The wall of shame in Peru

[Judi Lynn]

September 20 2017 10:43 PM

By Rosmery Cueva Saenz



Ofelia Moreno, 51, runs a working class eatery where she prepares meals for about 125 people every day.

By Rosmery Cueva Saenz

. . .

There has been much discussion in the Americas about Donald Trump’s proposed wall to separate the US and Mexico. But while that debate rages on, one wall that has already been built continues to provide a stark symbol of the social inequalities in the region.

Winding across a hill in Lima, Peru, this wall is made of concrete and barbed wire. It is 10 kilometres long, three metres high, and separates an exclusive district from the nearby Pamplona slum, populated by urban settlers. Residents call it “the wall of shame.”

“It is the wall of shame because the rich people, on the other side, are ashamed of us, the poor. They see us as something strange, they cover us up because we are an embarrassment,” says Ofelia Moreno, 51, who runs a small eatery in the slum.

The view from the other side is quite different. In a recent documentary film about the wall, a young man from the upscale Casuarinas compound told the cameras: “If that wall did not exist, I think there would be more conflicts because these are two areas in which life is totally different. Integrating these two groups and succeeding in making them live together amicably would be pretty complicated.”

More:
http://www.gulf-times.com/story/564559/The-wall-of-shame-in-Peru

[dhill926]

1. eat the rich....