Time of Memory. Reflections on Human Rights and Transitional Justice

"What ethical demands does thinking after what we have experienced in Ayacucho, Apurímac, and Huallaga impose on us? What political tasks does the reconstruction of democracy set for us after recognizing the experiences of Putis, Accomarca, La Cantuta, and Barrios Altos? The essays that make up this book seek to follow different argumentative paths to pose these questions more concretely. [...] We have sought in the use of force — and not in deliberation or the exercise of citizenship — the remedy for our problems. That has been our terrible mistake. There is an important moral and political lesson to draw from these dramatic experiences, a lesson we can only learn if we courageously and seriously take on the challenge of looking at ourselves in the mirror of our faults, so as not to repeat them. That willingness to face the truth is the essential condition for achieving peace and justice. That is precisely the thesis of this book. I have drawn critically — though exploratorily — on different traditions that have arrived at the same conclusion: Greek tragedy, political liberalism, Christianity, radical democracy, the Arguedian novel, in order to validate it argumentatively and narratively." (Introductory words by Gonzalo Gamio).