Between Two Fires. NGOs, Rural Development and Political Violence

The title of this book metaphorically summarizes the problem of Peruvian civil society, caught between two fires and with increasingly limited space to organize and express itself. Fear and indifference are, after a decade of violence, palpable across a large part of the national territory and among wide sectors of the population, especially among the peasantry of areas where Senderista violence and the armed forces' response have generated genuine panic. This book presents a lucid account of the actions of non-governmental development organizations, or "organizations supporting grassroots groups," as the author calls them, in areas convulsed by war. Michael Smith's book dwells on two representative cases of this armed group's actions: the Allpachaka project in Ayacucho and the IER Waqrani in Puno. In the final chapter, it outlines possible lines of response for those centers that, it argues, must define as a priority concern the strengthening of ties with existing organizations, raising levels of coordination, and avoiding the militarization of society.