The Daughters of Terror
According to the Final Report of the Comision de la Verdad, 20% of the victims of political violence in Peru between 1980 and 2000 were women of all ages, social strata, and conditions, of whom 97.98% were raped, 19.29% were tortured, 25.64% suffered some type of wound or injury, and 14.93% were disappeared. To all of them — both those who survived and those who do not know what happened in those times — Rocio Silva Santisteban dedicates the verses gathered in this book, making it clear that the execution of terror during the years of violence was fundamentally gendered. "Have you seen the body? Did your fingers graze its tangerine skin? Did you gather up her little clothes? Did you bless her scars? Did you attempt the impossible, to kiss her, to kiss her so that she would return to life?"