Shining Path movement is very tricky territory for political leaders. Because the terrorists try to blend with the local population, the risk of targeting innocents is high. And yet, we cannot allow the killing of innocent people to go unchallenged or unpunished.

I hope that the police are effectively able to stop this Shining Path stuff in its tracks. It was hell on Cusco in the ’80s and ’90s. I just told El Fotografo that I do not want to visit Ayacucho, no matter how much PromPeru keeps telling people that it’s a lovely place. The poor people there are on the front lines.

I think it’s gone too far to pardon Fujimori. There’s going to be a verdict next month, I think, so by Christmas I believe the trial will be over. I believe that Fujimori should pay from his role in the crimes, with a judgement that also weighes in the good he did for Peru (economic, capturing the Shining Path leader). I leave it to the lawyers/judges to decide what that might be.

You mention Peru not going down the path of Colombia — I’m thinking of Guatemala, which provides another example of what happens when leaders are allowed to get away with murder. I love Guatemala deeply (I wrote a guidebook to the country in ’96) but that country is a dangerous place to visit to this day because not one leader or military official was ever held accountable for the thousands of random killings that took place during the civil war.

What that means is that if you visit Guatemala and you happen to get caught up in a violent scene, there’s no justice system to rescue you or to hold anyone accountable if you are killed. Ditto for innocent citizens. It’s still that way today, sadly.

I once almost got caught in the middle of a shootout between guerilla forces and the military (our van broke down in northern Guatemala), and our driver was quietly freaking out because 20 yards behind us, soldiers were felling 40-foot-high trees to create a roadblock where they would begin fighting once the sun set. If we didn’t get out of there fast, we would have been in the middle of it. (Guys were starting to fell trees in front of us as well.) It was so apparent to me then that my life was worth jacksh*t to the soldiers. It was a tense 20 minutes before our driver managed to fix the engine and we set off, before the shooting began.

How to deal with terrorism like the Shining Path movement is very tricky territory for political leaders. Because the terrorists try to blend with the local population, the risk of targeting innocents is high. And yet, we cannot allow the killing of innocent people to go unchallenged or unpunished.